President Donald Trump said Sunday, September 13, that he does not "care" about a proposed meeting between Iran and Gulf states to discuss the ongoing crisis at the Strait of Hormuz, distancing himself from a diplomatic track playing out largely independent of Washington.
What Trump Said
Speaking to reporters during a visit to his golf course in Ireland, Trump was asked about a meeting scheduled for Monday in Oman between Gulf states and Iran. "I don't care. That's up to them," Trump said, adding: "If they could be happy… if they're happy, that's fine."
The Backdrop: A Blockaded Strait
The planned Oman meeting comes as Iran has blockaded the Strait of Hormuz for much of the war, driving global oil prices sharply higher. The waterway, through which roughly a fifth to a third of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes, has seen maritime traffic effectively halted at various points throughout the conflict due to Iranian mining and attacks on shipping.
Trump Also Predicts the War Will End Around the Midterms
Alongside his dismissive comments on the Gulf-Iran talks, Trump again predicted the war would come to an end around the time of the November midterm elections — a timeline he has repeated on multiple occasions without providing specific detail on what would bring the conflict to a close.
A Pattern of Distancing From Hormuz Responsibility
Sunday's comments continue a consistent theme in Trump's rhetoric throughout the war. Earlier in the conflict, he had appealed for an international coalition — naming China, France, Japan, South Korea, and Britain among hoped-for participants — to help secure the strait, even as he insisted the US had already "beaten and completely decimated Iran" militarily. When several allies, including the UK, France, and NATO, declined to join such a coalition, Trump pivoted sharply, telling reporters from the Oval Office: "We don't need too much help, and we don't need any help" on the strait, adding: "That war has been long prosecuted as far as I'm concerned, almost from day one." At another point, he told other nations they could "fend for themselves" in the strait, saying securing it was "not for us" and telling allies to "go get your own oil."
A Region Increasingly Taking Matters Into Its Own Hands
Trump's hands-off posture toward Sunday's talks comes as regional dynamics have grown more complicated on their own. Iran-backed Houthi forces have separately claimed to strike a Saudi military base with missiles and drones amid renewed fighting, and Trump has said he believes Iran was likely behind a separate attack on a Saudi pipeline, adding that the Houthis had told US officials they don't want to fight. Two people were reportedly injured by a projectile near Saudi Arabia's southern border amid continued clashes, following a week-long Houthi offensive that culminated in the rebel group capturing the remainder of Yemen's Red Sea coast.
Why This Matters
Trump's shrugging response to the Oman meeting underscores a broader shift in how the US is positioning itself relative to the war's regional fallout — moving from earlier calls for coordinated international action toward a more detached stance that places responsibility for securing the strait on the Gulf states and other countries directly affected by the disruption. Whether the Oman talks yield any concrete progress on reopening the strait, independent of US involvement, remains to be seen.
What's Next
With the Gulf-Iran meeting scheduled for Monday in Oman and Trump maintaining he has no personal stake in its outcome, attention will turn to whether the talks produce any tangible steps toward de-escalation at Hormuz, even as fighting continues to spread along the Yemen coast and Saudi border. For continuing live coverage, see the full CBS News live blog.