President Donald Trump reportedly has a plan for winning the Iran War after the midterm elections — and a senator who has been briefed on it describes the idea as "insane."

"A senior lawmaker said he's been briefed on the war plan Donald Trump is expected to unleash after next Tuesday's midterm election," reported The Daily Beast's David Gardner on Thursday. "Sen. Chris Murphy said he couldn't give details of the Iran War blueprint, but he described it as 'insane.'"

According to Murphy, a Democrat who represents Connecticut in the Senate, the blueprint would jeopardize the U.S. commitment to the rule of law, and he warned that it "will not achieve objectives and will set off a new cycle of escalation."

Speaking at the Middle East Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank focused on the Middle East, on Thursday, Murphy said he had a "fairly detailed conversation" about Trump's war plans and predicted a "devastating escalation" of the conflict with Tehran.

"You've heard a preview that it would be a short-duration plan," Murphy said. "I will just say this: their plan is insane."

Murphy's account tracks with reporting that Trump intends to dramatically escalate the war against Iran once he no longer has to worry about winning the midterms, as Alternet has reported. CNN, citing sources, reported that "sufficient forces are now deployed in the region to carry out the potential attacks." Those sources added that the scope of new U.S. military operations "would likely go beyond efforts to simply 'mow the lawn' or maintain the status quo by striking radars, launchers and other Iranian assets that can be quickly reconstituted" — a reference to the more limited strikes carried out since Trump halted full combat operations earlier this year.

The conflict has weighed on Trump politically to an unusual degree. Foreign policy rarely decides U.S. midterm elections, but the Iran war has proven controversial enough that the White House has had to account for its impact at the ballot box. Midterms, held halfway through a president's term, determine the full membership of the House and roughly one-third of the Senate.

"It's a widespread assumption among political strategists that foreign policy rarely matters in U.S. elections," former Washington Post columnist and podcaster Greg Sargent said in September. "But what if Donald Trump's failures on this front are so disastrous and destructive that he's about to break this rule too? Trump's Iran fiasco is getting worse, and newly leaked photos show dramatic damage to the U.S. abroad. On Russia and Ukraine, he buffoonishly proclaimed that he'd secured an agreement that neither would attack the other's energy sources, but then, that blew up in his face."

Others have offered an even harsher assessment of the conflict. Speaking to Australian journalist Tom Switzer in August, University of Chicago political scientist John Mearsheimer, a prominent figure in the realist school of international relations, argued that, by straightforward geopolitical measures, Trump lost the Iran War.

"It's very simple... he has no choice," Mearsheimer said. "He lost the war. This is a devastating defeat for the United States. Can you tell me what the United States should do to regain leverage over Iran? I actually think you can't tell me because we have no solution."

He added that Trump faces two binding constraints — munitions shortfalls and pushback from Gulf allies: "One, he's out of munitions. Number two, our Gulf allies have told him, in no uncertain terms, that is unacceptable because the Iranians have made it clear that if we escalate, they will escalate, and they will destroy oil facilities, desalination plants, and so forth."

This article was reported by Alternet.