Markets slide after Trump speech on Iran war

US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer sharply criticized Donald Trump’s address on the war with Iran, describing the speech as “rambling, disjointed, and pathetic.”

In a post on X, Schumer accused the president of ignoring the economic concerns facing ordinary Americans.

He added that Trump’s actions in Iran could be remembered as “one of the greatest policy blunders" in the history of the United States.

Crude oil futures climbed during and after US President Donald Trump’s address, as he warned Washington could hit Iran “extremely hard” in the coming weeks and repeated his threats against the country's power plants and oil businesses.

Markets had been watching for signs that the conflict might soon de-escalate, but Trump instead urged countries dependent on Middle Eastern oil to “take” the Strait of Hormuz themselves and suggested they buy US oil for the time being.

The US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, rose from about $98 per barrel ahead of the speech to nearly $104 by 10 p.m. ET after it concluded. The international benchmark Brent crude climbed from just under $100 to nearly $106 over the same period.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Donald Trump’s speech laid out Washington’s objectives in Iran, describing the address as “powerful” and “clear about our objectives.”

In a post on X, Rubio listed those objectives as destroying Iran’s weapons factories, navy and air force and eliminating any chance of Tehran obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“The President’s leadership sends a message to the world that the United States will defend its people and its interests, and uphold peace through strength,” Rubio added.

President Trump warns the US could hit all of Iran’s electricity plants and even hints at strikes against the country's oil industry if no agreement is reached between Washington and Tehran.

"If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants, very hard, and probably simultaneously," he said.

"We have not hit their oil, even though that's the easiest target of all, because it would not give them even a small chance of survival or rebuilding. But we could hit it and it would be gone, and there's not a thing they could do about it."

Trump also said regime change was never the United States' objective in Iran.

"Regime change was not our goal. We never said regime change, but regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders' death," he said.

"I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America's military objectives shortly, very shortly," Trump added.

But he also warned that strikes will carry on for a few weeks.

"We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks, we're going to bring them back to the stone ages, where they belong."

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia say their air defence systems have intercepted Iranian missiles and drones.

The UAE defence ministry said its air defences are “currently responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran,” adding that the sounds heard in the sky were the result of interceptions by defence systems.

Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile headed toward the kingdom’s Eastern Province.