WH in-town pool report #7/ POTUS on Iran, gas prices, King Charles III and UFC

Some highlights from the second half of the press gaggle with POTUS on the south lawn today.

IRAN

Asked if he is considering new strikes on Iran, POTUS said:"Why would I tell you that?"

Asked what the Centcom commander was briefing him yesterday, POTUS said: "Different options. Do we wanna go and just blast the hell out of 'em and finish them forever or do we wanna try and make a deal? I mean, those are options."

Asked if he does want to blast the hell out of them, POTUS replied: "I'd prefer not. On a human basis, I'd prefer not. But that's the option: do we wanna go in there heavy and just blast them away or do we wanna do something.

"They're a very disjointed leadership, as you can understand, Peter. Very disjointed. They're not getting along with each other and it puts us in a bad position."

Gesturing forcefully with his hands, POTUS continued: "One group wants to make a certain deal. The other group wants to make a certain deal, including the hardliners. The hardliners want to make a deal, too. Why wouldn't they? They have no navy, they have no air force, they have no anti-aircraft, they have no nothing."

Asked if he is worried about US military inventory, POTUS said: "No, no, we have more than we've ever had, actually, because all over the world we have inventory and we can take that if we need it. But all over the world we have tremendous amounts of inventory. The best.

"For instance, we're stocked and locked and loaded right now. We have more than double what we had when this started... What happened is Biden came in like a stupid fool and he gave a lot of what we had to Ukraine. $350 billion they spent. We don't do that. Everyone has to pay."

Later: "The blockade has been unbelievable. Powerful, 100%. It's been actually unbelievable. If we left right now, we had a great victory but we're not doing that. We're negotiating with them. Their teams are unbelievably disjointed but we are negotiating."

GAS PRICES

"When the war ends, gasoline prices are going to tumble because there is so much right now on the sea, already loaded into tankers. Tankers that can't escape the strait. There is so much, like record-setting, but when the war ends, gasoline prices will go down to below what they were before."

PERSONAL SECURITY

Peter Doocy of Fox News said: "This is going to be your first big public event since somebody tried to kill you on Saturday. Do you feel safe going to something like this today?

POTUS stretched his right hand towards Doocy and said: "I don't even think about it, Peter."

STATE VISIT BY BRITAIN'S KING CHARLES III

Asked by your pooler if the King changed his mind about Nato, POTUS said: "No, no, no, the king and I had a great – he's just a great person. He's a high quality person. I love the job he did in Congress. He actually got the Democrats to stand. He's a wonderful person, she's a wonderful lady, a wonderful queen, and we had a good time."

BASEBALL PLAYER PETE ROSE

"I think Pete Rose should have been in the baseball hall of fame a long time ago, a long time ago, before his death. I think baseball did a great disservice by not respecting his achievements on the field. He was a great player. I knew him well. He was a great player."

UFC FIGHT AT WHITE HOUSE

"We'll have some of the greatest champions in the world. The arena, they're going to start building it over the next week. It's right here and it'll be about 5,000 seats. They'll have 100,000 people down by the Ellipse with screens and it's all free."

David Smith

Washington bureau chief

Guardian News & Media

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