Hassett: Consumer Harm from Iran War Lowest Priority

Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, stated on Tuesday that potential harm to U.S. consumers from the ongoing war with Iran ranks as the lowest priority for the Trump administration, amid rising fuel prices that have already strained households nationwide. The comments came during a CNBC interview as the conflict, now in its third week since U.S. and Israeli strikes began on February 28, continues to disrupt global energy supplies through Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Hassett emphasized the resilience of the U.S. economy, describing it as fundamentally sound and unlikely to face major disruption even if the military operation extends beyond its projected four-to-six-week timeline. "If the war were to be extended, it wouldn't really disrupt the U.S. economy very much at all," he said. "It would hurt consumers, and we'd have to think about, if that continued, what we would have to do about that. But that's really the last of our concerns right now, because we're very confident that this thing is going ahead of schedule." He reiterated President Donald Trump's assertion that the operation, dubbed Epic Fury, is progressing faster than...