Republican strategist Karl Rove criticized President Donald Trump's insistence that the U.S. economy was performing strongly and prices were falling rapidly, saying that message did not match what Americans were seeing in grocery and gasoline costs. Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews that the economy was doing "unbelievably from the standpoint of Wall Street," while earlier telling supporters he would "never apologize" for gasoline above $4 a gallon because higher fuel costs were part of stopping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. AAA said the U.S. national average gasoline price was $4.08 a gallon on Friday, up from $3.88 a month earlier and 29% higher than a year earlier, while diesel rose to $5.40 from $4.98. Rove also broadly agreed with Vice President JD Vance that Republicans should explain the failures of socialism rather than rely on slogans about the free market, though he defended free markets as central to U.S. success. Fuel prices have risen as crossfire in the region has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a route that typically carries about a fifth of global oil consumption in peacetime. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration would intensify economic pressure on Iran next week, and Trump later said he planned to declare the strait "a territory of the United States," a claim Iran had already rejected in earlier remarks.