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Trump says U.S. is 'achieving major strides' in Iran toward military objectives

President Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference at Trump National Doral Miami on March 9 in Doral, Fla. Trump spoke on his administration's strikes on Iran.
Roberto Schmidt
/
Getty Images
President Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference at Trump National Doral Miami on March 9 in Doral, Fla. Trump spoke on his administration's strikes on Iran.

President Trump said Monday on social media that he will hold a press conference at his golf club in Florida. The announcement comes as the U.S. enters its second week of military strikes in Iran and amid soaring oil and gas prices as a result.

Trump spent most of the weekend at Trump National Doral, one of his resort and golf properties in Miami. There, he met with House Republicans about the party's agenda and strategy ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Watch the press conference live:

Trump will face reporters as the average price of a gallon of gas has spiked, a growing political problem for Trump, who has raved about how he has lowered gas prices since returning to office. Crude oil prices nearly hit $120 a barrel on Monday before falling again.

But Trump told CBS News ahead of the press conference Monday that he thinks "the war is very complete, pretty much."

Iran has "no navy, no communications, they've got no air force. Their missiles are down to a scatter. Their drones are being blown up all over the place, including their manufacturing of drones," he said.

Trump's latest assessment comes after he told reporters over the weekend that he wasn't worried about the price of gas.

"We figured oil prices would go up, which they will. Uh, they'll also come down. They'll come down very fast," he said.

Trump added the administration is looking into ways to ease the cost burden on Americans, but that spike in oil prices is worth it because the U.S. and Israel are working to "get rid of a major, major cancer on the face of the earth," referring to the Iranian regime.

"This is a short excursion into something that should have been done for 47 years. 47 years it's taken to do this and no president had the guts to do it," Trump said.

But the rising price at the pump isn't the only tough sell Trump has to make.

The Trump administration has given varied messages on their motivations for striking Iran and in some cases conflicting reasoning, potentially harming their ability to rally public support. A recent NPR/PBS News/Marist poll found the majority of Americans oppose U.S. military action in Iran and disapprove of how Trump is dealing with the middle eastern country.

Copyright 2026 NPR

Saige Miller
Saige Miller is an associate producer on NPR's Washington desk, where she primarily focuses on the White House.