Trump says Americans' economic pain is not a consideration for the Iran war

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he does not think about the economic hardship Americans feel as a result of his war in Iran, and it did not factor into his negotiations to end it.

Speaking to reporters at the White House before departing on a trip to China for most of the week, Trump said Iran’s nuclear program was the only thing motivating him to make a deal as the two countries remain deadlocked.

With midterms looming and affordability on voters’ minds, Trump was asked whether Americans’ financial situation was motivating him to make a deal. He replied bluntly, “Not even a little bit.

“The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran -- they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

“I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,” Trump added. “I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all.”

It was a stunning admission even for Trump, who has spent weeks downplaying the economic toll the war has taken on the country. The Labor Department reported Tuesday that last month, inflation in the United States accelerated at its fastest rate since May 2023, driven by energy costs caused by the war in the Middle East.

And since Trump began the war in Iran in February, gas prices have surged past $4.50 a gallon -- hitting the lowest-income Americans the hardest -- compounding an already persistent cost-of-living crisis that has caused even his supporters to increasingly sour on his economic record.

And with his party facing midterm elections in just six months, this was not the argument that congressional Republicans, who have grown impatient with Trump’s war, had been hoping the president would make to voters.

After a string of victories in elections over the past year by Democrats who ran on an affordability platform, Trump was supposed to emphasize how his economic agenda had delivered for everyday Americans.

Instead, he has used campaign-rally style speeches to mock the notion of affordability; tout the construction of a ballroom at the White House, whose price has nearly doubled; boast about the stock market, and make a series of false claims about the sticker prices that Americans are seeing with their own eyes.

On Tuesday, Trump continued to insist that his economic policies were working, “incredibly,” and that “the American people understand when it’s over, you’re going to have a massive drop in the price of oil.”

“If you go back to just before the war, for the last three months, inflation was at 1.7%,” he said. “Now, we had a choice -- let these lunatics have a nuclear weapon. If you want to do that, then you’re a stupid person.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Copyright 2026 The New York Times Company

This story was originally published May 13, 2026 at 1:08 PM.