MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Trump vows to send Iran “back to the Stone Age” as oil surges back above $100

Trump said U.S. military objectives are “nearing completion” but offered no clear timeline for ending the war and did not clarify whether Washington would deploy ground troops

Oil prices surged on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed in a televised address to the nation to hit Iran “extremely hard” over the next two to three weeks. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 4.1% to $104.21 per barrel, while Brent, the international benchmark, gained 5% to $106.42, according to CNBC data.

“We're going to hit them extremely hard. Over the next two to three weeks, we're going to bring them back to the Stone Age, where they belong,” Trump declared from the White House in his first prime-time address since the launch of Operation Epic Fury on February 28.

The speech dashed market expectations of a de-escalation announcement. Before the address, WTI futures had dropped more than 1% and Brent had briefly dipped below $100 per barrel for the first time in a week, following Trump's remarks on Tuesday suggesting a possible withdrawal within weeks.

The market reaction was immediate beyond oil. Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures each fell approximately 1%. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei dropped 1.4% and South Korea's Kospi declined 3%.

Trump said U.S. military objectives are “nearing completion” but offered no clear timeline for ending the war and did not clarify whether Washington would deploy ground troops. “When we feel that they are, for a long period of time, put into the Stone Ages and they won't be able to come up with a nuclear weapon, then we'll leave,” he said. “Whether we have a deal or not, it's irrelevant.”

The president blamed the rise in fuel costs on Iranian attacks against commercial oil tankers and neighboring countries. The average U.S. gasoline price topped $4 per gallon this week, an increase of more than a dollar since the conflict began, when it stood at $2.46, according to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA).

Hours before the speech, Trump had posted on Truth Social that Iran's president had requested a ceasefire, conditioning any consideration on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei called the claim “false and baseless,” according to Iranian state television.

Regarding the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil supply flows and which Iran has partially closed since the start of hostilities, Trump reiterated that the United States will not intervene to reopen it. “We don't need their oil,” he said, urging countries dependent on the route to “take care of that passage” themselves. He nonetheless expressed confidence that the strait “will open up naturally” once the war ends, as Iran will need to sell oil to rebuild.