President Donald Trump is defending remarks from earlier this week when he said he wasn’t factoring in Americans’ financial situation amid efforts to negotiate an end to the Iran war.
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“That’s a perfect statement, I’d make it again,” Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier in an interview Friday after being shown a clip of his previous comments.
Trump told reporters Tuesday that he wasn’t thinking about Americans’ finances “even a little bit” as he negotiates with Iran to end the monthslong conflict, adding that his sole focus is to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“The only thing that matters, when I’m talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation, I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump’s comments sparked widespread criticism from Democrats while many Republicans sought to defend him.
In the Fox News interview, taped in China during Trump’s visit, the president said there will be “short-term pain” as he negotiates an end to the Iran war and a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The blockade of the strait, one of the world’s busiest waterways for oil tankers, has spiked global energy prices.
Trump said he was “OK” with higher gas prices if it helped the U.S. achieve its goals in the Iran conflict.
“When you tell somebody you’re going to pay a little more for gasoline for a very short period of time — because we want to stop the threat of being blown to pieces by a lunatic, by a crazy person using nuclear weapons — everybody says that’s fine,” Trump said, calling the reporter’s question that prompted his response on Tuesday “a fake question.”
Gas prices have gone up 50% since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late February, with the national average climbing to more than $4.50 a gallon, according to data from the American Automobile Association.
Trump said gas prices would drop once the blockade in the strait is resolved.
“Don’t forget, they have a lot of boats that are loaded up with oil that are going to bring the oil out as soon as this is over, and I think it’s going to end fast,” Trump said Friday.
With gas prices rising and Trump’s approval sinking, Republicans are grappling with the political fallout from the Iran war heading into the November midterm elections, when they’ll be defending slim majorities in each chamber.
Trump said, however, he’s not considering the midterms when it comes to Iran.
“I’m not going to let the election determine what’s going to happen with respect to Iran, because they cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
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