Iran warns Americans to stockpile gas, says 'dark months lie ahead'

The new warning from Iran, threatening a multi-layered and asymmetrical response to the United States. The country's vice president warning, and I quote the Post, Americans should start thinking about selling gasoline and buying a house for the economy. It comes as America's president and vice president aren't even on the same page over the most basic thing there is, whether this is a war. Now we have a war with Iran. You know, we just hit him again last night. I don't, I wouldn't call it a war. You know, those comments aired at nearly the exact same time, which is pretty stunning. And Vance, as you heard, says there's no active shooting taking place. Keep in mind, Iran has targeted a number of U.S. bases just over the past 72 hours. I mean, these are bases in Jordan, Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain and Iraq, all targeted missiles. I mean, Jordan says it's intercepted at least 18 ballistic missiles. You know, in just these past few days. So obviously that's an active shooting situation, not a flare up, which Vance went on to later refer to the situation as. Vance also sought to downplay Iran's capabilities to cause havoc in the United States with cyber attacks. Listen to this. If you look at the Iranian ability to disrupt the normal lives of Americans, I think it's quite limited. It's not zero, but it's quite limited. Now, of course, the question was about cyber attacks. But the downplaying of the impact on Americans is obviously significant. I mean, the war with Iran is driving up gas prices. They now average more than $4 a gallon. Before the war, it was just below $3. The average price of diesel hitting a new record today. Borrowing costs have spiked some of the highest level in years because of a sell off in the bond market. I mean, just look at the 10 year treasury from the day one of the war until now. It's not a slope anybody wants to be looking at. Mortgage rates hitting a new high, closing in on 7 percent this year. That is disruptive. And it is important to remember what lies days ahead here. I mean, the midterms. Trump was asked if this is a problem before the crucial vote that will determine who controls Congress. There's a communications problem, though, isn't there, in terms of going into the midterms and making sure that the American voters understand the objective. We have to explain to the American people. You know, it's interesting. When people say, are you glad you did it, I said, absolutely, because I stopped them from having a nuclear weapon. Remember, Trump claims that the United States did that back in 2025 during Operation Midnight Hammer. I mean, remember this? Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. It was obliterated like nobody's ever seen before. And then, of course, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, testified after those strikes that Iran had made no efforts to rebuild its nuclear program. This all comes as Vance came to Hegseth's defense after concerns that the defense secretary's The latest to resign because of Hegseth, of course, is Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. Do you share any of the concerns of Secretary Driscoll and several Republican lawmakers about the current state of the Army, specifically about the departure of so many generals and other top officials? Dan is obviously a very good friend of mine. I think he was a great secretary of the Army. Pete is also a very good friend of mine, and I think he's an amazing secretary of war. There are a lot of issues where I agree with Pete on. The issue where I'm in the most strident agreement with Pete is that we needed to have a culture shift at the Department of War. People didn't want to join a woke military. Hegseth has talked a lot about a woke military. In fact, it's core to pretty much every single thing he says. He's been trying to remake it to fit his ideals and his perception of masculinity, the warrior ethos that he says again and again. In fact, that now explicitly includes testosterone screenings for some U.S. troops. Ensuring you have the right testosterone levels to operate at your absolute best. It's about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities. Well, those guidelines, which just came out, also included asking female service members if they have any symptoms of hormonal dysregulation. Now, no sooner had these guidelines gone up, though, than they were taken down, all in one day. Notice they were up. All of a sudden, they were taken down. The Defense Department says they were rescinded to allow for updates, and we're waiting to see what happens there. Does anyone in this administration at this point put any blame on Hegseth for where the war is right now and some of the issues facing the military? Erin, it seems as though anyone who blames Hegseth or even is skeptical or has questions about what Hegseth is doing has been either fired or resigned, and that's what made this so interesting in terms of Vance's answer. Dan Driscoll is not just any old