Trump Defends Iran War Costs and Dismisses Financial Impact on Americans

President Donald Trump stated that he would "never apologize" for the military conflict with Iran, minimizing the financial burden it has placed on citizens and maintaining that higher gas prices are a necessary trade-off to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Speaking at the David S. Mack Center for Training and Intelligence in Garden City, New York, on Friday, Samuel Corum/Getty Images captured his remarks where he asserted, "I did the right thing."

Addressing the economic impact, President Donald Trump remarked, "For you to pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline, just remember… we don’t want to have them have a nuclear weapon."

Latest Developments

• Strait of Hormuz: President Donald Trump announced intentions to declare the strait a US territory after concluding military actions against Iran. Tehran strongly rejected this, with the deputy foreign minister stating the waterway cannot be seized through executive orders, tweets, campaign speeches, or aircraft carriers. Maritime intelligence indicates traffic remains severely restricted at below a fifth of pre-war levels with no secure shipping routes.
• Costly Proposal: Establishing the Strait of Hormuz as a US territory would require an indefinite troop presence, contradicting earlier promises of a brief war. Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi noted that Tehran has not yet determined whether to restart negotiations with the US.
• Conflicting Messages: While President Donald Trump defends the military intervention, mixed signals emerge from his administration. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt emphasized that maintaining low gas prices and blocking a nuclear-armed Iran are equally vital priorities. Conversely, Vice President JD Vance stated that affordable energy is "goal number one," while preventing a nuclear-armed Iran ranks as "goal number two."
• Crew Welfare Concerns: According to a serving sailor and two US officials, a second sailor from the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group went overboard last spring, following a previous incident in early August involving a sailor jumping into the water during a mental health crisis. President Donald Trump dismissed concerns from service members' families regarding carrier conditions, describing the lengthy deployment as "not nearly long enough."

Reporting contributions were made by CNN’s Laura Sharman, Aida Karimi, Mitchell McCluskey, Kit Maher, Julia Benbrook, Pamela Brown, Shoshana Dubnow, Haley Britzky, Issy Ronald, Eleni Giokos, Mustafa Qadri, and Mohammed Tawfeeq.