Trump on Iran: ‘My question is, if and when do I blow the entire nation up?’

President Trump on Sunday speculated on the future of the Iran war , asking “if and when do I blow the entire nation up?”

Fox News’s Trey Yingst reported that Trump is in a “deciding mode” and “that very big things are going to be happening in the not so distant future.”

“The president described the current choices on the table as ‘wiping Iran out, letting them rot economically or making a deal,” Yingst said. “He added, ‘My question is if and when do I blow the entire nation up? They better behave.'”

Trump said Thursday that he’s weighing the decision to “go in and annihilate them [the Iranian regime] or do I not,” he told Axios, adding that anything “could happen with me.”

The comments come after reports surfaced that Trump is expected to meet with six Persian Gulf leaders on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly this week. The Trump administration will also allow a “core delegation” of Iranian officials, like Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, to attend the high-level session at the General Assembly.

It is the latest iteration of Trump’s threat to devastate Iran. He warned in April that “a whole civilization will die” unless “maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen.” This threat, attached to a deadline, prompted talks with Iran and a brief ceasefire.

The U.S.-Israeli conflict in Iran has caused energy prices to skyrocket worldwide, pushing the national average for gas prices to $4.48 as of Sunday, according to AAA . Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for oil exports, has primarily led to prices rising for almost seven months.

But Trump has frequently downplayed the high gas prices after long praising their lows prior to the initial U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.

“It’s a very inexpensive price to pay for what we’ve done. Remember that. It’s a little more. Frankly, even if it was a lot more,” Trump said at a rally for Republican Senate nominee Michael Whatley in Gastonia on Wednesday. “But that’s going to come tumbling down. That’s going to be like rocket ships in reverse.”

Republican lawmakers have been put on the defensive on the issue as they face Democrats making the cost of living a core issue going into the midterm elections.

“As I’m talking to Alaskans, they’re saying, ‘Wait a minute, he said we were going to be in and out in a matter of weeks,'” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said last week. “And not only are we still there but this is what I am feeling in my community when it comes to the cost of the war. I’m not satisfied with where we are. Not at all.”