The markets are pleased with progress on Iran that Iran denies.
Obliteration Postponed
Truth Social: I AM PLEASED TO REPORT THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. BASED ON THE TENOR AND TONE OF THESE IN DEPTH, DETAILED, AND CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS, WHICH WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
The Wall Street Journal reports Trump Says U.S. Will Postpone Strikes on Iranian Energy Infrastructure
In a Truth Social post written in all caps, Trump said the two countries had “very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.” Trump said that based on those discussions, which he said would continue this week, he had asked the Pentagon to hold off on energy-related strikes that he had threatened. U.S. stock indexes jumped after markets opened and Brent crude futures dropped nearly 10%.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry denied Tehran was in talks with the U.S., according to state media, saying there was “no dialogue” with Washington.
Earlier, Iran threatened wider attacks on infrastructure—including fuel, tech and desalination facilities—used by the U.S. in the region if its energy sites were hit. Iran also warned it would lay mines across the entire Persian Gulf if its coasts or islands were attacked. The escalation of threats came after Trump demanded at the weekend that Iran fully open the Strait of Hormuz, saying in a social-media post late Saturday that the U.S. would “obliterate” Iranian power plants if the regime failed to act within 48 hours.
President Trump said U.S. officials are in talks with a “top” Iranian leader and would hold additional discussions today.
“We’ll see where they lead,” Trump told reporters in Florida, adding that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, two of his leading envoys, began the talks Sunday. He didn’t name the Iranian official. “They want very much to make a deal. We’d like to make a deal too,” Trump said. “We’re going to get together today by, probably, phone.”
President Trump said Iran wants to make a deal badly and pushed back on Tehran’s assertion that it isn’t in talks with the U.S., according to Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo, who said she spoke to Trump on Monday morning.
“They called. I didn’t call,” Trump said. “They want to make a deal, and we are very willing to make a deal…it’s got to be no more wars, no more nuclear weapons, they’re not going to have nuclear weapons anymore.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry earlier denied talks with the U.S., according to the country’s state media. “Yes, there are initiatives from regional countries to reduce tensions, and our response to all of them is clear: We are not the party that started this war, and all these requests should be referred to Washington,” the ministry said, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
Trump Desperate for a Dean, Not Iran
If there’s a “deal”, it probably won’t be much, if any, better than the deal president Obama secured.
For now, we have another huge TACO for five days, unless Trump changes his mind five minutes from now.
Regardless, nothing has been gained by any of this. Oil and natural gas infrastructure has been badly damaged and will take years to fix.
A big jump in inflation is on deck from this Trump-created Mideast mess.
Market Reaction
Yield on the 10-year treasury note was 4.46 percent just before the 5-day suspension. It’s now 4.33 percent, down 13 basis points. But it’s much higher than before the latest escalation threats.
The DOW is up 900 points (2.0 percent) as I type.
The S&P 500 is up 128 points (2.0 percent), and the Nasdaq is up 492 points (2.28 percent).
Related Posts
March 21, 2026: Investigating the Claim: Iran Close to Oil for a Fee Agreement with Japan
This is a huge deal, if it’s true.
March 21, 2026: Iran Wants a Steep Price to End the War, Believes It’s Winning
Trump says he won. Iran says its winning. Can both be right?
Winding Down?!
March 21, 2026: Trump Considers Winding Down’ Iran Operations. Great, But What Does that Mean?
Let’s discuss three possibilities.
We went from winding down to this in one day: Trump to ‘Obliterate’ Iran’s Power Plants if Strait Not Open in 48 Hours
The threat, if carried out, would “likely constitute war crimes”, says Grok.
Now we have progress that Iran denies.
Progress or not, we have a welcome pause.
Iran is in the drivers seat on this. They get to sell oil to China while they waste time stringing the US along. They know that the longer the strait stays closed to international shipping the more the US will have to capitulate. Time is on Iran’s side. It was foolish to attack Iran full-on without a real plan to put boots on the ground to secure the gulf. Did anyone raise their hand and ask “what do we do if Iran closes the strait?” That was a real blunder in war planning.
Trump says talks are going well and will extend his 48 hour ultimatum 5 days.
Iran denies any talks.
This is a public relations move by Trump. If Iran continues to launch missiles without coming to the negotiating table, Trump can say he really gave Iran a chance, but Iran ultimately decided to continue military actions.
It’s more than that. It’s a pump and dumb. Almost a billion dollars in trades happened right before the announcement:
https://www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-iran-updates-oil-futures-trade-suspicious-betting-activity-usa-world-news/1061ef6b-5fef-401c-b469-98016ccdb9c3
Israel and the US have not stopped bombing Iran at all so why should Iran be negotiating? Unfortunately Trump is probably lying to manipulate markets for his pals. Ethics be damned!
Nobody sees this coming.
Sorry.
Only TACO and BB didn’t see this coming.
So Trump gave Iran permission to keep the Strait closed for 5 more days?
Can’t make this stuff up.
AND sell oil.
They need time to produce amunition.Stocks are getting low.
Trump is now saying he didn’t meet with any Iranians in person, just by telephone.
