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<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Pedro Portal<\/p>\n
pportal@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump defended the United States\u2019 ongoing war with Iran during a Saudi-backed investment forum in Miami Beach Friday, as gas prices hit an almost four-year high following Iran\u2019s blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Trump said he thought the stock market was \u201cgoing to go down even more and I thought oil prices were going to go up higher than they are now. It\u2019s not finished yet.\u201d He added, \u201cIt\u2019s sort of finished, but it\u2019s not finished.\u201d<\/p>\n
As voters directly feel the impacts of the war at the gas station, Trump promised that \u201cwhen this war ends,\u201d the economy is \u201cgoing to be like a rocket ship.\u201d At one point he joked about calling the Strait of Hormuz the \u201cstrait of Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump was speaking at the Future Investment Initiative Priority Summit, an investment conference backed by Saudi Arabia\u2019s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, and attended by investors, CEOs and venture capitalists. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman chairs the PIF.<\/p>\n
Trump spent much of his hourlong speech talking about Iran \u2014 insisting that the country is participating in diplomatic negotiations with the United States and saying the ongoing conflict should be called a \u201cmilitary operation,\u201d not a war. U.S.-Israeli strikes started in the country in late February that killed the country\u2019s leader, attacked military bases and killed more than 100 schoolchildren in a strike on a girl\u2019s school, according to reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n But a strange irony to Trump\u2019s promises is the reporting this week that bin Salman has been pressuring Trump to continue its war with Iran, not seek a swift end, according to the New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is the second year<\/a> Trump has spoken at the investment forum. Five human rights groups accused the 2025 FII conference of further \u201cwhitewashing [Saudi Arabia\u2019s] egregious human rights record.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff spoke at a panel at the event before Trump\u2019s remarks, noting that bin Salman \u201chas become a really good friend of mine.\u201d Trump also said that bin Salman is a \u201cfantastic man and a great friend of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n Witkoff also said the war with Iran is not primarily a U.S. \u201cissue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t get a lot of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, but we\u2019re doing this for everybody else,\u201d Witkoff said. \u201cIts really not our issue, it\u2019s so far away, but it is our issue in the sense that we have a leadership platform.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s speech Friday hit many of his typical rally highlight reels: touting his 2024 election win, saying he should have been granted the Nobel Peace Prize instead of Mar\u00eda Corina Machado and castigating former President Joe Biden and the \u201cfake news media.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was originally published March 27, 2026 at 8:02 PM.<\/p>\n![\"Steve](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MIA_105TrumpFIIPrority27NEWPPP.JPG\" "\\"MIA_105TrumpFIIPrority27NEWPPP.JPG\\"")
Steve Witkoff , Founder & CEO, The Witkoff Group; U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East, speaks during a coversation with Richard Attias, Chairman of the FII Institute Executive Committee, during the Future Investment Initiative Priority Summit at the Faena Forum in Miami Beach, on Friday, March 27, 2026. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n