President Trump said Wednesday the war against Iran is turning out to be “easier than we thought” and predicted that soaring oil prices will plummet again, as the conflict threatens to upend his focus on the economy in a midterm election.
“We’ve won, let me tell you, we’ve won,” Mr. Trump said during a rally-style speech in Hebron, Kentucky. “You never like to say too early you won. In the first hour, it was over.”
Mr. Trump offered a positive view of the war’s trajectory despite the conflict flaring up in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital channel for oil, and the International Energy Agency deciding to tap 400 million barrels from strategic stockpiles to keep crude flowing around the world.
Oil prices, Mr. Trump said earlier Wednesday in Ohio, are “gonna come down more than anyone understands.”
The national average price for a gallon of gas has risen to $3.58, up from less than $3 a month ago. Mr. Trump is working to reassure the markets and American people that he is not waging another “forever war” in the Middle East.
Mr. Trump said the war was, “to put it mildly, way ahead of schedule.”
“We’ve knocked out just about everything there is, including [Iranian] leadership. Now they have a new group coming up. Let’s see what’s happens to them,” he said during a tour of Thermo Fisher Scientific in Cincinnati with company Chairman and CEO Marc Casper and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican.
Mr. Trump traveled to Ohio and Verst Logistics in Kentucky to tout his jobs and manufacturing agenda, pointing to workforce expansions in the heartland and foreign investments in U.S. projects.
“We finally have a president who puts American workers first,” Mr. Trump told the crowd in Kentucky.
But the Iran war has thrown a curveball into the economy.
Wall Street and oil prices have been on a roller-coaster ride since Mr. Trump and Israel launched the military operation against Iran on Feb. 28.
Tehran retaliated by striking oil-rich Gulf states and clamping down on the Strait of Hormuz. Projectiles hit three vessels near the strait on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 300 points on Wednesday as the Brent crude benchmark price rose nearly 5% to reach almost $92 per barrel.
Democrats are campaigning on the high cost of gas and everyday goods.
“Americans are tired of this president putting his own ego first, while he jeopardizes American lives abroad and leaves working families here at home to fend for themselves,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin.
IEA, an energy agency composed of 32 member nations, said Wednesday it would release 400 million barrels of oil to alleviate price pressures from the war in Iran.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have “all but stopped” and Middle East oil refineries have been caught in the crossfire of the conflict.
It is unclear if the stockpile release will be able to make up for the 20 million barrels that travel the strait each day.
“To be clear, the most important thing for a return to stable flows of oil and gas is the resumption of transit through the Strait of Hormuz,” Mr. Birol said.
Asked if ships should still use the waterway, Mr. Trump said: “I think they should.”
“I think they should use it,” Mr. Trump said as he departed the White House. “We took out just about all of [Iran’s] mine ships in one night.”
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the U.S. would release 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of the effort.
Mr. Trump frequently boasts that he filled the stockpile after Biden-era drawdowns, and Mr. Wright said the administration planned to ’more than replace’ what’s taken from the SPR.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said Mr. Trump should have acted sooner.
“Trump is doing what I called for three days ago, after needlessly sowing additional chaos and uncertainty,” the New York Democrat said.
