President Donald Trump offered some advice to the nation early Monday morning as the United States and Iran renewed hostilities amid a fragile ceasefire. "Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end," the president wrote on Truth Social at 1:02 a.m. "It always does!"
Trump insisted that Iran "really wants to make a deal" to end the three-month-old war, then attacked his critics: "But don't the Dumocrats, and various seemingly unpatriotic Republicans, understand that it is MUCH tougher for me to properly do my job and negotiate, when political hacks keep negatively 'chirping,' at levels never seen before, over and over again, that I should move faster, or move slower, or go to war, or not go to war, or whatever."
Trump's Early War Predictions
Trump initially anticipated the war would last "four to five weeks," and insisted in early March that the effort was "substantially ahead of our time projections." He has also repeatedly declared victory.
"We've won," he said on March 11. "Let me tell you, we've won. You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won. In the first hour it was over. But we won."
"We've won this," he insisted about two weeks later. "This war has been won."
Economic Impact of the Conflict
Trump has also insisted that Iran would end its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital passageway for about 20% of the world's oil that has effectively come to a standstill. As a result, the price of crude oil is about 50% higher than it was before the war, which in turn has led to higher fuel prices for U.S. motorists as well as a spike in inflation.
Trump earlier this month said none of that's a factor in his negotiations with Iran. "I don't think about Americans' financial situation, I don't think about anybody," he said last month. "I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon."
