\u201cWe all know that the Iranian regime was a very oppressive one but this war is creating death, destruction to people in Iran who had no act or part in the regime.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo for the people of Iran, in the first instance, for the people in the Middle East, more generally, this war must end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin said that threatening civilians was \u201cwrong\u201d but said it was \u201cnot clear\u201d whether the threats were directed at Iran\u2019s civilian population and infrastructure.<\/p>\n
\u201c(We) could be forever trying to interpret President Trump in terms of what he said and what actually gets done, and that\u2019s always been the feature,\u201d he said, adding the US had stopped bombing oil infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Martin said no government can compensate every person and sector during the energy crisis caused by the war in Iran.<\/p>\n
![\"Petrol](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/trump-s-threat-to-bomb-iran-back-to-the-stone-age-unacceptable-taoiseach.jpg\")
The war has had an effect on fuel prices (Brian Lawless\/PA)<\/p>\n
He said that hauliers were \u201ckey to trade\u201d as they are \u201ckey to getting food on our shelves\u201d, and said other State supports need to be targeted towards \u201cthose who need it the most\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t believe fuel capping would work, and it\u2019s an endless sort of commitment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think what we\u2019ve done so far makes sense. I think a more targeted approach is the way to go, to be frank with you.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we also are cautious, because we don\u2019t know quite know what\u2019s around the corner here and in terms of how this long this war is going to continue, and we need to keep some firepower.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin called Israel\u2019s ground invasion of Lebanon a \u201cwholly disproportionate\u201d response to \u201cunacceptable\u201d attacks from the militant group Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
Asked about the consequences of pulling out over 360 Irish peacekeepers would be \u201cvery very serious\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be careful that we would take out any international observance in Lebanon, because a similar fate (to Gaza), particularly in south Lebanon, could await the inhabitants there if there is no one to hold Israel to account.<\/p>\n
\u201c(That is) a sense a lot in the international community have, and the very mere presence of UNIFIL is in itself a factor that can limit the nature and scale of Israeli attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Taoiseach said that if the conflict in the Middle East continue \u201cfor any length of time\u201d it will have a \u201cvery significant impact\u201d on the world economy, livelihoods and subsequently will have a range of secondary effects.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Newstalk\u2019s Breakfast show with Anton Savage, Martin said such impacts would include increased inflation and higher costs for products derived from oil such as fertiliser, plastics, helium for semiconductors.<\/p>\n
The aviation sector will also come under threat, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you think that over the last five, six, seven, eight years, we’ve had one shock after the other, Brexit, Covid, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, different to this crisis, but nonetheless created an energy disruption of a significant kind.<\/p>\n
“Then we had the tariffs coming from the US, and now we have this war, and it’s been endless. Cumulatively, all of those will have impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHauliers are key to trade, hauliers are key to getting food on our shelves and so on like that. And so that’s why we took specific measures to help hauliers.<\/p>\n
“We’ll have to look at the whole area of food production as well in terms of the fertiliser issue and costs there, just say we did in Covid, if you remember, and it wasn’t spoken about as much, but we kept industry going during Covid.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe took specific measures in terms of enabling pharmaceuticals, enabling all of that. If this continues at length, we have to maintain that sort of support for hauliers. We’d have to look at food production more generally. But we hope this comes to an end sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\u2018Build](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/29b7f72a136f449db1593b9ea66a3c5f.jpg\")
<\/p>\n