US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the war with Iran will be over "very soon", dismissing elevated fuel prices as "artificial" and "a little bit high" but "a small price to pay" for global security.
Trump said, "It's a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe. They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay and it's going to be over with very soon. It's essentially almost over with."
Trump on War/High Prices: It's just artificial. It's a little bit high. It's a small price to pay. They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego… https://t.co/RtOiv5tZBP
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 5, 2026
He said Iran "might keep going a little long", adding: "They always say they have a big threshold for pain. They need it. Let me tell you, they need it. But it's going to end very soon and it'll end one way or the other."
Trump also claimed the US was winning in the war.
"By the way, we're kicking Iran's ass. You do know that, right?" he said, before promising relief on prices. "It's going to end very soon and your prices are going to come tumble. All your prices have been tumbling down. In fact, oil is less than it was under Biden, just so you understand."
He cast the campaign as a global safeguard claiming Iran will not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapon.
Trump said, "We are saving this country from a problem and the Middle East and Israel and everybody. We're saving the world from what could be one of the worst tragedies ever. We're not going to let them have and they won't have. That's decided. They will not have."
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The remarks come in the seventh month of the US-Israel war against Iran, which Trump said at the outset would last a matter of weeks. The conflict has sharply slowed the flow of Gulf oil through the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world's petroleum passed before the war.
On September 9, Brent crude jumped more than 3% to cross $100 a barrel for the first time since July as exchanges between Washington and Tehran escalated.
The same day, Trump told reporters before travelling to Dallas for the Republican midterm convention that relief at the pump would have to wait. "Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward," he said, adding: "I think the war's going to end immediately after the election because they can't hold out any longer."
The week before, Trump had called the war "small potatoes", even as Republicans voiced concern that high gasoline prices and inflation could weigh on voters in November's midterm elections.
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