President Donald Trump told a crowd in Nassau County, New York, on Friday that he plans to make the Strait of Hormuz a U.S. territory as the two countries continue to spar over control of the strait.
The president has traded barbs and missile strikes with Tehran regarding the flow of regional commerce through the international waterway since peace talks with Iran broke down last month.
Speaking Friday on Long Island, Trump declared that “after we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated, pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.
“We’re doing really good. We’re doing good in every way,” the president said. “You know, I built the military, and now I used it a little bit more than I wanted to, frankly, but that’s okay because we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. We can’t let Iran keep going. They would have had a nuclear. If we didn’t hit the b2 bombers, if we didn’t hit them, you would have had a nuclear weapon, and it would have been a very sad day for this country and for the entire world.”
Trump’s comments came one day after Vice President JD Vance acknowledged the domestic political pressure the administration is facing over elevated oil and gas prices amid the stalled negotiations.
Trump again argued Friday that the higher prices are justified based on the White House’s strategic goals for the war.
“For you to pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline, just remember you’re doing it so that a very evil country cannot have a country,” Trump told the crowd. “We don’t want to have them have a nuclear weapon. So remember that when you have to pay a little bit more. You’re at $4. It’s OK. I mean — I’m not. I’ll never apologize. I did the right thing.”
“You just have to remember that what we’re doing is a great service for the world, not only for ourselves, for the world, and we’re really doing a great job,” he said.
VANCE SAYS ‘GOAL NO. 1’ OR IRAN WAR IS TO LOWER GAS PRICES
You can watch Trump’s comments in full below.