ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that Iran is doing "everything they can to drive up the price of oil" ahead of the upcoming US midterm elections, accusing Tehran of "making up fake hits" to discourage transit in the Strait of Hormuz.

The president has repeatedly referenced to the midterm elections schedued for November 3, in which his Republican Party are expecting to grapple with voters' conflict fatigue being displayed at the ballot box, when discussing his future plans regarding Iran, having affirmed in October that "we will not be attacking Iran at any time prior" to the vote.

In early September, Trump said that he believes the war "is going to end immediately after the election" and that Tehran is seeking to influence US voters against him.

"Iran is doing everything they can to drive up the price of Oil prior to the US Midterm Election," he lamented in a Thursday post on Truth Social. "They are even making up fake hits, mines, and everything else, because more Oil is coming through the Hormuz Strait now than it did even prior to the beginning of the Conflict."

Iranian authorities have repeatedly demanded that vessels transiting the strategic waterway heed their approved shipping routes, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday claiming that a commercial tanker carrying some two million barrels of oil "burst into flames after hitting a naval mine," despite Washington having previously claimed to have rid the Strait of all Iranian mines.

Despite Tehran's efforts to enforce compliance, The Wall Street Journal reported that oil exports via the Persian Gulf averaged 24 million barrels per day (bpd) in the week through October 18, marking a slight increase from the pre-conflict average of 23.3 million bpd, citing US protective efforts as the reason for the reversal.

"They [Iran] continue to kill protestors, and anyone else that happens to be in their way," Trump added. "It is truly an Evil Regime, and I can only hope the American Public, and the World, understands how EVIL they are! 75,000 protestors lie dead in less than seven months."

The US midterm elections will see all 435 House seats voted on and roughly one-third of Senate seats up for grabs, potentially allowing the Democrats, who lead in polling for the congressional vote, to regain control of the House and limit Trump's ability to introduce policy for the remainder of his second term.

On September 29, Iran's IRGC issued a lengthy letter addressed to the American people in which it called on voters to "wrest control back from corrupt politicians" and challenge Trump's "lying administration."