President Donald Trump said he plans to waive oil-related sanctions, have the US Navy escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz and predicted the war with Iran would resolve “very soon” as he confronted mounting economic and political pressures after days of dramatic fluctuations in oil markets.
The president said that he did not believe the conflict would be over this week, but insisted the operation was ahead of schedule and looked to shore up investors increasingly concerned about energy prices. He vowed bombing “at a much, much harder level” if Iran disrupted oil supplies alongside his sanctions pledge.
“We’re looking to keep the oil prices down,” Trump said at a news conference at his resort in Doral, Florida. “They went artificially up because of this excursion.”
The president did not offer additional specifics, beyond acknowledging he had discussed the topic with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call earlier Monday. Russia has faced sanctions on its oil revenue in an international bid to deprive the country of revenue over its war in Ukraine.
But as a whole, Trump’s remarks underscored a new willingness by the White House to publicly indicate that it could be moving soon to attempt to wrap up the conflict.
“Together with our Israeli partners, we’re crushing the enemy in an overwhelming display of technical skill and military force,” Trump told Republican lawmakers earlier Monday. At the press conference, the president claimed the US had hit 5,000 targets in the country, said Iran’s missile capability was down to 10%, and that drone launches from the country had decreased 83%. The US military objectives could be described as “pretty well complete,” Trump said.
At the same time, Trump acknowledged unanswered questions that remained about the leadership in Tehran and vowed he would “not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated.” The president said that while the US had sunk more than 50 Iranian ships, a prolonged conflict could see the US bomb additional “important targets” including electricity production facilities.
“We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough,” he said. “We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long-running danger once and for all.”
The comments underscored the challenges ahead for Trump, who will need to reconcile his promises of total victory with the economic and political consequences of continuing the war.
US oil futures fell below $90 a barrel post settlement after surging above $119 early in the session in a volatile trading day. Markets eased as the world’s largest economies considered a coordinated effort on emergency energy supplies and Trump’s comments signaled he could seek a conclusion to the conflict.
Trump told CBS the Strait of Hormuz was seeing more ship traffic and that he is “thinking about taking it over.” It was not immediately clear what specific actions the president was contemplating.
Trump also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about Iran and the war in Ukraine, Tass reported Monday, citing Yuri Ushakov, an aide to the Russian leader.
The US president, already facing domestic concerns over persistent inflation ahead of November midterm elections, must now grapple with rising gasoline pump prices as the war shows no letup. On Sunday, he called $100 oil a “small price to pay” and said the cost “will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over.”
Futures pulled back after Group of Seven finance ministers said they were ready to take any steps needed to support global energy supply, including releasing strategic oil reserves.
As recently as Sunday, Trump’s defense secretary was still signaling that the US would be escalating its attacks on Iran.
“We have just now begun to fight, just now begun to surge,” Pete Hegseth told CBS’s 60 Minutes in an interview.
More than 1,300 Iranians have died in the war so far, according to an official toll that’s not been updated for several days. Some 486 people have died in Lebanon, according to the nation’s health ministry. Four civilians died in the UAE, while two members of its armed forces were killed when a malfunctioning helicopter crashed. There also have been several deaths in other Gulf countries.
On Monday, Trump indicated his displeasure, saying Iran should put in a leader “that’s going to be able to do something peacefully, for a change.”
The new leader “shares many of the same ideological leanings as his father and will aim to maintain continuity — including in the war,” said Dina Esfandiary, a Bloomberg Geoeconomics analyst. His election “suggests Iran won’t be shifting tack in the Middle East war,” she said.
“It’s unclear whether he will display flashes of pragmatism like his father did when he pursued and accepted the 2015 nuclear deal,” Esfandiary added. “For now, that seems unlikely.”
On Saturday, Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed not to back down, saying “the idea that we would surrender unconditionally — they must take such a dream to the grave.”
Saudi Arabia hardened its tone against Iran as it dealt with incoming projectiles again on Monday, including ones heading toward oil giant Aramco’s Shaybah field and areas in and around Riyadh.
On Monday, the US ordered American non-essential diplomats in Saudi Arabia to leave the country, citing safety risks. The move marks Washington’s first “ordered departure” since the war began. It follows a US servicemember’s death after being wounded in an attack on US troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1.
Israel struck many fuel depots in Tehran on Saturday, sparking a warning from the Red Crescent about toxic acid rain in the city of 9.5 million people.
Israel said the fuel storage sites were legitimate military targets because they help Iran’s war effort, and added it might target power stations next.
But the US is still “nowhere near” ordering troops into Iran to safeguard nuclear material, Trump told the New York Post on Monday.
A desalination plant in Bahrain was damaged following an Iranian drone attack, the government there said, adding that there was no impact on water supplies.
The Iranian strike on Bahrain came after Tehran accused the US of hitting one of its desalination plants. Persian Gulf countries rely on the facilities for most of their fresh drinking water and sustained attacks could compound the impact of a war.
