https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/trump-says-us-start-blockading-strait-hormuz-2026-04-12/MIAMI, April 12 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the price of oil and gasoline may remain high through November's midterm elections, a rare acknowledgement of the potential political fallout from his decision to attack Iran six weeks ago."It could be, or the same, or maybe a little bit higher, but it should be around the same," Trump, who is in Miami for the weekend, told Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo" when asked whether the cost of oil and gas would be lower by the fall.The average price for regular gas at U.S. service stations has exceeded $4 per gallon for most of April, according to data from GasBuddy. Average U.S. gas prices in February hovered just below $3 per gallon, and over the past year never exceeded $3.25 per gallon, according to GasBuddy.Trump's comments on Sunday came after weeks of asserting that the spike in prices is a short-term phenomenon, though his top advisers are cognizant of the war's economic impacts, officials have said.Earlier on Sunday, Trump announced on social media that the U.S. Navy would blockade the Strait of Hormuz and intercept any ship that paid a crossing fee to Iran, after marathon talks between the U.S. and Iran in Pakistan over the weekend did not yield a peace deal."No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas," he wrote on Truth Social media platform.Several hours after Trump's post, U.S. Central Command said the blockade would be limited to ships going to and from Iranian ports. Ships entering and exiting non-Iranian ports will not be stopped by U.S. forces, CENTCOM said.A U.S. blockade may add more uncertainty to the eventual resolution of the conflict, which is currently subject to a tenuous two-week ceasefire. The new tactic is in response to Iran's own closure of the strait's critical shipping lanes.
The war began on February 28, when the U.S. launched a joint bombing campaign with Israel against Iran. The scope quickly expanded as Iran and its allies attacked nearby countries, while Israel targeted Hezbollah with massive strikes in Lebanon.The war has buffeted global financial markets and caused thousands of civilian deaths, mostly in Iran and Lebanon.Trump's political standing at home has suffered, with polls showing the war is unpopular among most Americans, who are frustrated by rising gasoline prices.The president's approval rating has hit the lowest levels of his second term in office, raising concern among Republicans that his party is poised to lose control of Congress in the midterm elections. A Democratic majority in either chamber could launch investigations into the Trump administration, while blocking much of his legislative agenda.U.S. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, questioned the strategy behind Trump's planned blockade."I don't understand how blockading the strait is going to somehow push the Iranians into opening it," he told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.In a separate appearance on CBS's "Face the Nation," Warner said the blockade would not undermine Iranian control of the waterway."The Iranians have hundreds of speedboats where they can still mine the strait or put bombs against tankers in closing the strait," he said. "How is that going to ever bring down gas prices?"Although Trump has repeatedly said that the war would be over soon, Republican U.S. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told ABC News' "This Week" on Sunday that achieving U.S. aims in Iran "could take a long time.""It's going to be a long-term project," said Johnson, who was not asked about Trump's proposed blockade. "I never thought this would be easy."
Trump’s blockade does nothing strategically except put the US navy potentially in harm’s way
>>1505980it isn't even that. the US navy sent two destroyer toward the Strait. Iran warned them and launched two observer drones and the destroyers turned tail and head back. The US navy played chicken with Iranian drones, and blinked. That is the state of the US military under Trump.
He's going to be absolutely destroyed in a fair election. Let's just hope it is fair.
>>1505982good luck. voter suppression is already one of the republican’s strongest tools. limit mail in voting and reduce number of drop boxes. one of many strategies aside from policies that benefit voters. look at how many republican shithole states continue to elect inept, corrupt republicans leaders over and over for decades
>>1505991they keep losing elections though. Even Trump's own district flipped.
>>1505971Elections make or break based on relatively minute changes in gas prices. This whole disastrous affair is going to fucking murder them.
>>1505992If the elections were free and fair, the upcoming midterms would be an extinction event for the republicans, but because of how they've rigged things, the damage will be mitigated, and that doesn't even take into account try staging another coup by cancelling the elections.
>>1505982Trump's last election was in 2024. He's not going to be on the ballot again
>>1506001Tell that to him.
>>1505991Because of how republicans rigged things before, they protected 16 seats they should have lost in 2018. So there's also a confirmed track record of republicans stealing elections.https://archived.moe/news/thread/371135
>>1506010Politics is a dirty business, and there's nothing dirtier than a Republican
>>1506010California Proposition 50 is gerrymandering california and rigging local elections
>>1506042>Fascist intentionally ignoring it was only done in retaliation to Texas, where republicans unilaterally gerrymandered the map to consolidate their control and didn't even ask voters like California did.
>>1506045https://pahousegop.com/News/24016/Latest-News/Blatant-Gerrymandering-of-Preliminary-House-District-Map-is-Mind-Boggling,-Says-HeffleyPennsylvania is gerrymandered. What was the pretext?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois%27s_congressional_districtsIllinois is gerrymandered, look at congressional district 13, what were democrats in Illinois retaliating against when they gerrymandered the state?
>>1506051https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois%27s_congressional_districts#/media/File:Illinois's_16th_congressional_district_(since_2023)_(new_version).svgWhat the fuck is this
>>1506051Retaliation for what trump and republicans did in texas.https://www.americanprogress.org/article/trump-ordered-texas-to-gerrymander-5-new-republican-leaning-congressional-districts-this-is-how-other-states-can-fight-back/
>>1506072You said that California was retaliation for Texas, that's why they passed Prop 50 last year in 2025But the Illinois and Pennsylvania maps were drawn up in 2020 when they did the most recent census. What was the pretext for those 2 states to get gerrymandered?
>>1505982At this point he has broken literally every single one of his campaign promises so he's way too unpopular to even attempt a coup.
>>1506079In retaliation to gerrymandering by Republicans over the years, yet again.https://billmoyers.com/story/in-2010-republicans-weaponized-gerrymandering-heres-how-they-did-it/Also a reminder that Republican gerrymandeing was so hard to crack in the 2018, which was a confirmed blue wave. the republicans protected 16 seats because of how much they rigged things.https://www.apnews.com/9fd72a4c1c5742aead977ee27815d776Which is why Democrats were forced to play fire with fire.We could solve this easily by making non partisan commissions to draw maps, having election be ranked choice and all elections are taxpayer funded instead of being bought off by the rich.But I got a feeling he don't want any of those.
