By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON, March 5 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was not concerned about rising U.S. gas prices driven by the widening Iran conflict, telling Reuters in an exclusive interview that the U.S. military operation was his priority.
"I don't have any concern about it," he said, when asked about the higher prices at the pump. "They'll drop very rapidly when this is over, and if they rise, they rise, but this is far more important than having gasoline price go up
a little bit."
Trump has outlined a four-to-five-week timeline for the military campaign against Tehran, but political and military experts have questioned it, noting that the U.S. government has yet to articulate its end goal while the conflict continues to spread to the region and beyond.
In the interview, Trump said he was not looking to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and that he was confident the Strait of Hormuz, the critical channel for oil shipping near Iran, will remain open because Iran's navy is at the "bottom of the sea."
Global oil prices have jumped 16% since the war started on Saturday, as the spreading conflict disrupted Middle East supplies.
The national average cost of gas has risen 27 cents since last week to $3.25 per gallon, according to AAA, a U.S. travel organization that tracks fuel prices. The current national average is 15 cents higher than a year ago.
Trump said the costs "haven't risen very much."
This is a change in tone for the president, who touted the drop in gas prices in his State of the Union address last month and at a Texas rally focused on energy that took place just hours before the U.S. launched its airstrikes.
Congressional Republican leaders, like House Speaker Mike Johnson, have also dismissed concerns about rising gas prices, even as the party plans to focus its midterm election strategy on economic successes.
Political analysts say a rise in gas prices could hurt Republicans in the November election if voters, already angry about the high cost of living, punish them at the polls.
(Reporting by Steve Holland, additional reporting by Bo Erickson and Jarrett Renshaw, editing by Ross Colvin and Nia Williams)
