US President Donald Trump predicted that the war with Iran would end immediately after the November midterm elections, claiming the regime in Tehran was trying to hold out until the vote in the hope of weakening Republicans.
Trump made the remarks to reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland before departing for the Republican Party's midterm convention in Dallas, Texas.
Asked how he would explain the surge in energy prices to the American public after Brent crude again climbed above $100 a barrel, Trump replied, "I think it's very easy to explain to America, all you have to do is say: 'Will you let Iran have a nuclear weapon?' And the answer is no."
Trump painted a grim picture of conditions inside the Islamic Republic. "They're in very bad shape. Their country is destroyed now," he said. "As you probably saw by the numbers, they have 300% inflation. Their money is worthless. They're not paying their soldiers. We control the strait and a lot of other things."
Trump said prices would remain elevated for a short while longer but predicted the trend would reverse after the elections. "Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward. They're going to be tumbling down, and we'll get them down," he said. "I think for gasoline, we'll get them below $2 a gallon."
Asked whether that would happen before the midterm elections, Trump said, "I think it's going to take a little bit longer, after the midterms."
Referring to the latest strikes on Iranian assets, Trump confirmed that the US had carried them out. "The strikes are being done by us," he said. "We knocked out about nine of their tankers, and you're going to see a lot more."
"They are desperate to affect the election so that we have a nice, weak group that will leave them alone and let them have a nuclear weapon," Trump said. "All they want is a nuclear weapon, and if they have a nuclear weapon, the whole world is going to be in big trouble."
Asked whether he was still interested in reaching a nuclear agreement with Iran, Trump replied, "I'm doing much more than a nuclear deal. There's a lot more than nuclear. Nuclear will be there, that's 99.9%, but there are going to be a lot of other things on the table that weren't on the table three months ago."
He made clear, however, that restarting negotiations with Tehran was not currently a priority. "Frankly, we're not looking for it," Trump said. "Initially, I wanted to make a deal, but we've gone so far. They almost don't have a country left, so we're not looking for it. Yes, negotiations could take place, but it's not something we're looking at."
Trump also briefly addressed the decision by Britain, France and Canada to impose restrictions on products from Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria. "I just saw that, and I'll speak to Israel and find out what they think," he said. "I understand exactly what's going on, but I want to find out why this happened all of a sudden."
Trump's departure was briefly delayed after an inflatable emergency slide deployed on the presidential aircraft he received as a gift from Qatar.
Meanwhile, the older blue-and-white Air Force One was brought out and positioned several hundred yards behind the Qatari aircraft, with both its front and rear boarding stairs deployed, apparently in preparation for its possible use as a backup aircraft.
The White House initially offered no explanation for what was happening, but Trump told reporters that the slide was being inspected and that crews "want to make sure everything works perfectly." Asked whether the aircraft was safe to fly, Trump replied, "Yeah, I am, or I wouldn't be on it."
After an inspection lasting about 15 minutes, Trump boarded the Qatari aircraft and departed for Dallas.
