¶ Mast Backed Trump’s Costly War With Iran That Raised Prices On Floridians
¶ Mast defended trump’s war
¶ Mast Has Continued To Praise Trump’s Handling Of The War In Iran
4/28/26: Mast Praised Trump And Said His Blockade Of Iran Was “Absolutely Working.” According to Rep. Brian Mast on Fox Business: Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, “HOST: I want to get your reaction to this, in particular, this extensive reporting in the Journal this morning. And the quote is ‘Iran is flooded with so much unsold oil, it's stashing it in derelict tanks.’ It's called tank topping. Is this economic blockade of Iran, do you think, what is going to finally push the Iranians to come back to the negotiating table. MAST: It's not just that they're looking for places to store it, by the way. It's also they are burning it off because they do not have enough storage for all this. The economic blockade that the president very wisely put in place is absolutely working.” [Fox Business: Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 4/28/26] (video)
6/15/26: Mast Praised Trump And Said “The President Has Done A Very Good Job Throughout All Of Epic Fury And Beyond In Keeping The World Abreast Of The Negotiations” Between The US And Iran. According to Rep. Brian Mast on Fox News: America Reports, “HOST: What do you think will happen to the price of oil and therefore gasoline if the Strait of Hormuz does get fully open by the end of the week? And all these tankers that have been penned up in the Persian Gulf start to make their way out? MAST: The answer is obvious. You're going to see a reduction in the price of crude. The president has done a very good job throughout all of Epic Fury and beyond in keeping the world abreast of the negotiations that were going on, so that you didn't have these oil traders pushing the, the crude prices beyond where they were, making them go tremendously long. He kept them on edge.” [Fox News: America Reports, 6/15/26] (video)
¶ Mast Admitted That Americans Did Not Ask For The War In Iran While Continuing To Support It
Mast Admitted That The War In Iran Was Not A Fight “That Any American Asked For” But Maintained That The US Had To Be “Disruptive” And Respond To Iran’s Attacks. According to Rep. Brian Mast at the Palm Beach Center For Democracy And Policy Research, "MAST: This is not a fight that America asked for or that any American asked for, in my opinion. This is a fight that Iran has chosen every day. And I've used a couple of stats already. You know, you could use other stats going to October seven, going all the way back to, as I said before, the barracks, the Marine Corps barracks bombings in Beirut and all points in between. But again, just in the last 30 months, over 350 attacks before Epic fury ever began. That is Iran saying United States of America, we are going to bring the fight to you every day. We are going to fire at your merchant ships. We are going to fire at your naval ships. We are going to drive boats into your naval ships. We are going to fly drones into your naval ship. We are going to take your U.S. service members where we saw them outnumbered, go surround them with several Iranian ships. Put them on their knees at gunpoint on the deck of their US vessel. We are going to fly ballistic missiles into Tower 22 in Jordan and kill Sergeant Rivers, Sergeant Sanders, Sergeant Moffit in that place. Again all before Epic Fury ever began. What was going on was ignoring this, allowing it to be the status quo. And that is now being disruptive. I am an American. I'm an American former American service member. And in no way, shape or form am I ever going to let somebody hit me and allow that to go on responding, whether that's me personally or whether that's my country.” [Palm Beach Center For Democracy And Policy Research, 7/27/26] (video)
- Mast Said It “Is An Obvious Thing” That Being Involved In Conflict Makes The U.S. More Vulnerable Since We Have To Replenish Spent Munitions But Said Munitions Spent On Iran Were Used In “Good Cause.” According to Rep. Brian Mast at The Council On Foreign Relations, “HOST: You don't believe they're taking months to replenish the depletion of munitions so far and enemies potentially watching them. That doesn't leave the U.S. any more vulnerable in the time to replenish. MAST: I'm not trying to give you a headline that says Congressman Mast says United States of America left more vulnerable. So nobody go away and write this. But that is an obvious thing. If we fire one 5.56 millimeter NATO round out of a rifle, we are to some degree more vulnerable because we have one less round. Now, if we use that one round to go out there and put it square between the eyes of an enemy, then in the end we ultimately conducted a de-escalation for the United States of America, de-escalating the capabilities of our enemy. And we substantially, with every single one of those pieces of ordnance, de-escalated, the capabilities of an enemy that has been trying to wage war on us for the last 50 years, whether through what they've been doing to commercial ships, what they did to three U.S. service members at Tower 22, what they did in hitting our places in Syria and Iraq, these are all examples of before this conflict even beginning their pursuit of a nuclear weapons program. Every single one of those rounds that we fired at them, yes, we used it. We depleted it, but we used it in good cause to degrade their capabilities against us. And their capabilities against us are beyond degraded. Doesn't mean they have nothing, but they're beyond degraded. You layer that on top of what we're doing to their economy with our blockade of their ports. Significant damage.” [Council on Foreign Relations, 5/15/26] (video)
