{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.daines.senate.gov/2026/04/16/daines-on-fox-business-if-we-were-playing-poker-the-iranians-have-no-cards-and-america-has-them-all/", "Daines on Fox Business: If We Were Playing Poker, the Iranians Have No Cards and America Has Them All", "2026-04-16", "2026", "2026-04", "Republican", "Senate", "MT", "Steve Daines", "D000618", "www.daines.senate.gov", "daines", "https://www.daines.senate.gov/news/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Steve Daines today joined Stuart Varney on Fox Business to discuss the latest on the Iran war and energy prices.\n\nWatch the full interview HERE.\n\nDaines on the success of the U.S. military:\n\nI\u2019m cheering for the good guys. It\u2019s remarkable what the U.S. military has done under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth\u2019s leadership. They have decapitated the command and control structure in Iran. They\u2019ve removed their political leadership. They\u2019ve destroyed the nuclear capabilities. They\u2019ve destroyed their ballistic missiles. Remember, the Iranians did fire one intermediate ballistic missile that went 2,500 miles near Diego Garcia. To put that in perspective, that tells us the Iranians had the capability to hit capitals in Europe, including London and Paris. Thank God for the leadership and the clarity of President Trump, because we are doing something now, Stuart, that is for our children and our grandchildren, ending a 47-year war that the ayatollahs have wreaked havoc.\n\nDaines on why the Iranians should accept America\u2019s terms:\n\nIf we\u2019re playing poker right now, the Iranians have no cards in their hands. President Trump, the United States of America has all the cards. We\u2019ve destroyed their capabilities on the ground on Iran militarily. We have blockaded their lifeline, economically speaking, here to the rest of the world. 90 percent of the Iranian oil revenues go through the Strait of Hormuz. That\u2019s all they\u2019ve got. We now control the chokehold on their economy, on their military, their political structure. It\u2019s game over for the Iranians. They either are going to surrender. That is what they are going to do and accept our terms, or Secretary Hegseth has clearly said there is a lot more power and force coming if they don\u2019t accept our terms.\n\nDaines on the future of gas prices:\n\nFirst of all, I think Secretary Bessent is exactly right. Stuart, go back and look at the five-year prices on gas in the United States. Back in June of 22, following the invasion of the Russians into Ukraine, gas got up to nearly $5 a gallon. By September, it was down nearly $2 a gallon. It\u2019s very realistic to assume this spike we see, this temporary spike\u2026 we are going to see the gas prices at around $4 now will clearly be sub $3, probably two and a half bucks by the time we get into late summer, early fall. The trend line shows that, history shows that over the last five years. I\u2019m confident, I think it\u2019s probable that Secretary Bessent is exactly right, we\u2019re going to see gas prices below $3 by the end of the summer, early fall.\n\n###", 1, "2026-04-17T05:47:03Z", "2026-04-17T05:48:33Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.daines.senate.gov/2026/04/16/daines-on-fox-business-if-we-were-playing-poker-the-iranians-have-no-cards-and-america-has-them-all/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7245388589799404, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}