Trump administration under attack from all sides for flip-flopping on Iran war

The Trump administration is under fire on the left and right for flip-flopping on the cost of high energy prices to American consumers and Iran’s threat to national security, as it attempts to downplay the costs of the war on Iran.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied that Iran posed a threat to the US "homeland" when she criticised an ABC News article that said the FBI had warned Iran might strike the coast of California with drones.

“No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did,” Leavitt wrote on X.

“This is fantastic. Leavitt using ALL CAPS to make perfectly clear that Iran did not and does not pose any threat to America,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy wrote on X. “And yet we’re at war and gas prices are through the roof! Hard to figure!!”

The Trump administration has failed to offer a comprehensive justification for why they joined Israel to attack Iran, but they suggested the Islamic Republic was on the cusp of attacking the US. 

In his announcement of the US attack on 28 February, President Donald Trump said the US launched its offensive “to prevent this dictatorship from threatening America”. Trump repeated that talking point to Fox News on Tuesday, saying he feared that if the US didn’t strike Iran, “I believe we would have been attacked.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said there was an “imminent” threat to the US from Iran.

Critics pounced on Leavitt’s quick dismissal of the ABC News report.

'Not a threat'

The Trump administration brushed aside the concerns of allies like energy-rich Gulf countries about an attack on Iran. But the war has become the defining feature of Trump’s presidency for his domestic base.

During Trump's presidential campaign, he vowed to end “forever” wars in the Middle East and focus on improving the US economy.

In response to the US-Israeli attack, Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, choking off a vital waterway that carries about 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas. The war has increased energy prices by 21 percent. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline in the US hit $3.57 this week, up from $2.94 a month ago, according to the AAA motor club.

'Why did he promise lower oil prices when he ran for office?'

- Peter Schiff, economist

Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose above $100 per barrel on Thursday, despite a historic release of 400 million barrels of emergency oil reserves by International Energy Agency member states.

Trump made lowering energy prices a focal point of his campaign, and he boasted about his administration’s success in bringing down gas prices just days before he unleashed the war on Iran, including in his 25 February State of the Union address.

He has since flipped to stating that the US, as a net oil and gas exporter, benefits from higher energy prices.

“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” Trump wrote on social media on Thursday.

Peter Schiff, a conservative economist and commentator who has appeared on podcasts hosted by Tucker Carlson, and Patrick Bet-David, both Trump supporters, tore into the US president for trying to spin higher energy prices as good for Americans.

“Trump now takes the position that since the US is the world's largest oil producer, high oil prices are good for us,” Schiff wrote on X.

“If that's the case, why did he promise lower oil prices when he ran for office? Why didn't he promise higher prices so US oil companies could make more money?”