¶ March 2026: Mast Was An Early Supporter Of Intense Military Action In Iran
3/12/26: When Asked If The US Should “Pick Up The Pace In Our Bombing” In Iran, Mast Replied “It’s Not Just That We Should, It’s That We Are.” According to Rep. Brian Mast on The Brian Kilmeade Show, “HOST: So do you think that means we should pick up the pace in our bombing? MAST: It's not just that we should, It's that we are. And, you know, you can hear General Cain speak about this very specifically about and again, it's two things to talk about, the converse side of one another, their volume, their frequency of strikes. Every moment is decreasing. Every day is decreasing, for the United States, our volume, our frequency is increasing, and it's moving into different waves that, you know, maybe on day one you couldn't hit this specific target because there was still a threat of surface to air coming out of Iran. Well, that threat is eliminated. So now you can move in further and hit this target that you didn't have access to before or now there was a threat of this specific drone cachet. Now, you've taken out that drone cachet so you can move on to this target. So the volume and frequency for us, again, very precise, very methodical to get to a certain point of destroying all Iranian military infrastructure that can reach out or has reached out and touched Americans. Their methodology, reach out and touch anything that they can, even though they could choose what they hit, but especially hitting their neighbors, oil refineries, vessels and civilian locations.” [The Brian Kilmeade Show, 3/12/26] (audio)
3/12/26: When Asked About Progress In Iran, Mast Said “I Think We Are In A Very Good Place.” According to Rep. Brian Mast on The Brian Kilmeade Show, “HOST: I want to get the perspective of Congressman Brian Mast. He's on their Foreign Relations committee, extremely respected, not only for fighting wars, but his analysis of the challenges overseas. Congressman, are we where you thought we would be at 12 days in? MAST: I think we are in a very good place. I can't say that 12 days ago, I had an expectation of exactly where we would be in 12 days. But what I could say about that in a more specific way is 12 days in, we've hit 5500 plus targets very, very precisely. All of these different Navy vessels with various capabilities, not just in the Straits of Hormuz, but in a number of different places across the region, smaller vessels capable of deploying sea mines in the Straits of Hormuz, military caches of these inter these ballistic missiles that they want to fire at the these systems that would actually fire them. There is a very strategic and methodical approach to each system that is being deployed. And the converse side that I would say of that is Iran has a capability to be very precise as well. We are precise. They are also precise, but they are precisely targeting merchant ships, container ships, oil ships, refineries, flying drones, specifically at hotels and condo buildings. And so what we are being precise at are two very specifically different things.” [The Brian Kilmeade Show, 3/12/26] (audio)
¶ Mast Repeatedly voted against ending the united states’ hostilities in iran
¶ July 2026: Mast Effectively Voted Against Withdrawing Troops From Iran
7/23/26: Mast Effectively Voted Against Withdrawing US Troops From Iran. In July 2026 Mast voted against, according to Congressional Quarterly, “motion to discharge the Foreign Relations Committee from further consideration of the joint resolution that would direct the president to withdraw U.S. armed forces hostilities against Iran not authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for military force.” The vote was on adoption of the resolution. The House adopted the resolution by a vote of 214 to 208. [House Vote 282, 7/23/26; Congressional Quarterly, 7/23/26; Congressional Actions, H.Con.Res.89]
- The Senate Voted Against Ending The War In Iran On The Same Day. According to Congressional Quarterly, “The House and Senate, in votes Thursday on ending the Iran war, came to different conclusions, but the majority of voting members of Congress said it is time to bring U.S. troops home. The House, for the second time, formally called on President Donald Trump to end the war, approving 214-208 a nonbinding concurrent resolution (H Con Res 89) by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.” [Congressional Quarterly, 7/23/26]
- The Vote Came After The Trump Administration Declared A Memorandum Of Understanding From The Previous Month “Over”, With Three US Troops Killed The Weekend Before And Houthi Strikes Against Two Saudi Tankers The Day Before. According to Congressional Quarterly, “Last month, the Trump administration announced it had reached a memorandum of understanding with Iran. But less than a month later, Trump declared the MOU ‘over.’ On July 10, he formally notified Congress fighting in the war had resumed. Over the weekend, three U.S. troops were killed in an Iranian attack on a base in Jordan, while a fourth U.S. service member in Iraq died during what was supposed to be a controlled detonation of an unexploded Iranian drone. Iran’s proxy group in Yemen, the Houthis, struck two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea on Wednesday. Such attacks could choke off another bottleneck in the global economy in addition to the ongoing throttling of trade in the Strait of Hormuz as a result of the war.” [Congressional Quarterly, 7/23/26]
