President Donald Trump said he has no regrets about launching the war with Iran, telling Fox News host Laura Ingraham that he would make the same call again even knowing the political cost at home.
“If I had it to do again, I would do exactly what I did,” Trump said in the Thursday interview, according to CNBC. When Ingraham suggested the conflict had cost Republicans an easy path to the midterms, Trump pushed back: “Supposing we were cruising, and all of a sudden Iran has a nuclear weapon. They would use it.”
He argued that a nuclear-armed Iran would “wipe out” Israel and the broader Middle East before turning its attention to American cities.
Markets Brace for a Longer Conflict
The remarks landed as investors position for a war that may not end on the timeline the White House has repeatedly sketched. A Wall Street Journal report said senior White House advisers have discussed with Trump the possibility that the conflict could extend beyond his current term in office.
Trump has said the war will conclude immediately after the midterm elections and that oil and gas prices will fall along with it, part of a months-long pattern of predicting a near-term end to hostilities.
In a separate interview with NewsNation on Thursday, the president dismissed Iranian claims that it had damaged multiple U.S. fighter aircraft at a base in Jordan. Asked whether there was any truth to the reports, Trump said: “No damage. No nothing.”
Treasury Targets Foreign Lenders
Washington is pressing ahead on the economic front. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a fresh round of sanctions against “a large bank” will arrive Monday, deliberately delayed to respect the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
“We’re going to do it on Monday because we want to honor the memory of our fallen citizens on 9/11. But watch this space on Monday,” Bessent said.
Bessent said the administration has already sanctioned and closed the Dubai branches of Egypt’s second-largest bank, which he said had provided $1.8 billion to Iran. The “largest Turkish bank” that had been channeling money to the Iranians was also sanctioned, though Bessent did not identify either institution by name.
The measures are part of a broader push to cut Iran off from its economic network as the war grinds on.
Can Iran Hold Out?
Asked how long Iran could withstand the mounting pressure, Trump was noncommittal but repeated his expectation of a resolution tied to the U.S. election calendar.
“I don’t know that they’re gonna be able to hold out,” he said. “But it’ll get settled after the elections. Or maybe sooner. But it’ll get settled right after the election.”
For markets, the central question is whether that timeline holds. The president’s renewed insistence that the conflict will end soon clashes with reporting that his own advisers are gaming out scenarios in which it doesn’t — a gap that leaves traders weighing energy prices, sanctions risk and the possibility of a longer military engagement against the White House’s more optimistic script.
Source: www.cnbc.com — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/11/us-iran-war-trump-hormuz-banks-oil-sanctions.html
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