Hinson, Turek share views on U.S.-Iran, Russia-Ukraine wars amid high fuel prices

As U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson and state Rep. Josh Turek met for the second — and final — U.S. Senate debate Tuesday, both candidates said they did not support President Donald Trump’s move to lift sanctions against the “import sale, delivery, offloading, or importation” of Russian diesel in response to high fuel costs.

Trump’s order, which followed his Oct. 9 call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, spurred the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to lift sanctions on Russian diesel as American fuel costs have risen dramatically in recent months due to the ongoing war in Iran. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators criticized this move because it violates a 2022 law to ban Russian energy imports while the country continues its war with Ukraine, a NATO ally.

During the debate hosted by WHO-13, both Hinson and Turek said they do not support the president’s deal with Russia.

“We need to lower diesel prices, but I don’t think we need to be making a deal with Russia to do it,” Hinson said. “I think we should be doing it by lowering the gas tax temporarily, making sure we’re actually looking at potentially a diesel rebate program for our producers, investing in America’s biofuels, which is the homegrown answer that we have right here in Iowa … But again, I am proud to have voted for sanctions against Russia. I’m banned from Russia because of my stance on being tough on them and supporting Ukraine, and we cannot allow Vladimir Putin to win that war.”

Turek also said he does not support the deal, though he agrees high fuel costs are a major concern for Iowans.

“I’m hearing from Iowans talking about gas prices and diesel prices, but I don’t think it should be at the expense of benefiting the economy of someone like a Vladimir Putin, who we clearly cannot trust,” Turek said.

Turek also pointed to his own policy proposals to temporarily suspend the federal and state gas tax, suspend diesel exports and to open the Strategic Oil Reserves as a way to address high costs. But he said the key to lowering gas costs is ending the war with Iran.

“We are in this situation because of this unnecessary war in Iran, that actually Hinson voted in favor of continuing seven times,” Turek said. “This has led to gas prices going up in Iowa, more than almost any other state. Diesel prices (are at) an all-time high as our farmers are going into harvest, and it’s leading into an increase into fertilizer input prices to our farmers. It has disproportionately hurt Iowa, we need to end this war in Iran.”

While the two candidates agreed there were other methods available to address high fuel costs, the candidates gave different answers when asked if they would support the president’s deal if Putin would have to agree to a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine conflict in order to trigger sanctions relief.

Turek said, “I think that there are other ways that we can go about this without benefiting the economy or trusting someone like Vladimir Putin.”

But Hinson said she would “absolutely” support a sanctions-related deal to bring the end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

“I think we need to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, and we need to bring an end to the war in Iran,” Hinson said. “It’s why I’ve called for an immediate and successful end. I do not think Iran should be allowed to get a nuclear weapon, so I think we do need to bring it to an end as quickly as possible, and I’ve been working directly with farmers to figure out ways where we can provide them relief.”

Both candidates brought up the U.S. war against Iran during their statements on the Russian diesel fuel deal. When talking about the Iran conflict — and her votes in Congress not to support a war powers resolution to curb Trump’s ability to continue the war with Iran — Hinson said, “I don’t think we can trust Iran,” particularly about nuclear capabilities.

“So ‘successful end,’ to me, means we have to have assurances that there will never be a nuclear program in Iran,” Hinson said. “I trust the U.S. military to achieve that objective, whatever that looks like. I’ve met with our generals, had those conversations, but I’ve also met with the families. … I don’t want to see that happen to another family, and nobody wants a forever war. … I want it to come to a close as soon as possible.”