Trump to hold news conference in Florida as Iran war rages

Washington — President Trump will speak to reporters at his Miami-area golf club at around 5:30 p.m. on Monday, his first formal news conference since the U.S. and Israel began strikes on Iran.

The president is expected to give an update about the situation in Iran and take questions, the White House said.

Earlier Monday afternoon, the president told CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang: “I think the war is very complete, pretty much.” He also said he’s considering “taking … over” the Strait of Hormuz, as shipping in the key oil conduit grinds virtually to a halt.

The president made those remarks the same afternoon the Department of Defense posted on X, “We have Only Just Begun to Fight” and “no mercy.”

A day before Mr. Trump’s news conference, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei was installed as Iran’s new supreme leader, a development the president is “not happy” about, as he told Fox News. Khamenei is the son of the late leader killed in the U.S.-Israeli operation.

The president’s remarks to reporters will also come after markets close. Markets are down since the war began over a week ago, and oil prices have jumped — though major stock indexes closed in positive territory on Monday after the price of oil dropped over the course of the day, paring back a double-digit surge earlier Monday.

So far, seven American service members are dead in the U.S.-Iran war.

Mr. Trump, who has taken questions and a number of calls from reporters in the last nine days since the war began, said on Truth Social he’s attending a fundraiser event for House Speaker Mike Johnson before the news conference. The Trump National Doral golf club is hosting the Republican Members Issues Conference, an annual retreat for congressional Republicans as they plot for the November midterm elections.