President Donald Trump told oil tanker crews to “show some guts” as he pushed them to keep shipping through the Strait of Hormuz as his war against Iran rages.
The price of oil has skyrocketed as the ongoing conflict has disrupted shipping through one of the busiest chokepoints that connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
Oil prices soared past $100 on Monday for the first time in four years as producers in the Middle East started to cut output due to the Strait of Hormuz disruptions. Israel also attacked Iran’s oil depots over the weekend.
Despite shipments coming to a halt at the critical bottleneck just south of Iran in response to the U.S. strikes, Trump wants the tankers to keep pushing through as missiles fly overhead, according to a conversation he had with Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade.
The Fox News host discussed his call with the president on television on Monday morning.
“Here’s exactly what [Trump] said: ‘These ships should go through the Strait of Hormuz and show some guts. There’s nothing to be afraid of. They have no Navy. We sunk all their ships,” Kilmeade claimed.
“He went on to say: ‘Look, there is risk in the region, the region is volatile. There are launchers. There’s just about 150 left. That’s just about 20 percent of totals. They can’t regenerate. They can’t make any more, and we are in the region and we’re in it to act quickly on all these type of attacks,’” he continued on their talk.
The Fox News host suggested the U.S. would have the Navy “do some escorting,” but he argued that one tanker made it through successfully on Sunday night, and the president was urging, “Come on, guys.”
The price of gas has skyrocketed in the past week in response to the president’s war in Iran. The national average for a gallon of gas hit $4.45, according to GasBuddy.com, up more than 51 cents from a week ago when the war began.
The stock market took a massive tumble early on Monday, with the Dow dropping more than 700 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both dipped more than one percent.
But Trump insisted late Sunday that the surge in oil prices would only be temporary as investor fears of stagflation and slower growth escalate.
“Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!”
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