O’Reilly: Trump needs Iran win to become a ‘victor’

Conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly said Wednesday that President Trump “needs to win” the U.S. conflict with Iran, when asked about the war’s negative impact on Trump’s approval ratings.

“See, if he wins in Iran, the equation changes because he becomes the victor, and to the victor go the spoils, as the cliché goes,” O’Reilly said in an appearance on NewsNation, the Hill’s sister network.

The public’s perception of Trump has taken a hit since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran at the end of February. The conflict has placed a strain on the global economy, and Trump’s explicative-filled threats to Tehran have drawn pushback from even those within his political base. 

A recent Marquette Law School poll found that only 32 percent of Americans approve of the president’s handling of the war with Iran, while 68 percent disapproved. 

O’Reilly said the White House is focused on securing an agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear production and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has imposed a naval blockade in the waterway amid a temporary ceasefire agreement with Iran. 

The former Fox News host also noted that the strait’s reopening could garner Trump “a lot of currency.”

“I expect oil prices would then come down very quickly,” he told NewsNation. “So, it’s not big, it’s not can’t-get-out-of-it, it’s still a cliff hanger.”

Under typical conditions, around a fifth of the world’s oil consumption flows through the strait on a daily basis. Iranian counterstrikes in the region and Trump’s blockade have effectively closed the waterway, spiking global energy rates. 

A recent Quinnipiac University’s poll found that a majority of U.S. voters blame Trump for rising gas prices resulting from these hiked energy costs. 

The White House has brushed off concerns about rising costs as “short term” pains. 

“Don’t forget, we’re having some fake inflation because of the fuel, the energy prices,” the president told a crowd in Las Vegas last week. 

On Thursday, the president said that he had ordered the U.S. navy, who are imposing the blockade, to “shoot and kill” any boat that is discovered laying mines in the waterway. 

His administration initiated de-mining efforts in the strait earlier this month, setting a path for the waterway’s safe reopening. 

Trump called for the efforts to continue at a “tripled up level” in a Thursday post on Truth Social. 

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