Hassett says consumer pain over Iran war ‘the last of our concerns right now’

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on Tuesday said that the economic toll that American consumers are feeling as a result of the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran is “the last of our concerns right now.”

“The fact is that the U.S. economy is fundamentally sound and that if it were to be extended, it wouldn’t really disrupt the U.S. economy very much at all,” Hassett told CNBC’s Becky Quick on “Squawk Box.”

“It would hurt consumers and we’d have to think about if that continued what we would have to do about that,” he continued. “But that’s the like, really the last of our concerns right now because we’re very confident that this thing is going ahead of schedule.”

Hassett’s remarks come amid a spike in prices on goods ranging from oil and gas to fertilizer following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The national average for gas prices in the U.S. reached $3.79 as of Tuesday morning, an 11-cent hike from Saturday morning, according to data from AAA.

The U.S. oil price benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude was trading at just more than $95 per barrel. The international benchmark, Brent crude, closed for the week at over $102 per barrel.

Hassett was also recently asked during a guest appearance on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” if the Trump administration will need to ask Congress for more funding for the conflict. Host Margaret Brennan cited the Defense Department’s estimated cost for the conflict, which came in at over $11.3 billion within its first six days.

“I think right now we’ve got what we need, whether we have to go back to Congress for more is something that I think that Russ Vought and [the Office of Management and Budget] will look into, but the latest number, you said $11.3 [billion], the latest number I was briefed on was $12 [billion], and so it’s consistent,” the NEC chief said.

President Trump and Cabinet members have downplayed the conflict’s impact on the economy as a “small price to pay” while also benefitting oil producers. The president on Friday claimed that U.S. consumers will see prices go down “as soon as this has ended.”

Democrats have taken ahold of this in their criticism of the administration, the military offensive and its economic effect. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), a potential 2028 presidential contender, challenged the administration over who is the “‘WE’ making ‘a lot of money’ from skyrocketing gas prices” after Trump last week said “when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.”

The president has frequently touted that the conflict is ahead of an unestablished timetable and dropped hints at when it could end. On Sunday, however, he said he was not ready to declare victory.

“I just say they’re decimated,” he previously told The Hill while on Air Force One. “I just say they’re decimated. I think that we’ve done damage to them.”