Trump says he thought oil prices would be ‘much worse’ amid Iran war

President Trump on Tuesday doubled down on the fact that he thought oil prices would be “much worse” than they are now amid the Iran war.

“I mean, honestly, I thought there’d be much worse. And I was willing to do that to stop a nuclear weapon to be used against this country or the Middle East. Anybody in the Middle East, they were going to take out the Middle East to stop that,” Trump said during his interview that aired Wednesday on Fox Business’s “Mornings with Maria.”

“It was certainly worthwhile being much higher than it is right now. If you told me that we were going to be at only 92 a barrel, $92 a barrel, I would have been very surprised,” he added.

The interview with Bartiromo was not the first time the president expressed this sentiment, as he expressed the same thought last month, according to People.

As of Wednesday, mid-day, the Brent crude oil price was at $95.78 per barrel. 

However, the president said he expects prices to drop “tremendously” over the next few months and said he doesn’t expect that oil prices will be high during midterm elections. 

“When this is over I think the stock market is going to boom. It’s already booming …. Gas prices and gasoline are going to go down tremendously,” he told anchor Maria Bartiromo.

The issue of affordability has been at the center of his second administration, with Democrats hammering Trump over heightened gas and energy prices.

However, the president has insisted that he’s working to “permanently” open the Strait of Hormuz, which is responsible for a fifth of global oil transports. 

The U.S. began a blockade of Iranian ports this week, in response to Iran continuing to refuse to open the Strait.

Once the critical shipping channel is reopened, Middle Eastern countries hope to increase the output of oil to help drive down the spike in energy prices.

Last week, Trump mulled the formation of a “joint venture” with Iran to set up tolls in the Strait of Hormuz following a two-week ceasefire deal.

Since then, talks have fallen apart and have seemed to realign, with the president stating that negotiations could occur in the next two days. 

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