President Donald Trump repeated yesterday that he believed the war with Iran will end after US midterm elections in November and that oil prices will tumble once it does.
“I think very soon. I think it’ll be probably right after the midterms. They’re trying to hold out as long as they can to complicate the election. But I think people are wise to it,” Trump told reporters in Dublin.
“When that happens, oil prices will come tumbling down.”
His remarks came as Saudi Arabia shut down its East-West pipeline, after it came under aerial attack in the widening Middle East war, threatening to send energy prices even higher.
Saudi Arabia said it temporarily closed the pipeline as a precaution after a drone attack that both Baghdad and Riyadh said had originated in Iraq, where Iranian-backed militias operate. Iraq dismissed a military commander in response to the attack.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the strikes.
Trump, visiting Ireland to attend a golf tournament at one of his resorts, said Iran was probably to blame.
Oil prices shot up over the past week and the retail price of diesel in the United States surged past a record $6 a gallon, as the United States and Iran both fired on tankers and the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen advanced along the Red Sea, potentially extending disruption to another major oil route.
The apparent launch of the attack on the Saudi pipeline from Iraq puts additional pressure on the Baghdad government, which is unique in the region for maintaining close political and military ties with both the United States and Iran.
Iraq dismissed the military commander and police chief in Maysan province near the Iranian frontier, long regarded as an area where Iran-backed militias operate and maintain influence, and shut the main border crossing there.
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