Karl Rove criticized President Trump on Friday for insisting the U.S. economy is performing strongly even as higher prices weigh on consumers during the Iran conflict. After Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews that the “economy was doing unbelievably from the standpoint of Wall Street,” Rove told Fox News’s Gillian Turner that the president should “start by not gaslighting” the public, arguing that claims of the “greatest economy in the history of the world” and rapidly falling grocery and gasoline prices do not match what Americans are experiencing. Rove also backed Vice President JD Vance’s view that Republicans should not rely on slogans about the free market to answer rising socialism on the left, though he said free markets remain central to U.S. success and a key reason socialism is a mistake. The political criticism came as the Trump administration tried to address affordability concerns tied to ongoing U.S. military operations against Iran. Fuel prices have surged in the United States and globally during the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz (critical oil shipping route), which carries around a fifth of the world’s oil consumption in peacetime. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration would increase economic pressure next week to force Iran to reopen the passage. A Pentagon official said existing sanctions and a naval blockade (military restriction on sea access) have already cost Tehran billions in revenue. Trump later said in Long Island, N.Y., that he planned to declare the strait “a territory of the United States,” though he did not explain how that would be done despite the waterway falling under the jurisdiction of Oman and Iran.