Trump Says the Strait of Hormuz Is ‘Sort of Open’ Right Now

 

President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz was “sort of open” when asked if he was finally close to a deal with Iran to end the war.

As U.S. oil reserves hit lows not seen since the 1980s, the Trump administration is scrambling to keep gas prices down ahead of the midterm elections and quickly end the war with Iran.

“And Mr. President, Republicans are arguing a lot right now about affordability. What is your message on affordability going into the midterms?” a reporter asked Trump.

“Well, that’s a good question, but it’s sort of simple to answer. I inherited the highest prices ever. I inherited worst inflation in the history of our country. And we have done an amazing job. And oil prices now are coming down very rapidly. If you look at what’s going on, it’s down to 75,” Trump replied, adding:

Started the very important excursion into the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was a very important exclusion because they can’t have a nuclear weapon. Otherwise, the whole world would get blown up. We’re not gonna let that happen. Not only us, not only the Middle East, the whole world. It would have been catastrophic. We had no choice.

And we had oil down to less than two in many places, like Iowa. Oil was down, gasoline was down, at numbers that people hadn’t seen in years — $1.85, $1.95. So it passed Tuesday. I was in Iowa at a stop, and we had $1.95, another one, $1.85 a gallon. And we’ll see those days pretty soon again, based on everything I see, as soon as the war ends. And I think it’s gonna end pretty soon. I don’t think they can go much longer. Yeah, please.

Another off-camera reporter jumped in to ask, “Has a deal been reached to reopen the Strait of Hormuz?”

“Well, I don’t want to say it has been. It’s sort of open right now. You know, we have a thing called the blockade, headed up by the U.S. Navy, and we control it. And now we control — but they can always shoot something,” Trump replied, adding:

They always have something, or drop a mine. And if you have one mine sitting out there, you sort of mess things up, because people don’t wanna take their billion-dollar boats and accidentally get hit by a mine. But I think we’re doing very well. I just, you know, I’m involved in the negotiation. I think it’s doing fine. It could be soon.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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Alex Griffing is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Send tips via email: alexanderg@mediaite.com. Follow him on Twitter: @alexgriffing