Gas prices rise 7.3 cents as oil passes $100 a barrel
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. conflict with Iran would end “immediately” after the November midterm elections and that gas and oil prices would not fall until then. Trump spoke to reporters at Joint Base Andrews before flying to Texas for the Republican Party’s midterm convention.
“I think the war’s going to end immediately after the election because [Iran] can’t hold out any longer,” Trump said.
Trump said Iran would continue the war to damage him politically. He said that after the election, “oil prices are going to be tumbling downward.”
“They’re desperate to try and affect the election so that we can get a nice weak group of people in there and leave them alone and let them have their nuclear weapon,” Trump said of Iran’s leaders.
Trump said there could be more negotiations with Iran, but added that “it’s not something we’re looking at.” The president has claimed multiple times over the past few months that a peace agreement was imminent, UPI reported.
UPI assessed that the conflict had “no apparent resolution in sight.” The conflict began at the end of February when U.S. and Israeli forces attacked Iran. Trump signed a memorandum of understanding to end the conflict in June, but the 60 days cited for peace talks in the agreement passed without progress.
Oil prices surpassed $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time since July. Goldman Sachs increased its projected chances that prices would rise to more than $120 a barrel.
AAA said gas prices rose 7.3 cents per gallon Wednesday, the biggest one-day increase since May. The nationwide average was $4.22 a gallon.
Earlier in the week, U.S. Central Command said it struck and destroyed five Iranian oil tankers after Iranian forces attacked a U.S. warship. Iran said it attacked U.S. destroyers and multiple oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.