Exclusive: Trump on rising gas prices during Iran operation: ‘If they rise, they rise’

Gas prices are seen at an Shell station pump as the price of oil and gas has surged amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Washington, D.C.,

– President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was not concerned about rising U.S. gas prices driven by the widening Iran conflict, telling Reuters ​in an exclusive interview that the U.S. military operation was his priority.
“I don’t have any concern about it,” he said, when asked about the higher prices at ‌the pump. “They’ll drop very rapidly when this is over, and if they rise, they rise, but this is far more important than having gasoline prices go up a little bit.”

The comments mark a shift in tone for the president, who touted a drop in gas prices in his State of the Union address last month and at a Texas rally focused on energy that took place just hours before the U.S. launched its air strikes ​on Saturday.
Political analysts say a persistent rise in gas prices could hurt Republicans in the November midterm elections when control of the U.S. Congress will be at stake. Voters ​are already unhappy about the high cost of living and Trump’s stewardship of the economy.
Despite Trump’s public efforts to play down the price rises, White House Chief ⁠of Staff Susie Wiles and Energy Secretary Chris Wright have both engaged with oil CEOs to gauge possible options on combating rising energy prices, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said ​on Thursday.
Another White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was a scramble across the White House energy and national security teams to develop measures aimed at bringing down gas prices.
The ​official said Wiles had warned in White House meetings that failure to act on price rises would be “catastrophic” for Republicans in the elections.

US weighs oil futures market action to combat price spikes, White House official says
Trump has outlined a four-to-five-week timeline for the military campaign against Iran, but political and military experts have questioned it, noting that the U.S. government has yet to articulate its end goal while the conflict continues to spread to the region and beyond.
In the interview, Trump said he was not looking to tap the Strategic ​Petroleum Reserve, the largest emergency crude stockpile in the world, and that he was confident the Strait of Hormuz, the critical channel for oil shipping near Iran, will remain open because Iran’s navy ​is at the “bottom of the sea.”

The US is racing to control energy prices as the room for error shrinks.

Global oil prices have jumped 16% since the war started on Saturday, as the spreading conflict disrupted Middle East supplies.
The national average cost of gas has risen 27 cents since last week ‌to $3.25 per ⁠gallon, according to AAA, a U.S. travel organization that tracks fuel prices. The current national average is 15 cents higher than a year ago.
Trump said the costs “haven’t risen very much.”

WHITE HOUSE BETTING ON SHORT CAMPAIGN

The White House is betting the conflict with Iran – and the resulting pain at the gas pump – will prove short-lived.
White House energy advisers have told Trump aides the initial sticker shock in fuel markets has been less severe than many feared and have urged patience, according to two people who were granted anonymity to describe internal deliberations.
The advisers warned that any intervention by the Trump administration ​that fails to quickly bring down prices could ​rattle markets and prove counterproductive.

Of course, the phrase “targets high oil price impact” is wonderfully flexible. It doesn’t actually specify what the target is, how it will be targeted, or whether the target has been notified that it’s being targeted. Oil prices, after all, are influenced by a charmingly complicated web of global markets, geopolitical tensions, supply chains, and occasionally a shipping container that got stuck somewhere inconvenient. But why let complexity get in the way of a good headline?

One imagines a dramatic strategy session somewhere. Charts are placed on the table. Arrows point upward in alarming ways. Someone circles the words “HIGH OIL PRICES” in red marker, because red marker makes everything look urgent. Then comes the bold declaration: We will target this impact. Exactly how remains a thrilling mystery for the sequel.

Meanwhile, the headline itself performs a different kind of magic. It transforms a very complicated global economic phenomenon into something that sounds like a boss battle in a video game. High oil prices appear as the villain of the week, and the hero—armed with microphones, statements, and perhaps a strongly worded press conference—steps forward to confront them.

The visual design helps sell the drama. Giant capital letters. Exclamation points. Red text that practically shouts from the screen. If oil prices could see the thumbnail, they might feel slightly intimidated.

But satire aside, the spectacle reflects a familiar rhythm in modern politics: the headline arrives first, the explanation later, and the solution… well, that might show up after a few more press briefings. In the meantime, the image of decisive action is often just as valuable as the action itself. Cameras click, statements are issued, and the world’s most complicated economic forces politely pretend they might listen.

So the headline stands proudly: TRUMP TARGETS HIGH OIL PRICE IMPACT! A sentence bursting with energy, determination, and just enough ambiguity to keep everyone guessing. Whether oil prices are trembling in fear is another question entirely—but at least the fonts are doing their part.