¶ June 2026: Mast Voted Against Terminating Hostilities Against Iran Without A Declaration Of War
6/3/26: Mast Voted Against Terminating Hostilities Against Iran Without A Declaration Of War. In June 2026, Mast voted against, according to Congressional Quarterly, “adoption of a resolution that would direct the president to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran.” The vote was on passage. The House adopted the resolution by a vote of 215 to 208. [House Vote 199, 6/3/26; Congressional Quarterly, 6/3/26; Congressional Actions, H.Con.Res. 86]
- The Vote Occurred As The War Entered Its Fourth Month, And Was The House’s Fourth Vote On The War As Gas And Food Prices Continued To Rise. According to Congressional Quarterly, “Either way, supporters say the House adopting the resolution sends an important message to Trump that Congress is fed up with the war as it lumbers into its fourth month. ‘We're now past 90 days, there seems to be no end to this war, and folks want some accountability, Democrats and Republicans,’ New York Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the sponsor of Wednesday’s resolution, said ahead of the vote. ‘The American people are suffering. The cost of gas continues to go up, the cost of food and inflation keeps going up.’ ‘So it's been building and building,’ Meeks added. Wednesday’s vote was the House’s fourth on an Iran war powers resolution since the war started at the end of February, with each vote getting tighter than before. In the third vote last month, the measure was rejected 212-212.” [Congressional Quarterly, 6/3/26]
- Gop Leadership Delayed The Vote Through A Week-Long Recess When It Became Clear It Would Pass. According to Congressional Quarterly, “The House had originally been slated to vote on Meeks’ resolution before the Memorial Day recess. But when it became apparent the resolution was likely to be approved, particularly with a handful of Republican absences, GOP leadership yanked the vote from the schedule. Republicans could not delay the vote beyond Wednesday since the 1973 War Powers Resolution (PL 93-148) requires the House to vote within three legislative days of a measure being called up on the floor.” [Congressional Quarterly, 6/3/26]
- The Vote Came Amidst Ongoing Strikes Despite A Proclaimed Ceasefire With Iran Claiming It Was Suspending Talks Following An Israeli Incursion Of Lebanon. According to Congressional Quarterly, “The growing congressional angst over the war comes as an already fragile ceasefire appears increasingly tenuous and the Trump administration’s negotiations with Iran stumble. Early Wednesday morning, Iran launched a missile and drone attack at an airport in Kuwait, killing an Indian national and injuring dozens of other people, in what Tehran described as a response to U.S. strikes on Iran the night before. U.S. Central Command said Iran also targeted U.S. forces in Kuwait but that air defenses shot down the drones and ‘ensured no American personnel or assets were harmed.’ On Tuesday evening, Central Command said it conducted ‘self-defense strike’ on Iran’s Qeshm Island in response to Iran firing missiles and drones toward Kuwait and Bahrain. Hours earlier, Central Command also said U.S. forces fired a Hellfire missile into the engine room of a Botswana-flagged oil tanker that it alleged was trying to evade the U.S. blockade against Iranian ports. The exchange of fire comes amid on-again-off-again talks to end the war. On Monday, Iran said it was suspending talks with the United States in response to Israel’s incursion into Lebanon. But Trump maintained that talks are continuing despite Iran’s statement, posting on Truth Social on Tuesday that ‘the conversations between us have been going on continuously.’” [Congressional Quarterly, 6/3/26]
¶ May 2026: Mast Voted Against Terminating Hostilities Against Iran Without A Declaration Of War
5/14/26: Mast Voted Against Terminating Hostilities Against Iran Without A Declaration Of War. In May 2026, Mast voted against, according to Congressional Quarterly, “the concurrent resolution that would direct the president to terminate the use of U.S. armed forces from hostilities against Iran unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or a specific authorization for use of military force against Iran. It would clarify that nothing in the measure could be construed to disrupt intelligence, counterintelligence or investigative activities.” The vote was on passage. The House rejected the resolution by a vote of 212 to 212. [House Vote 170, 5/14/26; Congressional Quarterly, 5/14/26; Congressional Actions, H.Con.Res. 75]
¶ April 2026: Mast Voted Against Directing The President To Withdraw Troops From Iran Unless Authorized By Congress
4/16/26: Mast Voted Against Directing The President To Withdraw Troops From Iran Unless Authorized By Congress. In April 2026, Mast voted against, according to Congressional Quarterly, “the concurrent resolution that would direct the president to terminate the use of U.S. armed forces from hostilities against Iran unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force against Iran. The measure would exempt the use of U.S. armed forces that may be necessary to defend the U.S. or a U.S. ally or partner from imminent attack.” The vote was on passage. The House rejected the resolution by a vote of 213 to 214. [House Vote 114, 4/16/26; Congressional Quarterly, 4/16/26; Congressional Actions, H.Con.Res.40]
¶ March 2026: Mast Voted Against Directing President Trump To Withdraw Troops From Iran And Celebrated It
