President Donald Trump delivered a mixed message about the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran on Wednesday in his first remarks at a political rally since strikes began less than two weeks ago.
"You know, you never want to say too early you won," Trump told supporters at a packaging plant in Hebron, Kentucky. "We won. The first hour, it was over."
But moments later, he suggested that the U.S. mission is not complete, a characterization underscored by the ongoing use of American force in Iran.
"We don't want to leave early, do we?" he asked rhetorically. "We've got to finish the job."
His remarks came amid an intensifying battle over the Strait of Hormuz, a channel through which as much as 20% of the world's oil passes. U.S. Central Command said Wednesday that it had destroyed 16 minelayers near the strait, while Iran attacked two commercial ships in the channel.
With crude oil prices rising again, the International Energy Agency said it would free up 400 million barrels of reserves in a bid to temper the spikes. Energy Secretary Chris Wright subsequently said Trump had authorized the release of 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve starting next week.
Trump's remarks in Kentucky also come against the backdrop of polls showing Americans are divided over the strikes against Iran and worried about the war's effects on gas prices.
Those concerns, driven by a 60 cents-per-gallon increase in the price of gas since the start of the war, added an awkward twist to the purposes of Trump's rally: to tout his economic record ahead of the November midterm elections and to help the primary challenger to Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who co-authored a resolution that would have limited his ability to continue the war.
The resolution, which failed in the House last week after a similar measure fell short in the Senate, was the latest in a string of public disagreements between Trump and Massie over high-profile issues. Massie was a leader in the bipartisan and bicameral effort to force Trump's Justice Department to release files related the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He also voted against Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act on the basis that it would add heavily to the national debt.
On Wednesday, Trump slammed Massie as "the worst person" and a "disaster." He invited Massie's opponent in the May 19 primary, farmer and former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, onto the stage and praised him for having a "big, beautiful brain" and for being a "great patriot."
Trump's message resonated with some of the voters at the rally.
Billie Jean Wright, a truck driver from nearby Erlanger, said she has voted for Massie in the past but won't vote for him again.
At the same time, she said, she is of two minds when it comes to supporting the war in Iran.
"Yes and no," she said in an interview.
"I support what's going on but don't like how it's turning out," Wright said. "The gas prices are going up. Our food industry is going up. Everything is going up. And we can't survive over here."