friend. He was a classmate of Vance. Vance was critical in getting him put into that position. I've talked to a number of people who say that he remains in his inner circle, but he did squarely back Hegseth, essentially keeping focus multiple times on this idea of a culture shift. Now, that's at the same time that we're hearing from these military officials in the Pentagon who say that that very culture shift, that focus that Hegseth has on this woke military is part of what is harming the U.S. military because he's not focused on what they believe should be the priorities of the U.S. military. Now, it comes also as President Trump was in the Rose Garden praising Hegseth, saying that during the strikes the evening before he had been on the phone with Hegseth, saying wasn't that great, talking about Pete and praising him to lawmakers. So clearly right now the administration is fully behind the secretary of defense. Now, at the exact same time, we see Vance kind of trying to distance himself and distance the administration from this war, saying it's not even a war. But yet he couldn't give basic answers on what any sort of timeline would look like, not just about the war, but also about how it's impacting Americans. He would ask specifically about the price at the pump, not being able to give a timeline on when Americans might be able to see those gas prices going down. Now, it does seem as though this administration is keenly aware of how unpopular this war is, and they are trying to separate, at least give some space between what's happening in Iran, what we are seeing with our own eyes, and the administration's involvement as we head into those midterm elections. The statement out of Iran's vice president today, the quote, Americans should start thinking about stockpiling gasoline and fuel. Dark months lie ahead for the U.S. economy. You sit on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, right? So when there's a comment like that, stockpiling gasoline and fuel, that's the area that you oversee. So do you take that seriously? Is there a risk? And, you know, I mean, look, we look at situations, even the SPR, things like that, that are dramatically depleted. Should Americans be stockpiling gas and fuel? I mean, half my constituents can't afford to stockpile gasoline. Gasoline has gone up by about 40 percent, and that's not calculating even diesel and fertilizer as inputs to food, which is why groceries are going up as well. I absolutely take seriously the detrimental impacts on my constituents from this catastrophic failed war. It's not just expensive, it's also alienating for the United States. We are more alone and we are more weak than we have been this century, and our adversaries see it. What they see is purges at the Department of Defense. What they see is a president who talks tough and then backs down repeatedly. What they see is munitions at dangerously low levels. What they see is the United States unable to project military strength as it formerly did, and they are seizing that opportunity. So President Trump today posts, Congressman, on social media a defense of the U.S. weapons stockpile situation. In fact, he writes, and I quote, we have virtually unlimited amounts of mid to high ammunition far more than we could ever use for this or for any other war. He said anyone not saying that is, quote, treasonous, all caps, scum. Now, I don't know, Congressman, what word games are being played here. Are we talking about ammunition as in literally bullets, and so, or is he actually referring to the reality, right, which is what's happened to the U.S. military stockpiles of weapons that are used in an actual hot war, which would include the fact that the U.S. has burned through nearly four-fifths of its THAAD missile inventory, half of its global Tomahawk inventory, according to Reuters. Are you concerned about stockpiles? Yes. We're already seeing leading-edge impacts in Ukraine. Increasingly, they are unable to defend their airspace against Russian attacks just when Ukraine had the momentum against Russia because of our depletion of munitions. Now, when the president makes that statement, I don't know if he is lying or if he just is being misled by his secretary of defense. Both are scary, though, in different ways. My prediction for what's going to happen after these elections, though, is that the vice president is going to try to bust-toss Pete Hegseth, because the vice president wants to be president. The vice president already negotiated a catastrophically bad memorandum of understanding with Iran. The vice president is trying to outrun how unpopular this war is, and he is going to throw Pete Hegseth under the bus. And when that happens, Democrats need to be ready to conduct oversight and investigations of Pete Hegseth such that he squeals on the rest of the administration. Because he's a squealer, Aaron. You can tell with some people. This guy is going to be pointing fingers, and we are going to be able to unravel through investigations all of the mess and morass of the Department of Defense.