NEW: Trump Blames Ukraine, Not His War In Iran For Rising Gas Prices

(Alex Brandon/AP photo)

President Donald Trump blamed Ukraine, not his war in Iran, on Monday for rising gas prices in the United States.

Despite the energy shock caused by Iran disrupting commercial transit through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil and gas comes from, Trump argued that Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure are to blame.

“What’s driving up Gasoline is no longer the Strait of Hormuz, because Record Numbers of Barrels are coming out now on an almost daily basis, but the word, ‘Refineries,’ where Russia’s are being blown up by Ukraine, and where ours are being closed up, in Blue States, like California, by the Dumocrats,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Iran mining and attacking vessels in the Strait of Hormuz has been a major flashpoint in the war between the U.S. and Iran, which many observers and experts have argued has given Iran a major bargaining chip in negotiations with the Trump administration.

In late September, Trump rejected a “seven-step plan” offered by Iran to immediately reopen the strait.

“I like making a deal too,” Trump said of the offer, adding, “But, I’m not — that deal would not be acceptable.”

“They want to make a deal where they open the strait immediately because they’re losing so badly,” Trump claimed. Trump has claimed dozens of times in recent months that a deal was near and that Iran has been defeated militarily, despite ongoing attacks from Iran and the strait remaining shuttered.

This is a developing story and has been updated.

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