Trump just shrugged at Iran threatening to completely choke off the Strait of Hormuz — one of the world’s most vital oil arteries — and said on live TV: “I really don’t care. I couldn’t care less.”
In a phone interview with CNBC, Trump was asked about reports that Iran is halting indirect talks with the U.S. and preparing to fully close the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for Israel’s expanding offensive in Lebanon.
Instead, he waved it away. “I really don’t care. I couldn’t care less,” he said, adding that negotiations with Tehran had “started to get very boring.
” Oil markets heard him loud and clear: prices spiked more than 5% as traders braced for the possibility that the main route for roughly a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil could slam shut.
Here’s the context he’s bored by. After months of U. S.
strikes on Iranian targets and Israeli bombardment in Lebanon and Gaza, Iran’s Tasnim news agency announced that Tehran is cutting off dialogue with Washington because the ceasefire has been violated. Iranian officials and allied media are now openly threatening a complete closure of the Strait of Hormuz as retaliation, on top of moves to “activate other fronts” like the Bab el‑Mandeb choke point off Yemen.
For families here, that doesn’t mean an abstract “geopolitical crisis. ” It means another surge in gas, groceries, shipping costs — all layered on top of inflation people are still digging out from.
If the talks are over, “they’re over.” If they’re not, fine, but he thinks Iran “took too much time” and that the back‑and‑forth had become tedious
If the talks are over, “they’re over. ” If they’re not, fine, but he thinks Iran “took too much time” and that the back‑and‑forth had become tedious. Later, after markets panicked, he tried to have it both ways, posting on Truth Social that negotiations were actually “continuing at a rapid pace” and that he’d had a “very productive” call getting Israel to hold off on pushing troops into Beirut.
But by then, the damage was done: a president who launched this war in February, promised it would be quick, and insisted there was “nothing boring” about confronting Iran is now literally saying he finds the crisis dull and doesn’t care whether the one path to de‑escalation survives.
This isn’t just about style or gaffes. The U. S.
–Iran war is costing taxpayers an estimated billions per week when you add up direct military spending, higher energy prices, and ripple effects through the economy. Every time Trump shrugs on camera, oil shoots up and the odds of miscalculation grow.
The message to Tehran, to Israel, and to the rest of the world is that the man who controls the U.S
Most presidents at least pretend to care when a crisis threatens to blow up energy markets and diplomacy at the same time. Trump went on TV and said the quiet part out loud: if negotiations fall apart and the Strait closes, that’s your problem, not his.
When you’re filling up your tank or watching your rent, groceries, and heating bills climb again, remember that the person who helped light this fuse is telling CNBC he “couldn’t care less” whether anyone manages to put it out.
Thank you for being here
Thank you for being here.
