Trump signals Iran war may be nearing end, sees global oil prices heading lower
Trump said US military objectives in Iran were close to being achieved, helping calm market fears that a prolonged conflict could keep global oil supplies under pressure after crude briefly surged above US$100 a barrel.
- President Trump stated that the war with Iran would end soon, claiming the U.S. military operation was close to completion and had destroyed significant Iranian naval and air defense assets.
- He predicted that global oil prices, which had surged, would come down as a result of the conflict, leading to greater stability in the world's oil supply.
- Trump warned of even heavier U.S. strikes if Iran moved to disrupt crude exports, saying the conflict would end once Iran loses its capability to threaten U.S. allies.
- Despite his defense secretary suggesting the war had just begun, Trump maintained it would end quickly and cited praise from Russian President Vladimir Putin for the U.S. military's success.
President Donald Trump said the war with Iran would end soon and that oil prices would come down, striking an upbeat tone after crude prices surged above US$100 a barrel over the weekend and sent shockwaves through global financial markets.
Speaking at Trump National Doral near Miami, Trump said the United States was making major progress towards its military objectives and claimed the operation was close to completion.
He said some might even say the mission was almost complete.
Trump also declared that Iranian forces had been destroyed, saying more than 50 Iranian naval vessels had been wiped out and that Iran’s air force and air defence systems had been severely damaged.
He further claimed that Iran no longer had any leadership left and said everything had been destroyed.
Trump said the war would not end this week, but insisted it would be over before long.
He added that the conflict would end once Iran no longer had the capability, for a long time, to use weapons against the United States, Israel and other allies.
Earlier on Monday, March 9, an Iranian official said any oil tanker passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital strategic route for global crude shipments, could be at risk of attack by Iran.
Trump said the long-term effect of the war would be greater stability in global oil supply and warned that the United States would launch even heavier strikes if Iran moved to suspend crude exports to the world market.
He said the United States would hit Iran so hard that it would become impossible for Iran, or anyone helping it, to restore that part of the world.
Trump also maintained that there was no contradiction between his forecast that the war would end quickly and the recent remark by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth that the war had only just begun, saying both could be true.
He described the moment as the beginning of building a new country.
Trump also said he had previously spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was reported to have offered ideas on how the United States could bring the war to a rapid end.
Even so, Trump said Putin had been greatly impressed by what he had seen from the US operation in Iran, which he described as the kind of operation many people would not dare carry out, and as a military success on a scale people had never seen before.
