President Donald Trump addressed an uneasy nation on Wednesday as the United States’ war with Iran entered its second month. He used the prime time slot to briefly address skyrocketing gas prices, outline indeterminate next steps and flaunt his victories in the conflict thus far.
Trump opened with the positive, claiming the U.S. already seized “overwhelming victories” against Iran. The President said that Iran’s navy and air force are “in ruins” and that most of its leadership has been killed. He also claimed that the nation’s ability to launch missiles has been “dramatically curtailed,” and that its weapons and factories are “being blown to pieces.”
On the topic of oil, Trump largely brushed off the issue of high gas prices as a result of the war. He said that the United States has “plenty of gas” and doesn’t need the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway off the coast of Iran through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas passes, to be open. He encouraged “those countries who can’t get any fuel” to “just take it, protect it, use it for yourselves.” As he’s said before, he claimed that the Strait of Hormuz will “open up naturally” once the war is over, alleviating high gas prices
Iran, in retaliation for the war, put a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. Since falling under strict Iranian control, oil has skyrocketed in price across global markets. On Tuesday, gasoline crossed an average of $4 a gallon, the highest it’s been since 2022. Trump, through a series of Truth Social ultimatums, has threatened to escalate America’s bombing campaign if Iran doesn’t forfeit control of the channel. However, the President has yet to follow through with his promises to destroy the nation’s electrical power plants.
As for next steps, Trump, vaguely, stated that the U.S. is “on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly,” and that the military will strike Iran “extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.” Trump also reupped his threat to hit Iran’s electric plants if a deal wasn’t reached. He did not specify what he was looking for in such an agreement.
Trump’s motivation for entering the war has been scattered, mostly bouncing between overthrowing Iran’s totalitarian theocracy and eliminating the nation’s nuclear capability. Reporting from the New York Times suggests that the Iranian regime has inserted more hard-line leaders after the wartime deaths of officials who were seen as more pragmatic. CNN reports that Iran still possesses more than 400 kilograms (about 900 pounds) of enriched uranium, enough to build several nuclear bombs.
On the nuclear issue, Trump said Iran’s uranium reserves would take “months” to access due to destruction caused by the United States’ bombing campaign on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025. He claimed the reserves are under “intense satellite surveillance and control,” and that the U.S. would hit Iran “very hard” if it tried to access them.
The United States and Israel started the war with Iran on Feb. 28, launching a volley of ballistic missiles into the region. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, was killed in the first wave of strikes. Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, is now said to be the new leader of Iran.
Source:
variety.com
