Lawler disagrees with Trump on Iran war: ‘It is certainly not small potatoes’

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) on Sunday broke with President Trump regarding the commander in chief’s recent statement about the Iran war where he downplayed the conflict .

“Any time you are at war or in a military escalation, it is certainly not small potatoes. It is serious. I think we all recognize that,” Lawler told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union,” referencing recent comments from the president.

“Ensuring Iran does not possess a nuclear weapon, stopping them from continuing to finance terrorism, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and other terror proxies, stopping them from mass-producing ballistic missiles, drones, which are being used by Russia against Ukraine, is critical,” he added.

In the Oval Office on Friday, Trump said he was referring to the Iran war as “a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us.”

“It’s not a big thing,” the president added.

The Iran war just passed the six-month mark, with the fighting straining U.S. relationships with historic allies, driving up oil and gas prices and proving unpopular with the American public in recent polling.

On Sunday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said he did not “want to have an opinion” on the direction of gas prices Americans are paying, which are above $4 per gallon on average.

“You said on this show five months ago that high gas prices had peaked, but between not just the Iran war, but the Russia-Ukraine war and the U.S.’s own dwindling reserves, isn’t it possible gas prices could go up even more?” Bash asked Wright on “State of the Union.”

“Look, I don’t want to have an opinion on that, but if you look at the futures market right now, what can you buy gasoline for two months in advance from where we are today? It’s down more than 30 cents a gallon from where it is today,” Wright responded.