By Michael Katz | Thursday, 16 April 2026 07:03 PM EDT
President Donald Trump said Thursday that gasoline prices are “not very high,” amid ongoing military conflict involving Iran.
The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline was $4.09 on Thursday, according to AAA, down from about $4.16 a week earlier but still up roughly 38 cents from a month ago and about 92 cents from a year ago.
The conflict has affected traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that is one of the world’s most vital oil transit routes.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump highlighted falling gasoline prices and a strong stock market.
“Well, they’re not very high,” Trump said. “If you look at what they were supposed to be in order to get rid of a nuclear weapon with the danger that entails, so the gas prices have come down very much over the last three or four days.”
Oil prices have fallen somewhat following a U.S. blockade preventing ships from entering or leaving Iranian ports. The Navy is also working to clear the Strait of Hormuz of any mines laid by Iran that could imperil global shipping.
Although oil prices remain below recent highs above $100 a barrel, the price of the most recent Brent crude futures contract rose nearly 4% on Thursday to $99.39 a barrel, its second straight day of gains, according to Barron’s.
U.S. oil futures dropped about 1% on Thursday to $88.13 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude futures have jumped 54% this year but are down 17% this month, according to Barron’s.
While Trump was speaking, a reporter interjected that gasoline was still about $4 a gallon.
“You know, that’s what ABC says,” Trump said. “But the fact is that if you look, the stock market’s up, everything’s doing really well.”
Trump added: “And the big thing we have to do is we have to make sure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon. Because if they do, you want to talk about problems, you’d have problems. So very important is that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon, and they’ve agreed to that.”
“Iran’s agreed to that,” he said. “And they’ve agreed to it very powerfully. They’ve agreed to give us back the nuclear dust. It’s way underground because of the attack we made with the B-2 bombers in June 2025. So, we have a lot of agreement with Iran, and I think something is going to happen.”
Trump was asked how long the U.S. can sustain the blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.
“We’re doing very well with the blockade,” he said. “It’s very routine for us. The Navy is incredible and I think the blockade is doing very well. No ship is even thinking about entering. No ship is going past our Navy.”
“I mean, we have a very good relationship with Iran right now, as hard as it is to believe,” Trump added. “And it’s a combination of about four weeks of bombing and a very powerful blockade. The blockade is maybe more powerful than the bombing.”
Trump also said European nations should be buying more oil from the U.S., and he singled out the United Kingdom.
“Well, they should be buying more from us,” he said. “And what they should be doing is using the North Sea. I can tell you, the U.K., I’ve been telling that to your prime minister should open up the North Sea, one of the greatest in the world, and they should use it instead of buying oil from Norway and other places.”
“They should use it and they’re not doing it,” Trump added. “They’re doing windmills and windmills do one thing. You know what they do? Put you out of business.”
