Nicolle Wallace Imagines Iran Doomsday: ‘Even Worse Than We Think’

She warned that Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz could constrict global energy flows, disrupt summer travel, and send shockwaves through the world economy. She also cast the geopolitical picture as slipping out of U.S. control. Citing reports that Iran is favoring friendly nations while restricting others through the strait—and may even be charging tolls to tankers—Wallace suggested Tehran is turning a strategic waterway into an economic weapon, to America’s detriment. Nicolle Wallace: Iran Crisis ‘Even Worse Than We Think!’ pic.twitter.com/E8yKnnTA1K — Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) April 10, 2026 On the diplomatic front, Wallace portrayed Vice President J.D. Vance as stepping into a near-impossible role—entering high-stakes peace talks in Pakistan “in a precarious position,” tasked with ending a war he reportedly opposed from the start. And as President Trump threatened further escalation if negotiations fail, Wallace warned of the risks to “the men and women of the United States military”—a concern that tends to surface most prominently in the liberal media when it can be used to criticize Trump. For Wallace, not just a global crisis—but one in which even her own bleak portrayal wasn’t bleak enough. Here's the transcript. MS NOW Deadline White House 4/10/26 4:00 pm EDT NICOLLE WALLACE: Hi, everyone. It's 4 o'clock in New York on a Friday. Donald Trump woke up today between a rock and a hard place. The rock came in the form of surging inflation and gas prices, and the hard place is the fool First Lady Melania Trump made out of his acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who brushed away the Jeffrey Epstein story as old news earlier this week. First, the crippling economic news. Inflation surged to its highest levels in the United States in two years, because of the global energy crisis created by the war with Iran, March saw a record 25 jump in gas prices for U.S. consumers, hovering near 4 a gallon. If you wanted to go on a European vacation this summer, now there's this to worry about. Airports there are bracing for a jet fuel shortage if oil can't pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Over in Ireland, the Irish government had to call in the army today to quell protests over fuel shortages caused by the war with Iran. It is a full-scale global economic crisis that might actually be even worse than those headlines, and worse than we think, because the prices of oil that we track don't fully capture the full scale of this disruption. And there's no sign of relief right now either, thanks to the fact that despite the two-week truce, Iran is maintaining its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. Iran is using it as a geopolitical and economic advantage. On that, the New York Times writes this, quote, Iran is giving priority to a trickle of vessels from countries that either trade directly with it or are not viewed as hostile to the Iranian government. It's putting Donald Trump on the defensive. Trump wrote this, quote, there are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait. They better not be, and if they are, they better stop now, exclamation point. Susan Glasser writes in the New Yorker that it is a failure on multiple fronts in terms of Donald Trump's objectives. Quote, Iran has not only retained control of the strait through which one-fifth of the world's oil and gas supply flows, it now asserts the right to charge millions of dollars in tolls to ships that wish to pass. A new status quo sanctioned by Trump that will enrich and entrench the theocratic government he started out the war wanting to topple. With Trump's failures piling up, Vice President J.D. Vance is taking the reins. He's going to try to negotiate a high-stakes peace deal in Pakistan tomorrow. But MSNOW reports that J.D. Vance enters Sunday's talks, quote, in a precarious position, hoping to negotiate a lasting end to a war in Iran that he never wanted. J.D. Vance has privately voiced opposition to the war for weeks to Donald Trump and top White House aides, even as the president has pursued an aggressive military campaign. That's according to two White House officials. Hanging in the balance of these high-stakes talks are the men and women of the United States military. Donald Trump again threatened to escalate with the use of military force if the talks are not successful. He told the New York Post in an interview earlier today, if talks aren't going well in the next 24 hours, quote, we have a reset going. We're loading up the ships with the best ammunition, the best weapons ever made, even at a higher level than what we used to do a complete decimation. Grammatical fix was me. Donald Trump trying to reach a peace deal with Iran while his political and economic troubles pile up at home is where we start today. Mark Finkelstein Fri, 04/10/2026 - 22:10 Marketing Timing Timely Search Engine Title Nicolle Wallace Imagines 'Full-Scale Global Economic Crisis' From Iran War CNS Commentary Off