Trump to oil tankers: 'Show some guts' amid Iran war danger

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Mar 9, 2026

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President Donald Trump on Monday urged oil tankers to “show some guts” and sail out of the Persian Gulf amid the danger posed by the Iran war that has practically shut down shipping through the strategic Straits of Hormuz.

As the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran raged with no end in sight, Trump said oil tankers should brave the threat posed by Iranian missiles and drones to help blunt a massive spike in oil and gasoline prices.

“These ships should go through the Strait of Hormuz and show some guts, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Trump told Fox News, according to the network. “They have no Navy, we sunk all their ships.”

Trump told Fox that Iran has only about 150 missile launchers left, or about 20% of its original total, after waves of devastating attacks on Iran’s military and civilian infrastructure.

Trump also derided the newly elected Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei as a “lightweight” and predicted he would “not be around for long.”

The president’s saber-rattling remarks expanded on his assertion late Sunday that skyrocketing oil and gas prices would rapidly fall back down once the “Iranian nuclear threat is over,” although he didn’t say when that might be.

“Short term oil prices (are) a very small price to pay for USA & world, safety and peace,” Trump posted on his social media site. “Only fools would think differently.”

Trump’s “small price to pay” post could sound a sour note with American consumers who were already expressing wide dissatisfaction with Trump’s handling of the economy in his second term.

Gasoline prices have already shot up by about 20% nationwide since Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unleashed the war on Iran.

With oil prices shooting up past $100 a barrel, analysts predict the pain at the pump will only get worse in coming weeks, a development that could hurt the political prospects of Trump and his Republican allies in the upcoming midterm elections.

About 20% of the world’s oil supply normally is transported through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that connects the oil-rich Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean and the outside world.

Iran says it hasn’t officially said it has closed the straits to shipping traffic. But the companies that transport oil have parked their tankers on either side of the waterway, fearing their huge cargos would be sitting ducks for drone or missile attacks from Tehran as the war escalates.

Insurance companies that cover the oil tankers have raised premiums to unaffordable levels if they try to run the maritime gantlet, effectively preventing the ships from rolling the dice.

Trump has promised to introduce a new insurance program to cope with the problem, but it’s unclear how effective that proposal might be or when it could be implemented.

The U.S. has also discussed the possibility of using American ships to escort tankers through the Straits of Hormuz but no plan has been implemented yet.

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