Welcome to meet the press now.

I'm Kristen Welker in Washington as we near the two-week mark since the start of the war with Iran, with gas prices continuing to rise and the administration

downplaying concerns about Iran's blockage of the Strait of Hormuz while also taking steps to

try to lower energy prices, all while President Trump remains noncommittal on how much longer the war

could drag on. The U.S. death toll rising, and we just learned 5,000 more service members are being sent to the region.

In a radio interview today, President Trump addressing the situation in the strait where

20% of the world's oil passes through, but not committing to the U.S. Navy escorting vessels

through that waterway. Listen. The word is that you're

about ready to escort these oil tankers through. Is that true? Well, we would do it if we needed to,

but we would do it if we needed to. But, you know, hopefully things are going to go very well.

We're going to see what happens. A lot's going to be, we've already damaged them

so badly. It would take years for them to ever rebuild. And we're going to be hitting them very

hard over the next week. This morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also tried to dismiss the

situation in the strait. While General Dan Kane, the chair of the Joint Chiefs, warned Iran,

still remains a threat to global shipping.

And as the world is seeing, they are exercising sheer desperation in the Straits of Hormuz.

Something we're dealing with. We have been dealing with it and don't need to worry about it.

We've made progress, but Iran still has the capability to harm

friendly forces in commercial shipping. And our work on this effort continues. But I want to make

something clear. The only thing preventing commercial traffic can flow through the straits right now,

which there is some through the straits, is Iran. They are the belligerents here

holding the straits. So we have a plan for every option here. We're working with our interagency

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