President Donald Trump announced Monday that US military operations in Iran would end soon, comforting markets that have been thrown into disarray by a war that is still raging across the Middle East.
Stock markets fell and oil prices soared on Monday as Tehran, commanded by new leader Mojtaba Khamenei, fired a new volley of missiles at its Gulf neighbours and signalled that the key Strait of Hormuz would most likely remain closed.
But Wall Street climbed into positive territory on Trump’s signals of a short war, with Tokyo and Seoul also opening strongly Tuesday, despite the president’s continued threats to expand the campaign if Iran did not fall in line.
Oil prices also reversed course, falling as much as five percent a day after benchmark crude rocketed past $100 a barrel — its highest level since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“It’s going to be ended soon, and if it starts up again they’ll be hit even harder,” Trump told a news conference in Florida, after telling lawmakers that the campaign would be a “short-term excursion.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards replied Tuesday that they, not the Americans, would “determine the end of the war”.
Trump’s remarks came on the first day in power for the 56-year-old son of slain leader Ali Khamenei, with Iranian forces launching a fresh wave of missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Israel.
