Trump says Iran war will end ‘very soon,’ predicts lower oil prices

• President Donald Trump, at a press conference at his golf club near Miami, the war against Iran will end “very soon” but not this week.
• He also predicted that oil prices, which had surged to above $100 per barrel due to fears that the Strait of Hormuz would remain effectively closed, will drop.
• Trump spoke earlier in the day to Russian leader Vladimir Putin about the war, which the U.S. and Israel began on Feb. 28.

President Donald Trump at a press conference on Monday said the war against Iran will end “very soon,” and also said that oil prices will drop.

Trump’s rosy prediction came after a weekend that saw the price of oil skyrocket to above $100 per barrel, roiling global financial markets.

“We’re achieving major strides toward completing our military objective,” Trump said nine days after launching the war on Iran with Israel on Feb. 28.

Trump, who with his deputies has offered shifting explanations of what the war’s objective is, did not on Monday detail his end game, instead touting military successes.

“We’ve wiped every single force in Iran out, very completely,” the president said at his Trump National Doral club near Miami, where he touted the destruction of more than 50 Iranian naval ships, and decimation of its air force and anti-aircraft defenses.

“They have no leadership. It’s all been blown up.”

Asked if the war would end this week, Trump said, “No,” but added, “Very soon.” He proceeded to threaten further military action if he deems it necessary and said the U.S. has not yet hit some of Iran’s most sensitive targets, including its electricity infrastructure.

Earlier Monday, an Iranian official suggested that any oil tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint for crude oil shipments, risked attack by Iran. Only a handful of commercial vessels are moving through the Strait, said Matt Smith, oil analyst at energy consulting firm Kpler.

Despite that threat, Trump said oil supplies will be more secure for the world in the long run because of the war and threatened to hit Iran even harder if it withholds crude from markets. While most of the oil that moves through the Strait of Hormuz is bound for Asia, the U.S. depends on a global supply that is heavy on imports from Asia.

“We will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them or anybody else helping them to ever recover that section of the world,” Trump said.

He also said that the war would be over when Iran no longer had the capacity to use weapons against the U.S., Israel and other allies for a long time.

Asked by a reporter to explain the difference between his prediction of a quick end to the war and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recent comment that the war is just beginning, Trump said both could be true.

“It’s the beginning of building a new country,” Trump said. He has pledged to keep the U.S. out of another lengthy entanglement in the Middle East.

Trump said he is “disappointed” in Iran’s choice of Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father as the country’s supreme leader. But, when asked at the press conference, he declined to say he would seek to assassinate him.

Trump earlier Monday spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who reportedly shared proposals about the U.S. quickly ending the war.

At his press conference, Trump said Putin “was very impressed with what he saw” the U.S. do in Iran.

“This is an excursion a lot of other people wouldn’t have done,” Trump said. “This was a military success, the likes of which people haven’t seen.”

 

Senate Republicans splinter over SAVE America Act’s path as Trump calls for more revisions

Some insist on trying to use a “talking filibuster” to break Democrats’ will to block the elections bill. Others say it’s unlikely to work. And one senator is proposing a third option.

WASHINGTON — The prospects for President Donald Trump’s SAVE America Act grew murkier Monday as divisions deepened among Senate Republicans about how to pass it and whether it’s possible to overcome Democratic opposition.

Some say they’re convinced a “talking filibuster” under current rules could lead to passage of the sweeping election overhaul bill, even though it hasn’t worked before. Another GOP senator proposed a different path with less support. And the Senate’s top Republican emphasized that the path is “unclear” as the 60-vote rule may be too difficult to overcome.

“Having studied it and researched it pretty thoroughly, you have to show me how, in the end, it prevails and succeeds. Because I think what has been promised out there is that it would actually, in the end, get an outcome. And I find it very hard to see that based on actual past experience,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters. “We can’t find a piece of legislation in history that’s been passed that way.”

Meanwhile, Trump spoke to House Republicans in Florida and called for adding new provisions to the bill — which currently includes new voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements, along with screening voters through a Department of Homeland Security database — to largely prohibit mail-in voting, in addition to unrelated restrictions on transgender athletes and gender-affirming treatment for minors.

He said he spoke to Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, the bill’s sponsor, about the potential changes.

“These are called ‘best of Trump.’ We should also add on to this bill. And so what I’ve asked Mike to do is to draw a new one with these few things added and let’s go for the gold. Let’s not just get one, like voter ID,” Trump said, predicting that if the bill passed, Democrats wouldn’t win an election for half a century. “This is the No. 1 priority.”

Lee has been a vocal advocate for the “talking filibuster,” and he has marshaled an online army of conservative activists to try to pressure the Senate to attempt it.

“I’m willing to try that, too,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. “I know the majority leader is not enthusiastic about that. He’d have to manage the floor, but I’m absolutely willing to try.”

“I know it would be cumbersome,” Hawley added.

Donald Trump,John Thune
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Senate Republican leader John Thune at a lunch with Republican senators in the Rose Garden on Oct. 21.Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP file
Asked whether pressure to act was mounting, Thune said “a lot of that” has been coming from the “paid influencer ecosystem.”

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., who is running for re-election this year with Trump’s endorsement, said the first procedural vote on the bill will show where every senator stands.

“I think there’s a real value in letting the American people know who is supporting it and who is not,” Rounds said Monday. “After that, I think talking filibuster is a lot more challenging than some people think.”

Meanwhile, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., suggested an alternative option: use the filibuster-proof “reconciliation” process to cut out Democrats and approve the SAVE America Act. That path, however, is restricted to taxing and spending, as past election bills have been ruled invalid under the simple-majority threshold.

“When I raise that issue, many say, well, I’ll never survive a Byrd bath and the Budget Control Act,” Kennedy said, referring to the limitations of the budget process. “It’s all up to the parliamentarian and her team, and the way you get something through a Byrd bath is to do your homework, do your research, look for precedents.”

It’s a challenging puzzle for Thune, one that could lead to failure on a top Trump priority. He faces a daily torrent of pressure from conservatives on social media, many of whom are convinced the “talking filibuster” is workable if Republicans try it.

And he’s trying to manage his conference.

“I got a text message from Sen. Thune last night,” Kennedy told reporters, “saying that we’re going to spend a lot of time this week talking about the SAVE act, talking about divisions and talking about the timing and the procedure.”

On social media, Trump threatened to refuse to sign any bill until the SAVE America Act becomes law.

“I agree with him,” said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. “It’s the most important thing.”

But the revisions Trump demands include provisions to largely ban mail-in ballots, which don’t have unified support among Republicans. And the new transgender provisions risk undercutting the party’s message that it’s an election-focused bill. Still, any changes would mean the House must pass the legislation a third time, after having had to pass it a second time recently following previous demands for changes by Trump.

“We’ve added two things to it — no men in women’s sports, and no transgender mutilation of our children,” Trump said Monday.

Asked by NBC News about nixing the filibuster, as he has called, Trump sounded skeptical it’s possible, saying: “So in order to get it, you’re going to need Democrat votes.”

Spokespeople for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., didn’t immediately respond when they were asked Monday whether he plans to revise the bill and pass a new version through the House.

Thune said that might be a good idea.

“The House, obviously, would have to — those are all things that weren’t part of what they sent over here to us,” Thune told NBC News, adding: “And so it would probably make sense for them to send over another version.”