House Speaker Johnson Says Key Factor Of Iran War Is ‘Taken Care of,’ Says Dems Play Part In High Gas Prices

House Speaker Mike Johnson said the U.S.'s goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon is "taken care of" and Republicans will focus on reducing gas prices in the country.

"Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. That was an important objective of American foreign policy for the last half-century," Johnson said in a press conference where he announced the House would not be in session until the midterms.

He went on to say that Democrats hold responsibility in the current state of prices. "There's another big factor of why gas prices are high. This is the result of bad Democrat policy," he said.

Democrats, Johnson said, "want to squeeze production of U.S. oil and gas, and that is a disaster for the American people." "And so you have to keep the right people in charge to make sure that your fuel prices come down."

Gas prices topped $4.4 a gallon on Thursday, compared to $4.06 last month. The 2025 average, before the war began in February, stood at $3.2 a gallon, according to AAA.

President Donald Trump also said on Wednesday that Iran wants to "make a deal" and "hopefully we're toward the end of the war." He is set to meet with leaders of Gulf countries next week to discuss next steps in the war with Iran, according to a new report.

Axios detailed that the meeting is expected to focus on U.S. ideas for strategy after the war. A more comprehensive plan is set to be finalized after the midterm elections.

The war, however, shows no signs of abating at the moment as both Washington and Tehran keep seeking to prevent the other from moving energy through the Strait of Hormuz.

More Republicans joined Democrats in support of the latest bill seeking to force the end of the war this week.

Concretely, seven members of the GOP joined Democrats in voting to pass the bill, compared to four in the last vote.

In this context, the Pentagon's Inspector General said in a new report that "hundreds of buildings and structures" at U.S. bases in the region have been damaged or destroyed, as well as "dozens" of U.S. aircraft.

The report, sent to Congress, details that, overall, the war in Iran cost more than $33 billion by the end of June. The costs include $184 million in physical damage to U.S. diplomatic facilities in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

U.S. actions have also "resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply," the report said.