US President Donald Trump postponed threatened strikes against Iranian energy infrastructure and power plants for five days, pending the outcome of what he said were talks with Iran to end the 24-day war.
The two sides have held “VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST,” Trump posted on social media on Monday. He added that the suspension of plans to escalate the campaign is subject to the success of ongoing discussions.
However, Iran hasn’t had “direct or indirect communication with Trump,” the country’s semi-official Fars news agency reported, citing an anonymous Iranian source.
Oil plunged more than 14% after Trump’s comments, which came out of the blue as fears were growing of an escalation in the conflict. Crude pared about half those losses after the Fars report, with some traders sceptical about the accuracy of Trump’s statement.
Various Middle Eastern countries, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Oman, have been involved in backchannel talks with Iran in the past two weeks to try to contain the war and, ideally for them, to get the Islamic Republic and the US-Israeli coalition to agree to a truce.
Trump had given Iran until Monday evening New York time to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a vital waterway for oil and gas flows — or the US and Israel would start bombing the country’s power plants. Iran had vowed to hit energy, information technology and water facilities across the Middle East in response.
Iran also said it would mine the “entire Persian Gulf” in the event of further attacks on its coastline, the country’s National Defense Council said on Monday.
Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz at the start of the conflict, which the US and Israel began with a wave of airstrikes on Feb. 28 that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The blockage to the waterway, a conduit for about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas exports, has seen oil and gas prices surge, with fears growing of an inflation and food crisis.
Iran has retaliated to the ongoing bombardment with strikes on Israel and around the Persian Gulf. At least 4,200 people have been killed in the war to date, more than three quarters of them in the Islamic Republic.
The Israeli military said Monday it’s targeting Iranian infrastructure and conducting strikes in the heart of Tehran. Iran continued to respond, with Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia reporting drone and missile attacks, though there were no reports of major strikes.
Israel is also preparing to expand ground operations in Lebanon, where it’s fighting a parallel war against Iran-aligned Hezbollah.
Stocks and bonds rebounded after Trump’s comments about the start of ceasefire talks, having tumbled over the course of the conflict.
Israeli airstrikes on a key Iranian gas field last week triggered a wave of reprisals, damaging some of the region’s main energy-producing assets, including Qatar’s giant LNG plant in Ras Laffan.
International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said more than 40 energy sites across nine countries in the Middle East have been “severely or very severely” damaged, potentially prolonging disruptions to global supply chains once the conflict ends.
The damage means it will take some time for oil fields, refineries and pipelines to be brought back online, Birol said. That’s on top of the blockage to the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has kept closed to all but a selected few ships. Two Indian-flagged vessels carrying liquefied petroleum gas are making their way through the waterway on Monday, ship-tracking data show.
Iran’s missile strikes against Israel had picked up in recent days. On Saturday, about 115 people were injured in the southern cities of Arad and Dimona, the latter of which lends its name to a nearby nuclear-research facility. Iranian media said the strike was in retaliation for an attack on its Natanz nuclear facility.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his country’s military objectives on Sunday, telling reporters the aims are to “break completely their nuclear program, break completely their missile program.” He added that Israel has “a goal of creating conditions” for Iranians to overthrow their leaders and called on other countries to join the war.
Trump has given numerous reasons for starting the war, including the need to eliminate Iran’s ability to build nuclear weapons. Iran denies pursuing atomic arms.