Watch Live: Trump says Iran war will end "very soon" at Florida news conference

Washington — President Trump said he expects the war in Iran to end “very soon,” but called it “the beginning of building a new country,” as the administration offers different characterizations for how long the operation will last.

He also warned that Iran could pay an “incalculable” price if its military disrupts oil tankers, as oil importers grapple with higher prices since the war began.

Speaking to reporters at his Miami-area golf club in his first formal news conference since the U.S. and Israel began strikes on Iran, the president said he doesn’t expect the war to end next week, but “soon.”

“We’re very proud to be involved in this and it’s going to be ended soon,” he said. “And if it starts up again, … they’ll be hit even harder.”

Mr. Trump said the U.S. is achieving “major strides toward completing our military objective.”

“Some people could say they’re pretty well complete,” he said of U.S. military objectives. “We’ve wiped every single force in Iran out, very completely.”

Earlier Monday afternoon, the president told CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang, “I think the war is very complete, pretty much.” The president made those remarks the same afternoon the Department of Defense posted on X, “We have Only Just Begun to Fight” and “no mercy.” The president was asked to explain those seeming discrepancies.

“Well I think you could say it both. The beginning, it’s the beginning of building a new country,” he said, before talking about how the U.S. has destroyed Iran’s navy.

Although the president has said he wants to approve Iran’s next leader, the Trump administration in the past has insisted it isn’t interested in nation-building like the U.S. tried in the Middle East in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Mr. Trump also said the U.S. has “left some of the most important targets for later,” saying those targets involve “electricity production and many other things.”

“So we’re not looking to do that if we don’t have to,” he said. “But they’re the kind of things that are very easy to hit, but very devastating if they are hit. We are waiting to see what happens before we hit them.”

The president said Iran will get hit “at a much, much harder level” if Iran does anything to stop the world’s oil supply, as prices soar and commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz nearly grinds to a halt.

“I will not allow a terrorist regime to hold the world hostage and attempt to stop the globe’s oil supply,” he said.

The president reiterated that the U.S. is offering political risk insurance to any tankers in the Persian Gulf, and the U.S. could escort tankers through the strait if needed.

“If they do anything, the price will be incalculable,” the president said of potential Iranian operations against oil tankers.

On Sunday, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was named as Iran’s new supreme leader, a development the president is “not happy” about, as he told Fox News. Khamenei is the son of the late leader killed on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli military operation.

The president’s remarks to reporters come after markets close. Markets are down since the war began over a week ago, and oil prices have jumped — though major stock indexes closed in positive territory on Monday after the price of oil dropped following Mr. Trump’s interview with CBS News, paring back a double-digit surge earlier Monday.

So far, seven American service members have died in the U.S.-Iran war.

Mr. Trump, who has taken questions and a number of phone calls from reporters in the days since the war began, said on Truth Social he’s attending a fundraiser event for House Speaker Mike Johnson before the news conference. The Trump National Doral golf club is hosting the Republican Members Issues Conference, an annual retreat for congressional Republicans as they plot for the November midterm elections.