HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) \u2014 President Donald Trump warned Iran on Monday against blocking oil shipments in the Strait of Hormuz, a Middle Eastern passage through which a fifth of the world\u2019s petroleum travels.<\/p>\n
He said in a social media post<\/a> that “Death, Fire, and Fury\u201d would \u201creign upon\u201d assets essential to the country.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far,\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social.<\/p>\n The National News Desk requested comment from Iran\u2019s foreign ministry but hasn\u2019t received a response. The country\u2019s top national security official, Ali Larijani, said in an X post <\/a>on Tuesday, though, that the passage \u201cwill either be a Strait of peace and prosperity for all or will be a Strait of defeat and suffering for warmongers.\u201d<\/p>\n Tankers have stopped traveling through the channel since the beginning of the war<\/a>, when the U.S. and Israel ignited a regional conflict with a fatal strike against Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n A senior official with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Iranian security force, told state media days after the attack that the military would destroy any ship passing through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n \u201cThe strait is closed,\u201d Ebrahim Jabari, senior advisor to the IRGC\u2019s commander-in-chief, reportedly said. <\/p>\n \u201cIf anyone tried to pass, the heroes of the Revolutionary Guards and the regular navy will set those ships ablaze.\u201d<\/p>\n Oil prices<\/a> have since spiked. On Sunday, the benchmark Brent crude surpassed $100 a barrel for the first time since the pandemic, leading gas prices to rise across the U.S.<\/p>\n Trump has described the higher costs as a \u201cvery small price to pay,\u201d but Americans, who cited the economy as their biggest concern in the 2024 elections, may punish him in the November midterms. House Republicans are poised to lose their majority, and Democrats may also be in reach of the Senate.<\/p>\n John Thune, the Senate majority leader, told reporters on Monday that he\u2019s always concerned about oil and gas prices.<\/p>\n \u201cThe price of gas is always a benchmark. It\u2019s something everybody pays attention to,\u201d Thune said, according to The Hill<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully the operations in Iran will be such that there … won\u2019t be an extended situation in which things start moving again and shipping lanes get opened up again,\u201d he added. \u201cHopefully things will settle down.\u201d<\/p>\n