WATCH: Bret Baier Humiliates BlackRock CEO, Forces Him To Denounce Woke Era, DEI

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink tried to calm jittery markets Wednesday, telling Fox News he doesn’t expect the U.S. war with Iran to drag on and predicting oil prices could eventually fall back, maybe even below where they were before the conflict.

“Do I believe the war is going to be lasting a long time? No,” Fink told Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier. “Do I believe oil is going be reverting back to where it was? Maybe even lower.”

Fink joined “Special Report” as Americans face rising gas prices and renewed economic uncertainty tied to the fighting in the Middle East. He argued that short-term spikes don’t change how BlackRock operates because its money is invested for the long haul.

“It creates uncertainty, and uncertainty creates fear,” Fink said of the war with Iran. “But that being said, the $14.5 trillion of money we manage, most of it is very long-dated. I don’t pay much attention to the short-term volatility.”

That answer may not soothe families staring at higher fuel bills. Gas prices have jumped sharply since the U.S. struck Iran on Feb. 28, and the market is still reacting to threats around shipping routes and supply.

Fink said oil could ultimately slide if the conflict ends with Iran’s ability to disrupt the region neutralized and Tehran is allowed to sell oil again.

“If the outcome of the war is a neutralized Iran, and they are allowed to be selling … oil products into the market again, I mean there’s probably a great probability that oil is gonna be below 50,” he said.

He also urged investors not to panic-sell, arguing volatility can be an opportunity.

“We have seen many people pulling out of the market. And, to me, that is the wrong outcome,” Fink said. “In fact, I’ve been getting so many texts, ‘What should I do?’ And I said, ‘Buy more here.’ This is a good long-term opportunity.”

But the moment that landed hardest with viewers wasn’t about oil. It was Baier’s push on the corporate “woke” era, the DEI and ESG agenda that turned BlackRock into a symbol of boardroom activism and left-wing pressure campaigns.

Fink didn’t deny the pendulum swung too far.

“The pendulum moves all the time,” he said.

“Do I believe the pendulum five years ago was too far? Yes.”

BlackRock has already started retreating from parts of its DEI push. The company rolled back some initiatives last year, pointing to “significant changes to the U.S. legal and policy environment related to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) that apply to many companies, including BlackRock.”

Fink said he’s “more pragmatic” today than he was five years ago, a notable shift for a CEO whose firm spent years leaning into ESG-style messaging while working the levers of corporate America behind the scenes.

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Baier pressed further, asking what critics have been saying plainly: Did BlackRock push corporate clients left?

“Do you think BlackRock pushed some companies a little bit further left than you thought?” Baier asked.

“It was never our intention because our job is to be … I gotta be a fiduciary to everybody who gives us money,” Fink responded.

RELATED: Major Defense Firm Axes DEI Policies To Comply With Trump’s Order

That’s the quiet admission conservatives have been demanding for years. The job was always supposed to be protecting investors — not forcing politics into hiring, investing and boardroom decisions. Now, with the public done taking lectures from billion-dollar firms, even the biggest names in finance are suddenly rediscovering what they were hired to do.

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