President Donald Trump has claimed that Iran’s “new regime president” asked for a ceasefire, while simultaneously threatening to blast the country “back to the Stone Ages.”
The 79-year-old president has now repeatedly claimed that Tehran is eager to strike a peace deal, even as Iranian officials dispute his claims.
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday morning, just before 9 a.m. Eastern, the president took things up a notch.
He claimed that the country’s new leader was “much less Radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors” and “has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!” It’s not clear who he was referring to, as Iran still has the same president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
Trump added: “We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!! President DJT”
The markets have gyrated each time Trump has made public declarations about the war. Oil prices fell 3 percent to just above $100 per barrel after the 79-year-old announced on Tuesday night that an end to the war was near. He said the U.S. was preparing to leave Iran “very soon,” and that military action could end in two or three weeks.
However, it shot back up to $101 due to uncertainty around an address he is due to make at 9 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday.
His latest comments echo those made on Monday, when he declared that the U.S. was in “serious discussions” with the new regime to end the American military operation. That came with the caveat, however, that a deal would only be reached if the Strait of Hormuz was immediately “open for business.”
Three vessels in the Persian Gulf have been hit in just a 24-hour period, throwing the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz into severe doubt.
Trump has developed a habit of breaking big developments on the war just before the markets open. The last instance of this not-so-cunning ploy came on Monday, when he posted at 7:30 a.m. about “serious discussions” over a peace agreement.
Just as with his latest missive, he ended that with a threat. “We will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet touched,” he declared.
The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, wrote on X after Monday’s attempt: “Heads-up: Pre-market so-called ‘news’ or ‘Truth’ is often just a setup for profit-taking. Basically, it’s a reverse indicator.”
“Do the opposite: If they pump it, short it. If they dump it, go long,” he added. “See something tomorrow? You know the drill.”
Similarly, on March 21, Trump threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if the country didn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz. In an apparent effort to calm markets two days later, he added that the U.S. and Tehran were engaged in talks to end the war and told the Pentagon to postpone strikes for five days.
Trump, in his address tonight, is due to provide “an important update on Iran,” according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
The president began his war on Feb. 28. The conflict has now cost at least 13 American lives and triggered a global energy crisis, with the average national fuel price in the U.S. now over $4 a gallon.
