Oil prices jump, stocks fall after Trump speech
President Donald Trump addressed the American people on Wednesday night to brief the nation on the war in Iran.
Trump repeated his claim that the US was close to wrapping up the war, adding that Washington’s “core strategic objectives are nearing completion.”
The address marked Trump’s first prime-time speech since the US-Israeli joint military offensive against Iran was launched over a month ago.
On US operations in Middle East
During the highly anticipated address, Trump reiterated what he called US military successes in the campaign.
Trump said that Operation Epic Fury’s actions over the past month meant that Iran’s “ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed, and their weapons factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces.”
Trump said that the country’s “navy is gone, their air force is in ruins,” and the country’s leaders “are now dead.”
“We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks; we’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong,” he said, before adding that “discussions were ongoing.”
“We are going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast. We’re getting very close,” Trump said.
He went on to repeat Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s claim that family members of US soldiers killed in the Iran war had also called on the President to “finish the job.”
On the Strait of Hormuz
Trump mentioned the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, which has been virtually closed by Iran since the start of the conflict.
The near-closure of the waterway, through which around a fifth of the world’s crude oil normally passes, has seen oil prices surge to over $100 a barrel and spooked global markets.
Trump downplayed the situation, saying the US imports “almost no oil through the Hormuz Strait and won’t be taking any in the future.”
“We don’t need it. We haven’t needed it, and we don’t need it. We’ve beaten and completely decimated Iran,” he claimed.
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