President Trump said Thursday he figured the economic dent from his “excursion” into Iran would be even more unpleasant and predicted that high oil prices and other turbulence will be short-lived.
“I thought it would be worse — much worse, actually. And it’s going to be over pretty soon,” he said during an Oval Office meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Mr. Trump boasted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 50,000 a few weeks ago, but he felt Iran posed a threat to the region and wider world.
“Everything was going great,” he said. “I saw what was happening in Iran and I said, ‘I hate to make this excursion, but I have to do it.’”
Mr. Trump decided to join forces with Israel and launch the operation against Iran on Feb. 28 because he wanted to dismantle Iran’s missile program, stop it from getting a nuclear weapon and end Tehran’s support for terror proxies in the Middle East.
Iran retaliated by striking oil-rich Gulf countries and closing the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about 20% of the world’s oil supply.
Brent crude oil, an international benchmark, was trading at over $100 per barrel on Thursday.
Also that day, the national average price for a gallon of gas reached $3.88, up from just below $3 a month ago, according to the AAA motor club.
Mr. Trump said the pain will be worth it once the military operation ends.
“When it’s completed, we’re going to have a much safer world,” he said. “I wanted to put out that fire.”
