Alì Larijiani has rejected US President Donald Trump’s threats to hit Iran twenty times harder. “The people of Ashura in Iran are not afraid of your empty threats,” the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council wrote on X. “Not even people older than you could eliminate the Iranian nation. Be careful not to be canceled yourself,” he warned.
Mixed signals on the end of the war
After a day of mixed signals about when the war against Iran, the president of the United States Donald Trump has not clarified the horizon of the conflict. In his first in-person press conference since The US and Israel attacked Iran, first he said that the war “will end very soon” and declared that the Iranian forces “have lost everything, they have nothing left, they no longer have leadership”, but then, answering journalists’ questions, Trump returned to being threatening, saying that the US attack “could become even more aggressive” if the Iranian leaders try to interrupt theworld energy supply.
Actually, Tehran has explained that it will strike along the Strait of Hormuz only American and Israeli tankers, and will let the others pass. A scenario that worries Trump, dealing with the first real one energy crisis of his mandate and with the prices of diesel which have also seen a surge in the United States, also infuriating its electoral base. “We will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them, nor for anyone who helps them, to ever recover that part of the world,” Trump declared while meeting journalists.
The hypothesis of a rapid end to the conflict
Previously, the president had hinted that the war against Iran may be nearing an end. “The war is practically complete,” Trump said in a telephone interview with CBS. “We are well ahead of schedule” by 4-5 weeks, he added.
These comments had ended up easing the fears of the financial markets on a prolonged conflict. The price of oil fell and stocks rose. But after the markets closed, Trump changed his tune again. “We won in many ways, but not enough,” he said at a meeting with Republican lawmakers in Florida, before attending the press conference. “We move forward more determined than ever to achieve the final victory that will end this long-standing danger once and for all.”
The issue of Iranian leadership and Khamenei’s succession
Then to reporters, when asked if the war with Iran would end this week, Trump replied: “No.” He only said: “Soon, very soon.” Trump said he was disappointed by Iran’s decision to nominate Mojtaba Khamenei as successor to his father, theAyatollah Ali Khamenei, as supreme leader.
Khamenei had been killed on the first day of the war, but Trump did not directly respond to a question about whether his son, Mojtaba, might meet the same fate. “I was disappointed,” he said of the appointment, “because we think it will bring the same problems for the country.”
Oil and markets under pressure
The international reference price of oil, below 70 dollars in February, had briefly jumped to almost 120 dollars on Sunday night, only to then fall after the countries of The G7 have said they are considering intervention to bring down prices. It fell again after Trump’s statements on CBS, closing the day below $90.
The question that remains open: when will the war end
But the question remains: when will it end? war between USA and Iran? The trend in oil prices could have an impact, also because Trump fears that the collapse of popularity expands. Those who know him well, like his former national security advisor and now severe critic John Bolton says that Trump will at some point announce the end of the war, even if the situation has not changed, and proclaim that he has won. But in the meantime Iran’s response does not stop. The number of dead American soldiers has risen to seven.