President Donald Trump touted the closing of the Strait of Hormuz as “genius” as gas prices for Americans soar due to the war in Iran.
Trump, 79, took questions in the Oval Office on Monday, where he said he wanted to temporarily waive the federal gas tax as prices at the pump have skyrocketed because of his war.
He insisted that the closure of the crucial waterway in the Middle East was not actually a bad thing.
“When people heard about losing Hormuz, they said, ‘Oh, this is, it’s genius.’ They’re finding other locations,” Trump said.
It comes as the cost of gas in the U.S. and oil around the world is up due to the stalled shipping through the Strait. The average price of a gallon of gas nationally was $4.48 on Monday.
The president suggested that those who are calling the closure of the Strait of Hormuz “genius” will instead go to Texas for oil, even though that is not the only product that has seen skyrocketing since strikes began, and oil companies have not pledged to increase U.S. production in response but remain cautious.
Trump insisted companies were instead going to Texas, Louisiana and Alaska, while he also insisted prices would “drop like a rock” when the war ended.
However, the president did not paint a confident picture that the war would wrap up any time soon on Monday after he rejected Iran’s latest offer and indicated the ceasefire was barely holding.
“It’s unbelievably weak, I would say. I would call it the weakest right now after reading that piece of garbage they sent us,” Trump said. “I didn’t even finish reading it. I said, not even going to waste my time reading it. I would say it’s one of the weakest right now. It’s on life support.”
While the U.S. and Iran struggle to reach a deal, Trump insisted he has the “best plan ever” which he insisted was simple despite the war timeline continuing to drag.
“I have a plan. You know, it’s a very simple plan. I don’t know why you don’t say it like it is. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump declared.
At another point, the president rambled further about his plan when it came to striking Iran.
“The plan is very simple. You know, in war, you have to change. You have to be flexible. You have a lot of plans, but you have to do different plans on different days. But I have a great plan, but the plan is they cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
The president said the U.S. has already “in theory had a complete victory from a military standpoint.”
