President Trump stated he has no personal concern regarding the recent surge in gasoline prices tied to the ongoing conflict with Iran. Speaking to Reuters, the president dismissed the financial impact on American drivers, asserting that market stability would return once the hostilities conclude.
“I don’t have any concern about it,” Trump said. “They’ll drop very rapidly when this is over, and if they rise, they rise, but this is far more important than having gasoline price go up a little bit.”
Data from GasBuddy shows the national average for a gallon of gas reached $3.25 on Thursday afternoon. This represents a jump of more than 26 cents in a single week, with analysts expecting the upward trend to persist as the regional crisis deepens.
While the White House remains focused on the military front, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Thursday on a measure intended to restrict the president’s ability to engage in further military action against Iran without explicit congressional approval.
This follows a similar effort that failed to pass in the Senate a day earlier.
The resolution, introduced by GOP Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, directs the president “to remove United States Armed Forces from unauthorized hostilities in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Massie originally drafted the measure last June after the U.S. targeted Iranian nuclear facilities, though he delayed the vote following a brief ceasefire. Despite the bipartisan concerns, the resolution is widely expected to fail in the House, mirroring the Senate’s outcome.
Inside Iran, the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has triggered a high-stakes power vacuum.
Though the Assembly of Experts is legally tasked with choosing a successor, power is expected to be brokered by the Revolutionary Guard and senior clerics. Mojtaba Khamenei, the late leader’s second son, has emerged as the frontrunner. While he has never held elected office, he has spent years building a power base within the security establishment.
The instability has prompted the State Department to suspend operations at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City. In a formal statement, officials urged Americans to leave the country if safe to do so.
“While there have been no reported injuries to U.S. personnel, the safety of Americans abroad remains the highest priority,” the department said, advising those who cannot leave to shelter in place.
On the defensive front, NATO has moved to a “heightened” ballistic missile defense posture following the interception of a missile targeting Turkey on Wednesday. A NATO spokesperson confirmed that the Commander of NATO’s Air Command ordered the shift to counter “indiscriminate attacks” from Iran.
“In less than 10 minutes, NATO service members identified a threat to Allies, a ballistic missile, confirmed its trajectory, alerted land- and sea-based missile defence systems, and launched an interceptor to defeat the threat,” the spokesperson stated.
While Turkey is a NATO ally, the alliance has not yet invoked Article V, the collective defense clause stating that an attack on one member is an attack on all.
READ: Trump Taps Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin To Replace Kristi Noem At DHS
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