Donald Trump is prepared to walk away from the war in Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz does not reopen, according to a report.
The 79-year-old president has been telling aides he is willing to end military operations in the Middle East without resolving the crisis surrounding the vital shipping route through which one-fifth of the world’s oil passes, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Any decision to leave the Strait closed and not bother to resolve the resulting global oil crisis would mark a humiliating walkback for Trump, who has been making increasingly unhinged threats to escalate the conflict unless Tehran caves and reopens the narrow passage from the Persian Gulf.
Walking away from trying to reopen the Strait will also further suggest the erratic president has no clear plan to end the conflict he launched more than a month ago.
Trump and his inner circle have reportedly come to the realization that any military operation to reopen the strait would amount to a major escalation of the conflict, potentially requiring U.S. boots on the ground. Instead, Trump would be satisfied if the war achieves some of his other objectives, such as targeting Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Suzanne Maloney, an Iran expert and vice president at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said Trump pulling out of Iran without reopening the strait would be “unbelievably irresponsible.”
“Energy markets are inherently global, and there is no possibility of insulating the U.S. from the economic damage that is already occurring and will become exponentially worse if the closure of the strait continues,” Maloney told the Journal.
Iran’s closure of the narrow shipping route has already sparked a worldwide energy crisis, with crude oil prices regularly topping $100 a barrel and gas prices soaring in the United States. There are fears the war could push oil prices as high as $200 a barrel, which would be devastating for the global economy.
Trump has repeatedly suggested the war in Iran will be over soon while simultaneously threatening to drastically escalate the conflict by attacking the country’s energy infrastructure unless the Strait is reopened.
Just hours before the Journal’s report was published, Trump wrote in a typically unhinged Truth Social post Monday that unless the strait is “immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalination plants!).”
The report that Trump might walk away from the war without resolving the Strait of Hormuz crisis also came after White House officials told MS Now that the president is getting “bored” with the conflict he started and wants to “move on.”
On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Al Jazeera that U.S. military operations in Iran would be completed within a few weeks and that “we’ll make sure that it’s open, one way or the other.”
Conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly, one of MAGA’s most outspoken critics of the Iran war, mocked the contradictory statements coming from the Trump administration about the conflict.
“Sun, Rubio: ‘the Strait of Hormuz will reopen one way or another’ (Al Jaz’ra). Mon, Trump: ‘if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will …blow up…all of [Iran’s] Electric Plants, Oil Wells & Kharg Island” (Tr. Soc),” Kelly posted on X.
“Mon: ‘Trump tells aides he’s willing to end war without opening Hormuz” (wsj).’”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
