By Emmanuel Bobby
President Donald Trump said Monday that the ongoing war in Iran could be short-lived, describing the conflict as a limited military action while also warning that the United States would escalate its response if a key oil shipping route in the Middle East is threatened.
“We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil. And I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion,” Trump said. “How good is our military, right? Amazing. How good? Short term. Short term.”
Trump made the remarks while speaking to House Republicans and political donors at his resort outside Miami. Republican leaders and supporters are gathering there for a three-day meeting focused on their legislative priorities and strategy ahead of the November midterm elections, an agenda that has been heavily overshadowed by the war with Iran.
“This was just an excursion into something that had to be done. We’re getting very close to finishing that,” Trump said.
His comments came a day after global crude oil prices surged above $100 per barrel for the first time since July 2022, fueling concerns about the war’s economic impact. According to AAA, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States has risen to $3.48, compared with $2.90 a month earlier.
Speaking later at a news conference alongside U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, Trump again suggested that the conflict could end soon.
“It’s going to be ended soon,” the president said.
However, Trump declined to provide a specific timeline when asked for details. When pressed about how his optimism squared with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s comments during a television interview that the attacks were “only just the beginning,” Trump said both views could be true.
“We could call it a tremendous success right now — as we leave here, I could call it — or we could go further, and we’re going to go further,” he said.
Trump also addressed concerns that Iran could attempt to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical oil transit routes. He warned that the United States would respond with overwhelming force if Iranian forces attacked vessels in the area.
“So the Strait of Hormuz is going to remain safe. We have a lot of Navy ships there. We have the best equipment in the world,” Trump said. “But we will hit them so hard it will not be possible for them or anybody else helping them ever recover that section of the world.”
Later Monday evening, Trump reinforced those threats in a post on Truth Social, warning that Iran would be struck “twenty times harder” if it interfered with the flow of oil through the strait.
“We will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back as a nation again — Death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them — But I hope, and pray, that it does not happen,” Trump wrote. He added that protecting the waterway would benefit countries heavily dependent on oil shipments through the passage, including China.
Trump was also asked about a video circulating online that appears to show a U.S. Tomahawk missile striking an area where more than 170 people were reportedly killed at a girls’ school in Iran. The president said he had not seen the footage and suggested, without providing evidence, that the missile might have been fired by another country.
“The Tomahawk, which is one of the most powerful weapons around, is sold and used by other countries,” Trump said. “Whether it’s Iran or somebody else, the fact that a Tomahawk is used is very generic.”
He added that the incident is currently under investigation by the Defense Department.
“Whatever the report shows, I’m willing to live with that report,” Trump said.
During the news conference, Trump was also asked whether there were any disagreements between him and Vice President JD Vance regarding the war. Trump acknowledged that Vance had been somewhat less enthusiastic about launching military strikes against Iran.
“We get along very well on this,” Trump said. “He was, I would say, philosophically a little bit different than me. I think he was maybe less enthusiastic, but he was quite enthusiastic. I felt it was something we had to do.”
So far, seven U.S. service members have been killed in the conflict, while another died in the region following a medical incident. Asked how many casualties he would be willing to tolerate, Trump pointed to conversations he had with the families of the fallen troops.
“When you have conflicts like this, you always have death,” Trump said. “I was at Dover yesterday. I met the parents, and they were unbelievable people. But they all had one thing in common. They said to me: ‘Finish the job, sir, please finish the job.’”
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