Trump says Iran could be bombed ‘a little bit more’ as US shifts to economic crackdown

During a campaign stop for Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., on Friday, President Donald Trump again stated that he views the Strait of Hormuz as an “American territory.”

During his speech, Trump recalled that before he decided to wage war against Iran in late February, he had traveled to Iowa earlier in the year and remarked to his White House advisors about low gas prices there at the time.

“I left, I went, and I said, ‘you know, I hate to do this to you’ because the country was booming,” Trump said. “I said, ‘I hate to do this, but we’re going to have to take a little detour down to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and we’re going to have to put out the nuclear weapons stuff, because they’re going to have a nuclear weapon, and we cannot let them have a nuclear weapon.’ We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”

“So we went down and we stopped them. They’ll never have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. “They want to make a deal so badly, we don’t even know if we want.”

“Because I view the Strait of Hormuz as an American territory right now. It’s an American territory,” he added.

Trump said that once the U.S. operation against Iran is complete, “oil is going to be down at lower than it was even just a little while ago.” He also argued that the stock market has since recovered compared to the onset of the war.

Later in the speech, the president quipped about potentially bombing Iran again while asking the crowd if they wanted him to read “The Snake,” a 1968 song by Al Wilson that Trump has repeatedly cited since his 2016 campaign while discussing illegal immigration.

“Look, it’s a Friday night. We have plenty of time, right? What the hell do I have to do? Go back, bomb Iran a little bit more. What now?” Trump said.

The U.S. has largely pivoted to a strategy of sanctions and an overall economic crackdown on Iran, rather than continuing a traditional military response. The U.S. Naval blockade of Iran’s ports remains in effect.