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(NewsNation) — Author and podcaster Bill O’Reilly says President Trump has trapped himself in the continued conflict with Iran.
As of Monday, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains severely disrupted as Iran and the U.S. continues military operations around the critical shipping route.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said two ships were involved in an accident while attempting to use what it called an “unsafe” route through the Strait of Hormuz with U.S. support.
The disruption is already affecting energy markets. Brent crude prices crossed $90 a barrel Monday, while AAA reported the national average gasoline price climbed above $4 a gallon.
O’Reilly told “On Balance” that Trump’s options are shrinking because Americans aren’t willing to accept any casualties.
“That’s the difference,” he said. “And that makes it very difficult for a president to wage any kind of conflict. So he is almost trapped in what he can do. I’d like to know this blockade of the Iranian ports by American warships, what effect that has on the regular people. I would love to know.”
O’Reilly pointed out that from an Iranian perspective, their economic conditions are dire, which also plays into Trump’s overall strategy.
“We’re not going to kill the people in Tehran directly with bombs,” O’Reilly added. “We’re going to make it so difficult for them to function day to day, they’ll demand that the mullahs stop the madness.
“Some people are crazy. Mullahs are in that category. And they’re going to stick it out for whatever propaganda reason. But we, the people, do not know the extent of the pain that the Persian people are experiencing,” O’Reilly said.
Trump still trying to rally Americans for cause in Iran: O’Reilly
Trump has repeatedly told reporters that the Islamic Republic is in a bad position and oversold the damage they’ve been able to inflict during the war.
O’Reilly believes the comments are the president’s way of still trying to gain support for being in the conflict.
“They don’t want, they being the military, to put a loser label on this conflict,” he stated. “Nobody’s going to brand themselves a loser. And that’s why they’re holding back the information. They’re holding back bad information. They don’t want the loser tag.”
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