Schumer calls Trump’s Iran war speech ‘rambling’

Crude oil futures climbed during and after US President Donald Trump’s address, as he warned Washington could hit Iran “extremely hard” in the coming weeks and repeated his threats against the country's power plants and oil businesses.

Markets had been watching for signs that the conflict might soon de-escalate, but Trump instead urged countries dependent on Middle Eastern oil to “take” the Strait of Hormuz themselves and suggested they buy US oil for the time being.

The US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, rose from about $98 per barrel ahead of the speech to nearly $104 by 10 p.m. ET after it concluded. The international benchmark Brent crude climbed from just under $100 to nearly $106 over the same period.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Donald Trump’s speech laid out Washington’s objectives in Iran, describing the address as “powerful” and “clear about our objectives.”

In a post on X, Rubio listed those objectives as destroying Iran’s weapons factories, navy and air force and eliminating any chance of Tehran obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“The President’s leadership sends a message to the world that the United States will defend its people and its interests, and uphold peace through strength,” Rubio added.

President Trump warns the US could hit all of Iran’s electricity plants and even hints at strikes against the country's oil industry if no agreement is reached between Washington and Tehran.

"If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants, very hard, and probably simultaneously," he said.

"We have not hit their oil, even though that's the easiest target of all, because it would not give them even a small chance of survival or rebuilding. But we could hit it and it would be gone, and there's not a thing they could do about it."

Trump also said regime change was never the United States' objective in Iran.

"Regime change was not our goal. We never said regime change, but regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders' death," he said.

"I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America's military objectives shortly, very shortly," Trump added.

But he also warned that strikes will carry on for a few weeks.

"We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks, we're going to bring them back to the stone ages, where they belong."

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia say their air defence systems have intercepted Iranian missiles and drones.

The UAE defence ministry said its air defences are “currently responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran,” adding that the sounds heard in the sky were the result of interceptions by defence systems.

Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile headed toward the kingdom’s Eastern Province.

US President Donald Trump’s objectives in the campaign against the Iranian regime remain “clear and unchanging” while driving decisive progress, the White House said on Wednesday.

Trump will address the nation on Wednesday night on Operation Epic Fury, “a decisive campaign of American strength that is systematically dismantling the Iranian regime’s ability to threaten the United States and the free world," according to the White House.

In a statement, the White House said the operation aimed to destroy Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal and production capacity, weaken its naval forces, cut support for allied groups, and prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

It said the campaign was being carried out with “unmatched power and precision” under Trump’s leadership.