"Donald Trump admitted he thought the consequences of attacking Iran would be even 'worse' than they were, as he held a press briefing with PM Sanae Takaichi at the White House on Thursday. "Everything was going great. The economy was great. Oil prices were very low. Gasoline was dropping to, I mean, we had $1.99, $1.85. We had great everything. And I saw what was happening in Iran, and I said, I hate to make this excursion, but we're going to have to do it. And I actually thought the numbers would be worse," he began. Trump continued: "Iran is a serious threat to the world, to the Middle East and to the world and everybody agrees with me I think virtually every country agrees with me on that so I wanted to put out that fire and I said you know we do that oil prices will go up the economy will go down a little bit," "I thought it would be worse, much worse, actually. I thought there was a chance it could be much worse. It's not bad, and it's going to be over with pretty soon," he added. The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28. Tehran responded with strikes on Israel and US assets in the region. It saw global energy prices, as Trump repeatedly slammed NATO allies for failing to help him secure the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi has said the Strait - which handles around 20 per cent of global oil traffic - "is open to friends and non-hostile countries, but closed to enemies and those who collaborate with them." "