Oil prices spike again after Trump threatens to bomb Iran ‘back to the Stone Ages’

Donald Trump’s prime-time address to the nation sent oil prices surging back above $100 per barrel after he repeated his threat to bomb Iran ‘back to the Stone Ages’.

The US president covered little new ground in his 19-minute speech, declining to set out a concrete plan for ending the war beyond boasting that the job will be finished ‘very fast’.

He swerved other major unresolved issues like access to the Strait of Hormuz – once again telling countries, including many US allies, reliant on Gulf oil to ‘take the lead’ – and the status of Iran’s enriched uranium.

Oil rose, stocks fell and the dollar firmed shortly after the speech, reflecting widespread concern that the conflict is likely to drag on for some time.

Despite regularly mocking Iran’s navy and air force as having been decimated by US and Israeli air raids, Trump said the nation will continue to be hit ‘extremely hard’ for another two or three weeks.

‘We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong,’ he added.  

‘In the meantime, discussions are ongoing. Yet if during this period of time, no deal is made, we have our eyes on ‌key targets.’

Those key targets, he said, would be Iran’s electricity generation and oil infrastructure.

Fire erupting at an oil depot in Iran’s capital Tehran (Picture: UGC/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump added that countries that get most of their oil supply from the Gulf region should take the lead in opening the strait.

The UK, France and other US allies have said they are willing to help to keep the waterway open – but only after hostilities have ceased.

‘They can do ​it easily,’ Trump said. ‘We will be helpful, but ​they should take the lead in protecting the ⁠oil that they so desperately depend on.’

Trump ticked through a timeline of past American involvement in conflicts and noted that the ongoing war in Iran had lasted just 32 days, seeming to appeal for more time to achieve his aims.

‘World War I lasted one year, seven months and five days,’ he said. ‘World War II lasted for three years, eight months and 25 days.’

Trump, who was referring to the time the US was involved in those wars, also added references to Korea, Vietnam and Iraq.

A plume of smoke rises after a strike in Tehran, Iran (Picture: AP) Donald Trump addresses the nation to give an update of the war against Iran from the Cross Hall of the White House (Picture: Zuma Press/Mega)

He said US forces had delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield in the past four weeks.

Trump also insisted military action was ‘so powerful, so brilliant’ that ‘one of the most powerful countries’ is ‘really no longer a threat’.

However, air sirens blared across both Doha and ​Tel Aviv while he spoke, illustrating how the Islamic Republic is still able to wreak havoc across the Middle East, despite taking heavy losses.

Trump has expressed anger that NATO allies have not offered to help open the strait, even threatening to withdraw from the 76-year-old alliance.

But he made no mention of the bloc in his address.

The speech appeared unlikely to move the needle of public sentiment at a time when polling shows many Americans feel the US military has gone too far in Iran and as gas and oil prices remain high.

In a Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted last weekend, 60% of voters said they disapproved of ​the war, while 35% approved.

⁠Some 66% of respondents said the US should work to end its involvement in the war quickly, even if that meant not achieving the goals set out by the administration.

Trump, meanwhile, has flirted with options both to escalate and de-escalate the conflict and his next moves are unclear, even to some close advisers.

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