3/5/26: Mast Voted Against Directing President Trump To Withdraw Troops From Iran. In March 2026, Mast voted against, according to Congressional Quarterly, “the concurrent resolution that would direct the president to terminate the use of U.S. armed forces from hostilities against Iran or any part of its military, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force against Iran.” The vote was on passage. The House rejected the concurrent resolution by a vote of 212 to 219. [House Vote 85, 3/5/26; Congressional Quarterly, 3/5/26; Congressional Actions, H.Con.Res.38]
- 3/5/26: Mast Celebrated This Vote And Said He Supported “President Trump’s Article II Authority In Operation Epic Fury.” According to a press release from the House Committee On Foreign Affairs, "Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast issued the following statement after the House voted to reject Democrats’ ploy to block President Trump’s ability to respond to Iran after overwhelmingly passing a separate GOP-led measure reaffirming Iran’s standing as the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism. ‘The House just voted overwhelmingly to support President Trump’s Article II authority in Operation Epic Fury and call Iran exactly what it is: the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism. This murderous regime has posed an imminent threat against every American both at home and abroad for the last 47 years. But while President Trump finally gave them an imminent response to put an end to their terror, Democrats did everything possible to stop him. They failed. The U.S. will no longer back down to Iran or anyone else who threatens us. President Trump is keeping America safe. Operation Epic Fury is Peace through Strength in action.’ " [Press Release – House Committee On Foreign Affairs, 3/5/26]
¶ the iran war was costly for floridians
As Of June 2026, The War In Iran Cost U.S. Families $100 Billion So Far. According To Fortune, "$750 a household—or $100 billion. This is the cost that Moody’s has calculated the Iran War has been so far to the U.S. consumer. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said the cost passed on to households is the result of increased military spending and higher prices as a result of oil supply disruption out of the Middle East. Since the U.S. and Israel launched action against Iran—setting off a domino-effect of attacks across the Middle East—brent crude has topped $110 a barrel on multiple occasions." [Fortune, 6/2/26]
July 2026: Prices For Fresh Food, School Supplies, And Any Goods That Required Shipment Were Expected To Increase Amid Energy Price Increases Due To The United States’ War With Iran. According to PBS, “Already feeling pinched since the start of the Iran war, consumers are likely to feel more pain ahead as oil prices pushed past $100 a barrel Thursday amid renewed fighting and military strikes that have left global oil supplies stranded in the Middle East. The elevated price marked a turn from lower oil prices enjoyed briefly when hostilities between the U.S. and Iran waned in June. Brent crude, the international standard, last reached $100 a barrel in May. Companies that produce and sell fresh food, school supplies and anything that gets shipped using fuel reported cost impacts from an earlier spike in energy prices after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran. They're likely to continue passing some of their increased expenses to consumers.” [PBS News, 7/24/26]
¶ Floridians Were Forced To Pay $700 Million More For Gas Because Of The War In Iran
In March Of 2026 Alone, Floridians Paid $700 Million More For Gas Than They Would Have If The War With Iran Had Not Been Started. According to WINK News, "Gas prices in Florida have climbed to an average of $4.16 per gallon, according to AAA. The ongoing war in Iran has significantly driven up fuel prices. Florida's lack of refineries and crude oil pipelines makes the state heavily dependent on imports from barges. Those barges can deliver fuel elsewhere, forcing Florida to compete with other states and countries for diesel, jet fuel and gasoline. The rising costs are forcing some residents to make difficult lifestyle choices. ‘Unfortunately, when you have to pay for gas, you have to make decisions about what you would like to do. Maybe not visit as many restaurants,’ said Janet O'Rourke, a Collier County resident. Experts say they don't expect prices to drop anytime soon. While Florida's gas prices are high, other states are facing even steeper costs. According to the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, Texas drivers have been hit the hardest in the nation, paying more than $1 billion more in gas in the last month. Florida paid around $700 million more during the same period." [WINK News, 7/14/26]
As Of May 18, 2026, Florida Gas Was Up 44.6 Percent In Cost From Before The War In Iran.
[Center for American Progress, 5/18/26]
¶ The War In Iran Hurt Floridian Farmers With High Diesel And Fertilizer Prices
Florida Farmers Experienced A Rise In Prices Of Fertilizer And Diesel Fuel Due To The War With Iran. According to WFTV 9, "Florida farmers are experiencing steep rises in the prices of essential supplies like fertilizer and diesel fuel since the beginning of the war with Iran. These increasing costs have caused agricultural producers statewide to face difficulties in managing their operational expenses. The price increases involve a 33% rise in fertilizer costs and fuel prices climbing above $5 per gallon. […] Farmers rely on diesel to operate heavy machinery and transport agricultural products." [WFTV 9, 3/22/26]