Investing.com – U.S. stock futures pointed higher on Tuesday, after the Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump told aides he’s willing to end his military campaign against Iran while leaving the Strait of Hormuz largely closed.
Trump and his aides assessed that a mission to reopen the strait would push the conflict beyond his timeline of four to six weeks, the WSJ reported, citing administration officials. Trump decided that the U.S. would wind down current hostilities with Iran after achieving its main goals of hobbling Iran’s navy and missile stocks, the WSJ said.
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By 06:32 ET (10:32 GMT), the contract had risen by 373 points, or 0.8%, S&P 500 futures had gained 50 points, or 0.8%, and had increased by 165 points, or 0.7%.
Washington will then pressure Tehran diplomatically to reopen the strait, failing which, it will press allies in Europe and the Persian Gulf to take the lead on reopening the strait, the WSJ reported.
In a social media post early on Tuesday, Trump urged “all those countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz” to buy supplies from the U.S. and “go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT.”
“You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” Trump wrote. “Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!”
He singled out the United Kingdom in particular for refusing to “get involved in the decapitation of Iran.” He also lashed out at France for not allowing U.S. planes headed to Israel with military supplies to fly over its territory, calling the country “VERY UNHELPFUL” and reiterating that the “U.S.A. will REMEMBER!!!”
The Strait of Hormuz has become a key point of focus for the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, with Tehran having effectively blocked the passage with mines and missile strikes. Roughly a one-fifth of the world’s oil flows through the narrow waterway off of Iran’s southern coast.
Last week, Trump set an April 6 deadline for Tehran to either reopen the strait or face U.S. attacks on its key energy and water infrastructure. But Iran has largely rejected calls to unblock the strait and has attacked tankers attempting to pass through Hormuz in the past month.
The closure has sparked a sharp increase in global oil and gas prices over the past month, fueling worries over a surge in inflation in countries around the world and threatening to weigh on a host of industries. The futures contract expiring in May for Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was last hovering above $110 a barrel, compared to pre-war levels around $70 a barrel.
Further upward pressure was placed on crude after a Kuwaiti oil tanker burst into flames near Dubai following what the ship’s owner said was an Iranian attack. Meanwhile, Iran’s parliament has approved an early plan to charge a toll for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the semiofficial Fars news agency has reported.
The U.S. has also bombed a large ammunition depot in the Iranian city of Isfahan, the WSJ reported, citing a U.S. official. Fighting also raged on, with Israel’s military saying it had targeted Iranian military infrastructure and the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia all claiming they had intercepted missile and drone strikes. Iran has targeted energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf, threatening to widen the conflict from a response to joint U.S.-Israeli attacks in late February into a region-wide war.
Elsewhere, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that he made a secret trip to the Middle East in recent days, where he met with Air Force intelligence analysts, pilots and Army troops. Hegseth did not say where exactly he visited, but noted that U.S. forces are want “everything faster.”
(Ambar Warrick contributed reporting.)