US President Donald Trump held a press conference at his golf club in Florida on Monday night as the war with Iran entered its second week, CNN, The Guardian and BBC News write.
The conference came as oil prices rose sharply since the beginning of the war, and Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (killed on the first day of the US-Israeli bombing of Iran), was elected Iran's new supreme leader.
Donald Trump argued in his conference that the war with Iran will lead to lower oil prices in the long term, despite the surge in markets caused by the shutdown of shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, which supplies about a fifth of the world crude market.
“The Strait of Hormuz will remain safe,” the White House leader said. “We are ending this threat once and for all, and the result will be lower oil and gas prices for American families,” Trump reasoned.
Trump also played down the consequences for American consumers of rising oil prices, insisting that this supply crisis “affects countries much more than the United States.”
“It doesn't really affect us,” he said. “We have so much oil,” Trump continued.
Global oil prices have soared since the US and Israel attacked Iran, reaching nearly $120 a barrel at one point on Monday before easing slightly. The increase has already been reflected in gas prices, raising costs for Americans at the pump.
Trump also sought to reassure oil tankers that have refused to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, warning that “the price will be incalculable” for Iran if Tehran tries to attack any ships.
Iran expressed its nuclear ambitions during the failed negotiations, Trump suggests
At the same news conference, Trump indicated that Iran had continued to express its nuclear aspirations during diplomatic negotiations between US and Iranian officials this year.
Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the US president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, held three rounds of talks with Iranian officials moderated by Oman. The parties failed to reach a diplomatic solution.
“Despite these countless opportunities to abandon their nuclear ambitions, which they had a short time ago, they told Mr. Witkoff … they actually said, 'We want to keep building,'” Trump told reporters in Doral, Florida.
The American leader characterized the Iranians' perspective as “essentially, in a nutshell, 'We want to keep building nuclear weapons'.”
Trump also speculated that if the U.S. had not targeted Iran's nuclear facilities last summer, Tehran “would have had a nuclear weapon, would have used it long before, and at the very least, Israel would have been annihilated.”
Trump: US hit more than 5,000 targets, saving some 'for later'
Donald Trump also said on Monday that the United States has hit more than 5,000 targets since the start of the Iran war, “some of which are very important targets,” but the U.S. military is saving “some of the most important targets for later, in case we need to.”
“If we hit them, it will take many years for them to rebuild, given the electricity production and many other aspects,” he continued.
Trump: US objectives in Iran, “pretty well met”
Trump also said on Monday that the US had taken “significant steps” in the war with Iran, suggesting that the military operation may be “almost complete” and that US objectives in Iran were “pretty well met”.
“We are making significant strides toward achieving our military objective, and some might say it is almost complete,” he told news conferences.
“We have completely eliminated all forces in Iran,” the US president claimed.
In recent days, Trump has offered conflicting timelines for the war. In a speech to House Republicans minutes before the news conference began, he labeled the military campaign in Iran a “short-term jaunt” and later vowed to “move forward more determined than ever to achieve final victory.”
Earlier in the day, Trump said in an interview with CBS News that the war in Iran is “almost over.”
Trump previously discussed the conflict in Iran with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as well as the war in Ukraine, among other topics, according to the Russian president's adviser, Yuri Ushakov.
