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President Donald Trump said he would waive oil-related sanctions, have the US Navy escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz and predicted on Monday that the war with Iran would resolve \u201cvery soon\u201d as he confronted mounting economic and political pressure and days of dramatic fluctuations in oil markets.<\/p>\n
The president said he didn\u2019t 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 \u201cat a much, much harder level\u201d if Iran disrupted oil supplies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking to keep the oil prices down,\u201d Trump said at a news conference at his resort in Doral, Florida. \u201cThey went artificially up because of this excursion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump said he could waive \u201ccertain oil-related sanctions to reduce prices\u201d but didn\u2019t offer additional specifics beyond acknowledging he had discussed the topic with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call earlier Monday. Russia has faced a range of restrictions on its vast oil industry, including a price cap on its crude and US sanctions on its two largest producers, in a bid to deprive the country of revenue over its war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Read: Middle East war has \u2018sapped\u2019 confidence \u2013 SBG\u2019s Goolam Ballim
Spiralling oil prices could spell trouble for SA agriculture \u2026 and consumers<\/p>\n
Trump is mulling a range of options to combat surging oil and gasoline prices in the wake of the Iran war, according to people familiar with the matter. Those could include releasing emergency stockpiles, pausing federal gas tax collections \u2013 something Congress would have to approve \u2014 and the Treasury Department\u2019s involvement in the oil futures market. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had previously suggested the US could waive more Russian oil sanctions, after moving last week to temporarily allow Indian refiners to purchase more Russian oil.<\/p>\n
While US officials have repeatedly insisted they can continue the conflict indefinitely, Trump\u2019s remarks underscored a new willingness by the White House to publicly indicate that it could be moving soon to attempt to wrap up hostilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether with our Israeli partners, we\u2019re crushing the enemy in an overwhelming display of technical skill and military force,\u201d 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\u2019s missile capability was down to 10%, and that drone launches from the country had decreased 83%. The US military objectives could be described as \u201cpretty well complete,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Read: Over R2trn JSE wipeout<\/p>\n
At the same time, Trump acknowledged unanswered questions that remained about the leadership in Tehran and vowed he would \u201cnot relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated.\u201d The president said that while the US had sunk more than 50 Iranian ships, a prolonged conflict could see the US bomb additional \u201cimportant targets\u201d including electricity production facilities.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019ve already won in many ways, but we haven\u2019t won enough,\u201d he said. \u201cWe go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long-running danger once and for all.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, interviewed on PBS\u2019s News Hour on Monday, said his nation had \u201cvery bitter experience\u201d of negotiating with the Americans. He pointed out that in June last year and again this year when talks were going on between the two, the US had chosen to attack Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I don\u2019t think talking with Americans anymore would be on our agenda,\u201d he told PBS.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Syria said Lebanon-based Hezbollah had fired artillery shells at its army positions west of Damascus, according to state-run Sana. It also said Hezbollah had been sending reinforcements to the border between Syria and Lebanon.<\/p>\n
US stocks recovered from losses earlier Monday, after the president made initial comments signalling an openness to ending the conflict, according to CBS News. Those comments sent the S&P 500 up as much as 1%, after a CBS reporter posted the comments on X. Oil and US Treasury yields fell.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s largest economies considered a coordinated effort on emergency energy supplies, and Trump\u2019s comments signalled he could seek a conclusion to the conflict.<\/p>\n
Still, the Strait of Hormuz remained all but closed, with no finalised plans on how nations will safeguard ships passing through the key waterway.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Trump told CBS the Strait of Hormuz was seeing more ship traffic and that he is \u201cthinking about taking it over.\u201d It was not immediately clear what specific actions the president was contemplating.<\/p>\n
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 \u201csmall price to pay\u201d and said the cost \u201cwill drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over.\u201d<\/p>\n
The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has forced Saudi Arabia, the world\u2019s biggest oil exporter, to reduce production, according to a person familiar with the matter. That follows similar moves by the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq.<\/p>\n
Trump on Monday warned Iran against blocking oil transporting through the strait, saying that if it did so \u201cthey will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAdditionally, we will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back, as a Nation, again \u2014 Death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them \u2014 But I hope, and pray, that it does not happen!\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Still, the G7 is \u201cnot there yet\u201d in terms of agreeing to tap emergency energy supplies, according to France, which holds the current presidency. But the group said in a statement that it would \u201ccontinue to closely monitor the situation and developments in the energy markets\u201d and \u201cstand ready to take necessary measures, including to support global supply of energy such as stockpile release.\u201d<\/p>\n
The US reported its seventh casualty on Sunday. Two Israeli soldiers and about a dozen Israeli civilians have also lost their lives. Data from the UAE suggests Iran\u2019s barrage of missiles and drones is easing, even as Tehran is still attacking Israel and Arab Gulf states regularly with drones and missiles.<\/p>\n
More than 1 300 Iranians have died in the war so far, according to an official toll that number has not been updated for several days. Some 486 people have died in Lebanon, according to the nation\u2019s health ministry. Four civilians died in the UAE, while two members of its armed forces were killed when a malfunctioning helicopter crashed. There have also been several deaths in other Gulf countries.<\/p>\n
Israeli forces maintained attacks on southern Lebanon, aiming to degrade Iran-aligned Hezbollah. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Iran toward Turkey on Monday, the second such incident, raising the risk that the military alliance could be drawn more directly into the conflict.<\/p>\n
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On Sunday, Iran\u2019s media announced that Mojtaba Khamenei \u2013 whose father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled the country for almost 37 years and was killed when US-Israeli strikes began on 28 February \u2013 won a \u201cdecisive vote\u201d in Iran\u2019s Assembly of Experts to become the supreme leader.<\/p>\n
The 56-year-old has deep ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is about the most powerful military and economic organisation in Iran. The group pledged full obedience to the new leader.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Trump indicated his displeasure, saying Iran should put in a leader \u201cthat\u2019s going to be able to do something peacefully, for a change.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new leader \u201cshares many of the same ideological leanings as his father and will aim to maintain continuity \u2013 including in the war,\u201d said Dina Esfandiary, a Bloomberg Geoeconomics analyst. His election \u201csuggests Iran won\u2019t be shifting tack in the Middle East war,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia and Bahrain dealt with incoming projectiles again overnight, while blasts were reported across Iran, including in the capital Tehran.<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia, which has intensified its diplomatic outreach to Iran, has also hardened its tone in recent days. The Saudi foreign ministry warned Monday that Tehran\u2019s actions risk further escalation, in which Iran \u201cwill be its biggest loser.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Monday, the US ordered American non-essential diplomats in Saudi Arabia to leave the country, citing safety risks.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 Bloomberg<\/p>\n
#Trump #signals #war #floats #removing #oil #sanctions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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