Stocks surged late Thursday after President Donald Trump said he had called off U.S. military strikes against Iran and claimed that a deal to end months-long war was imminent — a claim Iran quickly denied.
Iran quickly denied the claim. Trump has said numerous times that a deal to end the war against is close at hand without one materializing
Nikada / Getty Images
Stocks surged late Thursday after President Donald Trump said he had called off U.S. military strikes against Iran and claimed that a deal to end months-long war was imminent — a claim Iran quickly denied.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average at one point was up more than 1,000 points in late-afternoon trading before closing up more than 900 points, or 1.8%. The S&P 500 closed up 1.7% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq $NDAQ Composite added 2.5%. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures fell 3% to about $86 a barrel, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 3% to about $89 a barrel.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump declared that a deal had been struck to end the conflict, contingent on paperwork being finalized. Trump has said numerous times that a deal to end the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran is close at hand without one materializing. This time, he said he expects a signing "over the next few days."
"We have a deal that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon," Trump said. He added that the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened once a deal is signed. The U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports will remain in place until the deal is finalized, he said.
But quickly contradicting Trump's claims, the Iranian state outlet Fars said within minutes of his announcement that no draft agreement text had been reviewed or accepted by Tehran. Among the countries Trump cited as having signed off on the framework were Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, and Egypt — a roster that conspicuously omitted Iran itself, as well as Lebanon, where Israeli strikes have continued even during a fragile ceasefire.
Hours before the reversal, Trump had taken to Truth Social with an aggressive posture, threatening imminent strikes and vowing that Washington would eventually take possession of Kharg Island — through which roughly 90% of Iranian oil exports flow — and wrest command of Iran's broader energy sector.
The started on Feb. 28, when coordinated American and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered the broader conflict. A ceasefire brokered in early April has since been violated on multiple occasions. The latest escalations this week followed an Iranian drone downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, which prompted U.S. retaliatory strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday targeting air defenses, radar sites, and ground-control stations near the waterway.
The two sides have been unable to bridge core disagreements: Iran has shown no willingness to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping or give up its nuclear ambitions, and Washington has consistently rebuffed Tehran's insistence on sanctions relief before any progress can be made. Trump has claimed repeatedly since the war began that a deal is close.
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