Iran asking for ceasefire, but no truce until Strait of Hormuz reopens, claims Trump

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Iran had asked for a ceasefire, but ruled out any truce until the vital Strait of Hormuz was reopened for crucial energy shipments.

The White House said the president would make “an important” national address at 9:00 pm (0100 GMT Thursday) — his first prime-time speech since the conflict began — after he earlier said the war could be over in “two weeks, maybe three”.

“We will continue until our objectives are fully achieved. Thanks to the progress we’ve made, I can say we are on track to complete all of America’s objectives shortly, very shortly,” the US president says.

“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We are going to take them back to the stone ages where they belong,” he says.

He adds that “regime change was never our goal” but that “regime change has occurred because of their original leader’s death”.

He’s also warns Iran of strikes on power plants if no deal is agreed.

“If during this period of time no deal is made, we have our eyes on key targets. If no deal is reached, we are going to hit every one of their electric generating plants very hard, and probably simultaneously,” Donald Trump said.

Tehran has insisted there are no ongoing negotiations, and launched fresh missile strikes on Israel and US-allied Gulf nations on Wednesday, as AFP journalists reported massive explosions in the Iranian capital.

Trump’s statements have see-sawed between combative and conciliatory since US-Israeli strikes on February 28 sparked the regional war and a global energy crisis after Iran choked off shipping through the narrow Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had said the Islamic republic had the “necessary will” for a ceasefire, but only if its foes guaranteed that hostilities would not return.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said Pezeshkian “has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!”

“We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday that the strait, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil normally passes, would remain closed to the country’s “enemies”.

The Guards also confirmed they hit an oil tanker in the Gulf they said belonged to Israel. A British maritime security agency said the vessel was struck off Qatar, reporting damage but no casualties.

– Energy crisis –

Optimism sparked by Trump’s comments on the timeline for the end of the war pushed oil prices down Wednesday, and stock markets rallied in Europe and Asia.

But Iran’s chokehold on critical oil and gas shipments through the Hormuz has sent energy prices soaring and unleashed global economic turmoil.

Average US gasoline prices topped $4 a gallon for the first time in four years this week, while European inflation spiked and governments around the world started to unveil support measures.

“We’re a small outfit,” driver Nicolas Barthes told AFP at a protest against soaring fuel prices in the French city of Toulouse. “The additional diesel cost for me this month is €15,000, and we’re not managing to pass all of that on.”

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said prices were still about 50 percent above pre-war levels, showing “scepticism still remains about Trump’s claims of progress”.

Trump has criticised allies for not helping in the war, and President Emmanuel Macron repeated Wednesday that France would not take part.

Britain said Wednesday that it would host a meeting of about 35 countries this week to discuss how to reopen the strait.

Washington has not said who it is speaking with in Iran, which has denied it is in talks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera he still receives messages from US envoy Steve Witkoff, “directly, as before, and this does not mean that we are in negotiations”.

Trump threatened earlier this week to “obliterate” Iran’s oil wells, its main Kharg Island export terminal, and possibly water desalination plants if the Islamic republic didn’t make a deal.