Donald Trump has acknowledged that the U.S. hasn’t won the war against Iran, despite having claimed otherwise dozens of times.
Trump, 80, posted on Truth Social about the conflict, which he claimed at the outset would wrap up in “four to five weeks.” It has now lasted over six months.
“Oil prices will drop precipitously, like everything else is dropping (but more!), when we WIN the war with Iran,” he wrote on Monday. “Three Dollars a gallon, but ultimately, below Two Dollars a gallon. It will all happen quickly, and Iran will never have a Nuclear Weapon. MAGA!”
Trump has boasted about having won the war at least 66 times since launching his strikes in late February, a Daily Beast analysis found.
For instance, after the U.K. rebuffed his plea to get involved, he reacted on March 7: “We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
He added four days later: “Let me tell you, we’ve won. You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won. We won the—in the first hour, it was over. We won.”
Then, during an April press conference, Trump claimed, “We’re the winner. We won. OK. They are militarily defeated.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
Much of the administration’s promises have flattered to deceive when it comes to Iran, while a huge question mark hangs over Trump’s repetitive claims about the war being intended to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Following 2025’s Operation Midnight Hammer, Trump claimed that “Monumental damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images,” by U.S. stealth bombers laden with bunker-busting bombs. “Obliteration is an accurate term!”
The White House even commissioned an article on its website titled “Experts Agree: Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Have Been Obliterated.”
The obliteration didn’t last long. In late February, as Trump laid the pretext for Epic Fury—three days before the first bombs fell—his satisfaction with Midnight Hammer had faded to nothing, and he vowed once again that he would never “allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon.”
The cost of the war, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth estimated in July, was already $37.5 billion. To date, 18 U.S. service members have been killed, and more than 750 have been wounded.
The cost, too, may go further than money. Iran has hammered U.S. bases with its missiles and drones since the war began, which, as well as costing billions, is prompting questions about American presence in the Middle East going forward.
So severe has the Iranian response been that fears are mounting it might be causing permanent damage to U.S. bases and its ability to repair all of the outposts in the region.
Among those raising those concerns was retired four-star Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who said on X he feared the U.S. had “probably permanently lost access to 15 Persian Gulf bases.”
It has also coincided with Hegseth masterminding a mass firing of senior military staff and blocking several promotions of top leaders. More than half of those affected by blocked promotions were Black or women, the New York Times reported.
As for Trump’s forecast that oil and gas prices will drop, he has made similar predictions before.
During an Oval Office gathering with reporters on Aug. 6, he said gas would get as low as $1.85 a gallon.
“We’ll see those days pretty soon again, based on everything I see—as soon as the war ends. And, uh, I think it’s going to end pretty soon,” he said, also conceding that the war had continued.
Gas and oil prices have remained higher during the war than before, as the passage of oil through the Strait of Hormuz has slowed and occasionally halted. Last week, diesel prices hit a record high in the U.S., while gas prices went up nearly 40 percent, the AAA motor club said. The current national average for gas is $4.15 a gallon.
Earlier on Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s rosy thinking about gas prices was called out on MS NOW. Bessent claimed on July 2 that “maybe” prices would return to $3 or less by Labor Day. When he made that claim, the average gallon of gas was $3.83. It is now 32 cents more expensive.
