Dimon defends Iran war but acknowledges ‘short-term risks’

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon defended the war in Iran in an interview published Tuesday, while acknowledging the “short-term risks” for the economy.

Speaking to Jim VandeHei on “The Axios Show,” Dimon pointed out that the Iranian regime has been “killing people around the world for 45-plus years,” including “a lot of Americans.” 

He added that the regime has funded terror groups such as Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, and was continuing its development of long-range ballistic missiles and “never gave up” on building a nuclear weapon.

“Does it create all this uncertainty? Absolutely,” Dimon said of the war. “Does it create more short-term risks for the oil prices? Absolutely. I’m praying it ends well. I don’t know everything the American government knows.”

In justifying the war, which the U.S. military launched alongside Israeli forces on Feb. 28, President Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and administration officials have said the goal is to destroy Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities and prevent the regime from ever being able to build a nuclear weapon. 

In response to U.S. and Israeli strikes, the Iranian government has restricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil flows. 

That has resulted in global energy prices increasing, with Americans seeing that trickle-down effect at the pump: the national average price of a gallon of regular gas surpassed $4 on Tuesday for the first time since 2022, the year that Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Iranian blockade of the passageway has also impacted the supply of liquefied natural gas and fertilizer, but Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told host Maria Bartiromo Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” last week that 80 percent of U.S. farmers purchased their fertilizer by last year in preparation for the spring. 

Despite the economic impacts, Dimon noted that the U.S. military has “been planning things like this extensively in a lot of detail,” and expressed hope that the war will have a positive impact on the region. 

Nearly 1,600 Iranian civilians, including at least 244 children, have been killed since the conflict began as of Tuesday, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. Meanwhile, seven U.S. service members have been killed by Iranian retaliation and six died when a refueling aircraft crashed in Iraq on March 12.

“I literally hope it turns out well and that somehow we get peace in the Middle East permanently,” Dimon remarked.

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