President Donald Trump might be getting Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fights in the White House lawn for his 80th birthday this weekend, but what he really wants is, apparently, world peace.
When asked what “besides peace in the Middle East,” he wanted for the milestone this Sunday (June 14), Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Wednesday that he wants :peace for the world.” Then, on Thursday, the president was in the Oval Office again to make another announcement.
Trump told reporters that he was calling off strikes on Iran and that a peace deal would be coming shortly, possibly this weekend. He expects the deal, which he said includes a provision that “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon,” to be signed in Europe this weekend and that Vice President JD Vance will attend the signing.
In late February, Trump announced that the U.S. had joined Israel to attack Iran. While he said that the conflict was expected to be short, it has stretched on for months. During the fighting, Iran effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a key transportation route for much of the world’s oil. With that blockade, gas prices went up across the globe, including in the U.S.
By March, AAA was reporting that average per-gallon gas prices had risen to more than $4, where they have stubbornly remained through this Thursday. Last June, per-gallon prices were just over $3 per gallon.
Amid high gas prices and inflationary concerns, Trump’s approval ratings have slipped, according to polling aggregates from The Silver Bulletin and The Economist. Polls also show that there isn’t much support for the Iran war.
Reports this month also indicate that Trump himself is frustrated with the ongoing conflict with Iran. He even allegedly lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an expletive-ridden phone call.
“Oil will start coming down, to I think even lower than it was before,” said Trump Thursday, referencing the potential peace deal.
Still, ending the war in Iran would be just one step towards the president’s apparent desire for world peace. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began when former President Joe Biden was in office in 2022, continues. According to a report this week from the United Nations, it “is now causing some of its highest levels of civilian death and destruction,” since the invasion began.
There’s also the online battle waging between Europeans and Americans over the World Cup, and political polarization here at home. Those UFC fights planned for Trump’s birthday have also been hit with a lawsuit attempting to block the events.
