President Trump spoke to reporters early Tuesday morning and again offered confidence that a deal with Iran could be finalized soon.

But he laid bare the downsides of a return to full-scale fighting and what it could mean for the global economy and energy markets.

“If we go and bomb … they’ll have nothing left whatsoever,” the president claimed. “But you won’t have the Strait [of Hormuz] open for months.”

He added that a return to full attacks could also lead to more deaths, and “who wants to do that? I don’t.”

The president also confirmed that a US Apache helicopter had gone down on Monday near the Strait of Hormuz, but that two US personnel were “fine.”

It remains unclear why the helicopter went down. US Central Command later confirmed the rescue on Tuesday and said the crew had been on patrol and rescued within approximately two hours.

CORRECTION / US President Donald Trump speaks to the press before boarding Air Force One prior to departure from John F. Kennedy International Airport, in New York, on June 9, 2026. Trump is returning to the White House after attending Game Three of the NBA Finals. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images) / "The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by SAUL LOEB has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [June 9] instead of [June 8]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require." President Trump speaks to the press prior to departure from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on June 9. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images) · SAUL LOEB via Getty Images

The new Iran comments came as the president returned to Washington after a stop in New York City for the NBA finals. They were an acknowledgment that Iran maintains the ability to gum up commerce in the crucial waterway, where one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the war.

Read more: How to protect your money during turmoil, stock market volatility

In his remarks, Trump also promised that a peace deal would lead to an immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. That’s in line with the framework of the deal that has been reported for weeks but hasn’t been finalized yet.

Peace talks to end the war have dragged on much longer than the president has repeatedly predicted. He again suggested early Tuesday that a deal could be signed in two to three days and that talks were in “the final throes,” despite a recent uptick in violence.

But the 16-minute back-and-forth with reporters also saw Trump offer other timelines. At one point, he promised that a fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel would hold after new missile attacks this week and that “they’re going to leave each other alone for another week.”

“We’re very close to having a very, very good, strong, powerful deal,” the president claimed. “Their economy is really suffering.”

Market watchers have expressed little optimism that any deal to reopen the strait is imminent.

“We don’t see any particularly good reason to think a deal is all that much closer to being done than a month ago,” Tobin Marcus of Wolfe Research wrote in a note to clients this week. “So we remain concerned about the timeline for reopening the Strait.”