Trump Claims U.S. Economy Strongest Ever Amid Rising Petrol Prices

President Donald Trump addressed the nation on Wednesday evening, highlighting what he described as major achievements in both foreign policy and the U.S. economy.

For the first time in four years, the average cost of petrol in the U.S. has surpassed $4 per gallon. In the UK, this translated to 152.8p per litre, a 20p increase since the conflict with Iran began. Some stations have even listed diesel at 200p per litre. Trump referred to the price surge as a “short term increase” linked to attacks by Iran on commercial oil tankers in neighbouring countries.

“The short term increase has been entirely the result of the Iranian regime launching deranged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers in neighbouring countries that have nothing to do with the conflict,” Trump said.

He reassured Americans about the state of the economy. “The United States has never been better prepared economically to confront this threat. You all know that we built the strongest economy in history. We’re going through it right now, the strongest in history,” he added.

Trump also paid tribute to allies, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain, and honoured the 13 U.S. soldiers who lost their lives in the conflict. “We salute them, and now we must honour them by completing the mission for which they gave their lives. And every single one of the people, their loved ones said ‘please, sir, please finish the job,’ every one of them. And we are going to finish the job,” he said.

The president outlined that the main goal of U.S. and Israel-led strikes was to eliminate Iran’s nuclear capabilities, not to pursue regime change. “That goal has been attained. They do not have nuclear weapons. Regime change was not a goal,” Trump said.

According to Al Jazeera’s death toll tracker, over 1,900 people have died in Iran from U.S. and Israel-led strikes, with additional casualties in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Israel, Palestine, and Gulf nations. Thirteen U.S. military personnel were also killed.

Trump indicated that the conflict could conclude in “two or three weeks,” asserting that Iran would not need to make a deal with the U.S. to end hostilities.