President Donald Trump accused Iran on Thursday of fabricating attacks on oil tankers to drive up energy prices ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, insisting that Tehran is seeking to disrupt markets despite a recovery in regional oil shipments.

“Iran is doing everything they can to drive up the price of Oil prior to the U.S. Midterm Election,” Trump wrote 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.”

His comments came as Iranian state television reported that seven tankers had been damaged overnight in the Strait of Hormuz.

Citing Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy, the report said four tankers were attacked while transferring oil, and three others struck naval mines.

Trump also condemned Iran’s treatment of protesters and accused Democrats and the international community of ignoring the crackdown.

“They continue to kill protestors, and anyone else that happens to be in their way,” he wrote. “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. It is shocking how the World, and the Dumocrat Party, seem not to care,” Trump added.

Trump did not provide a source for the death toll. He cited the same figure at a Kansas rally Monday but described the period as eight months rather than seven, The Jerusalem Post reported. He concluded his post by reiterating his opposition to Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon: “IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON, AND THEY WILL NEVER A NUCLEAR WEAPON!”

The president’s claims about oil shipments came after reports that regional oil exports had surpassed prewar levels, aided by alternative shipping routes.

Middle Eastern oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and other regional routes averaged more than 24 million barrels per day in the week ending Oct. 18, exceeding the prewar average of 23.3 million barrels per day, according to ship-tracking firm Kpler.

However, those figures include shipments bypassing the Strait of Hormuz and do not establish that traffic through the waterway itself has exceeded prewar levels.

Trump has said the United States would not attack Iran before the midterms, citing productive discussions while maintaining a blockade of Iranian ports.