U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Health Care Affordability Event in the Oval Office of the White House on April 23, 2026, in Washington, DC.
Brendan Smialowski AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump said Thursday that Americans should expect higher gas prices “for some time” as a result of the Iran war, but he did not specify a timing.
But President Trump said he was in no hurry to reach a peace deal with Iran and insisted the war would have a modest impact on both stocks and stock prices. crude oil price More than he expected.
“To be honest with you, the stock market is at an all-time high right now. I thought it would have been down 20, 25 percent,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked how long the war would last.
“I thought oil was probably going to go up to $200 a barrel. And oil is a much different number than what anyone thought,” Trump said. “In fact, it’s much cheaper in this country (compared to other countries) because we have all the oil we can use.”
Brent crude oil futures rose about 3% on Thursday, closing at $105.07 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate futures rose about 3% to close at $95.85. Brent crude oil prices rose from about $72 per barrel on the day before the war to nearly $120.
President Trump insisted on Thursday that in return for a temporary price increase, a final deal would be reached that would prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, saying Iran would “try to blow up one of our cities or blow up the entire Middle East.”
President Trump’s confident comments come as a majority of Americans say they have cut spending due to hardship, according to the latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey released Thursday morning.
Since the war began, gas prices have increased more than 30% to more than $4 a gallon, according to AAA.
The majority of survey respondents also said they expected price increases to continue for at least six months.
Since the United States and Israel first attacked Iran on February 28, the Trump administration has repeatedly said it expects the war to last about four to six weeks.
But now, as the conflict nears the end of its second month, President Trump has tweaked the schedule.
“I removed this country militarily. We removed it militarily for the first four weeks. What we’re doing now is waiting and waiting to see what kind of deal we can come to,” Trump said of Iran in the Oval Office.
“And if they don’t want to make a deal, I will end it militarily with the remaining 25% of targets,” he said.
“I don’t want to rush. I want to take my time,” he later said. “We have plenty of time.”
President Trump has repeatedly boasted that Iran’s military, including its navy, has been destroyed. He also claimed that the United States has “full control” of the Strait of Hormuz, which was closed by Iranian attacks during the war and more recently by the United States’ retaliatory naval blockade of Iranian ports.
In his remarks Thursday, he claimed he rejected Iran’s offer to reopen the strait because blocking it would increase financial pressure for a deal.
“They would have opened up three days ago,” Trump said of Iran. “They came to us and said, ‘We agree to open the Strait.'”
“So I was the one who kept it closed. We have full control over it and when they come to an agreement or something else very positive happens, it will open up,” he said.
