Lower oil prices, winning the war, the Strait will be American, tremendous.

So here’s what happened. BEAUTIFUL day — and the Strait of Hormuz, the most important waterway in the world, the BEST waterway, is going to be American. I said it on Friday. After we finish defeating Iran, very soon, the Strait will be under the American flag. The White House said I was kidding. I wasn’t kidding. I was also kidding. Both. The Strait is going to be tremendous.

Treasury Secretary Bessent — a MAN, very strong man, the STRONGEST — he called for a “one-two punch” with the naval blockade — the biggest blockade in the history of the world, bigger than any blockade Lincoln ever did, the historians are saying — and I love the one-two punch, I invented the one-two punch, or maybe my uncle the great professor at MIT invented it, the MIT genes, the SMARTEST genes — Bessent said more sanctions are coming next week. More sanctions. The most sanctions. The very best sanctions. The thing is, very simple thing, the one-two punch is actually a one-two-three-four-five-six-SEVEN punch, and each one is bigger than the last, and the last one is the biggest because nobody sees it coming.

So here’s the situation. Before the war the Strait had more than one hundred and thirty ships a day. ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY. The most ships, the most beautiful ships. Now thirteen. Thirteen ships on Thursday, and the trackers at Kpler — very smart people, the best ship trackers, very sophisticated — have it right here. When you WIN, the other side can’t ship. Very simple. The art of the deal. Beautiful. Of those thirteen, nine took the IRANIAN route, the Iranian-administered route, the route WE set up, the most beautiful route. Iran is collecting fees. We should be collecting fees. Very soon. Tremendous fees. The biggest fees.

Now here’s the part that gets a little tricky, and I want to be very honest because I always tell the truth, the very best truth. Vice President JD — very loyal guy, tremendous, one of my best people — JD went on Fox News and said goal number one is LOWER OIL PRICES. Not defeating the regime. Not stopping the nuclear program. Lower oil prices. That’s the war aim now. The press secretary, Karoline — very smart, very loyal — she said the goals are EQUALLY important. Both goal number one. Very clear.

I have the best memory. The best. I always said this war was about oil prices. Always. I was the first. Long before Bessent. Long before the generals. The first to say it. They remember. Believe me. The Crisis Group analyst — very low-IQ guy, Ali Vaez — he said Iran thinks America swerves first. He’s a low-IQ person. He doesn’t understand chess. I’m playing 4D chess. The sanctions are 4D chess. The blockade is 4D chess. The Strait remark was 4D chess, the highest level chess. People are saying, the very smart people, the best people, they’re saying the Strait remark was GENIUS. Because Iran now has to think about it. They’ll think about it for years. They’re sitting in Tehran — terrible city, no good restaurants — and they’re thinking, is he joking? Is he not joking? Nobody knows. That’s the trap. Beautiful trap. The biggest trap in history. They walked right into it.

Iran struck two UAE ships on Thursday. Beautiful ships, Abu Dhabi National Oil, tremendous company, FAR better than anyone gives them credit for. That’s six strikes this month. SIX. Why? Because they’re LOSING. When you lose, you attack ships. That’s what losers do. Iran is losing. Miad Maleki, very smart man, tremendous analyst, was at Treasury, the best Treasury — he said Iran’s oil exports dropped from TWO MILLION barrels a day, the most oil, the biggest, before the April blockade, down to near zero, basically nothing, a beautiful nothing. They can’t get it. Iran needs twenty-nine million liters of gasoline a day. Twenty-nine million. The most beautiful number. They’re rationing fuel, rationing electricity, restricting dollars, cutting investment. Rationing! That’s not a strategy. That’s a burial. The more they dig in, the more buried they get. Very simple math. The BEST math. Math that nobody else can do. Some people at the International Crisis Group — Ali Vaez, they say, a tremendous name — they say “existential threats harden resolve.” Resolve! As if resolve feeds people. Resolve doesn’t fill a gas tank.

The Defense Secretary — Pete Hegseth, a TOUGH man, the toughest — he said the Navy can sustain the blockade INDEFINITELY. Indefinitely. The longest word. The best word. Now they’re swapping the USS Abraham Lincoln, beautiful ship, tremendous carrier, for the USS George Washington, also tremendous, also the best, because the men are tired, very tired, but tough, the toughest tired men, and the strain on the Lincoln is tremendous. We’re rotating them, very smart, very strong. Everything is tremendous.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister — Kazem Gharibabadi, beautiful name — he said the Strait of Hormuz “has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian.” Iranian! As if it were Iranian. I don’t joke about territory. I don’t joke about the greatest strait in history. But if it was a joke, it was a beautiful joke, because we are not even joking, we are SERIOUS, the most serious.

Iran wants us to end the war. They want us to lift the blockade. They want sanctions relief. They want their frozen cash unfrozen. Beautiful list. The most beautiful list. Every item on that list is what they can’t have. We are going to give them the opposite of every item, and the opposite is the best gift, the greatest gift, believe me.

We had a deal in June. A tremendous deal, the most beautiful deal — financial rewards if Iran reopened the strait, the best rewards, rewards nobody else could offer. Iran walked away. Very sad. Now there’s no deal because they couldn’t handle the deal. Did I have anything to do with that? No. I never met these Iranian guys. I had nothing to do with it. I never do. I am the greatest deal-maker in the history of the world, and I had nothing to do with the deal collapsing. The smart people, the very smart people, they understand this.

When the inventories run out — and they will run out, very fast, faster than anyone thinks — the price goes to two hundred, three hundred, four hundred dollars a barrel. That’s not me. That’s the market. Tremendous market. The biggest market. And then EVERYBODY comes to me. They come to me. They always come to me. They say, Sir, Sir, please save us, Sir. And I say, yes, but at a price. A tremendous price. The art of the deal.

Eurasia Group, very smart group, the best analysts, they’re saying another crisis is coming, another closure, very high risk through the rest of 2026. That’s what I want. That’s what we’ve been waiting for. Some people — and I am not naming names, some people, the people who are very jealous of my winning — some people say the central question is who blinks first. WHO BLINKS FIRST. What a question. What a beautiful question. The answer is very simple. The people who think we are going to blink first are going to blink first. They’ve been blinking for five months. The trap is the biggest trap in history, and the cost of the war so far is what it is because the deal is coming, the deal is always coming, the best deal, by far.

Nobody else could do what I do. Nobody. Very few people could have done it, believe me.

The plan is working. The plan has always been working. The plan will continue to work. The plan is the BEST plan.

We’re going to win so much you’re going to get tired of winning.