Trump defends the costs of the war with Iran in Nebraska: the price of gasoline is a “small price for security”

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday evening defended the cost of the U.S. war with Iran, saying that the high price Americans are paying at the gasoline pumps is “a small price to pay to keep the world safe, to keep our country safe”, as Al Jazeera reports.

At the election rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, Trump addressed Americans under the pressure of rising fuel prices, fuelled by the war in Iran. “I remember, with the war, it’s just artificial. It’s a bit high. It’s a small price to pay for…”, he said, according to the reporting of Al Jazeera’s Washington correspondent, Kimberly Halkett.

Trump promised that the price of gasoline will fall below $1.85 a gallon “in a very short period”, suggesting that this could happen before the November 3 midterm elections or immediately after them. He also claimed, falsely according to Al Jazeera, that oil prices are lower now than during the Biden administration.

His comments about the consequences of “allowing” Iran to act sounded, according to Halkett, as if he were suggesting an Iranian attack on California — which he was not doing; but the evocation of the destruction of two American cities by an American president is unusual language, and according to the correspondent it may be a sign that Trump is increasingly under pressure to convince Americans that his war with Iran is justified. “Just so you understand, we are saving this country… and the world from what could be one of the worst tragedies ever”, he added, repeating that the U.S. will never allow Iran to have nuclear weapons.