Wait until the markets learn that the reasonable Iranian on the other end of the line willing to accept Trump’s terms was really Beelzebub Smotrich
Qatar is not getting much value for that 747 they gave trump. Perhaps if it had been properly pimped out in gold leaf and was full of child brides they would have done better? The daily losses for the Middle Eastern countries are staggering!
Globally, the negative economic effects are just starting to be felt!
Pretending a solution is at hand is irresponsible for a US politician to project.
You have WDS.
Can ya splain it ta me nice n slo douggie?
You’re fading, Dougie. Time to head off to zero hedge and fox for a recharge.
Trump and billionaire friends just pumping the markets, rug pull soon, then rinse and repeat.
The market message is clear, end the war!!
Israel says keep going, send troops and money to burn all other ME countries to the ground
Who to please?
US markets, his former ME buddies, or his Israel masters
All souces of wealth for him
The market is saying it expects the war to end soon with a firm resolution of the whole problem. Gold down and oil down means risk premium is coming out of the market. If the resolution were partial both would still be up. The price collapse of both show they were not held by strong hands. Frothy. However the stock market is still in trouble. Rounding tops are not good.
Whom ever has the pictures and video wins.
A brat pack of twelve year olds is in determining USA policy at the moment, with made up announcements to boot.
Here’a tip for Iran: send 20000 IRGC troops to California where local police are not allowed to “harass” anyone in the country illegally. Criminals, foreign invaders … it’s all good there. All they care about is that you are there illegally if you want to keep the heat off. A bunch of morons will follow you around and block ICE and the military from apprehending you. The morons will warn you in advance about any credible threat, so no worries.
You sound triggered.
Somebody spiked his Krewel-Aid.
Why was Obama able to remove far more Illegals without resorting to violence, special detainment camps and murder?
The word is ~ competence.
Because stopping someone at the border and refusing their entry was booked as deporting an illegal under Obama.
Obama was obviously smart — knowing that people here illegally didn’t belong here in any capacity. Thank you for reminding people how aggressively Obama thought they should be removed.
Illegals get no protection from me, especially those that commit additional crimes. Worse are gang members or drug dealers!
The difference between you and I is that I think war criminals and perverts that rape 13 year olds should be incarcerated as well.
How does it feel to lose in all fronts incompetent morons….
Not one tanker has been sunk trying to traverse the Strait of Hormuz in either direction. Many ships have now run that gauntlet and I keep asking myself and others, is the strait is really closed?
If the closure is voluntary or by permission only, where is the central command and communications network to co-ordinate safe passage?
Only closed to US and Israel…they’ve said this about six million times
That is exactly my point! So what! Neither country uses it!
Europe and South Korea would seem to be the ones most affected.
Commercial shipping may be making its own decisions about traversing a narrow strait with ordnance flying about.
Neither one has many ships there so no skin in the game to get them out fast. We can take our time to do it properly.
Do what properly?
Harm the global economy and damage our relationships with more allies?
Pulling Iran’s teeth out one by one obviously. Can’t hurry it if you want to do it properly. The rest follows afterward. The world economy will recover nicely once the Strait is open and the allies in this venture are the Gulf Arabs and the Israelis who both have strong reasons to get rid of the mullahs in Iran and return to people. Patrolling the Gulf is an interesting problem but far from insurmountable.
They’re so toothless they’re managing to hit Israel’s nuclear program? That tracks! What’s next Doug? Maybe we’ll attack backwards all the way home.
No one will insure those tankers.
Actually they will. But the premium is triple…
They just bombed the cities instead:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/23/unprecedented-israel-us-carry-out-extensive-strikes-across-iran
The only people fooled by the fake TACO were the markets. Iran (hopefully) by now knows these guys are lying scumbags. The whole Trump TACO bounce should be faded.
Nothing worse then a fake TACO.
The salsa on the TACO looks more like blood
The markets are secondary now and those who do not understand this will make erroneous assumptions bases on a past that is no loger revelent.
They knew after they had their supreme leader murdered in a surprise attack while they thought they were negotiating.
They didn’t take the Epstein file drop into account.
‘Today we are talking about certain leaks in which the American president is demanding that the GCC states pay approximately $5 trillion if they want this war to continue, and if they want it to stop, they must pay $2.5 trillion to the United States for what has been accomplished over the past period’
If this is true, and as Trump has only asked recently for $500 billion for this war, then he is seeking to profit from the war itself so that he can brag about it going into the Midterms. Where will the GCC states get the money then to repair all the damage that they have incurred? Don’t know. Maybe they can ask Trump for a loan or something.
https://thecradle.co/articles/us-demands-trillions-in-war-ransom-from-arab-persian-gulf-allies-report
Then the GCC states can simply ask “why does Bibi get bailouts?”
Just like Mexico was going to pay for the wall….sure, got it.
I bet Qatar is regretting that $400 million airplane they gave him.
Leaked or made up?
Just a trick to cool down markets. US 10Y yield is now back where it was few hours ago. Iranian FM said that there were no contacts. This is Trump’s standard tactics when things go horribly wrong. He was doing the same in April 2025 when he got in trouble with his 100% reciprocal tariff on China. Would Israel agree to TACO now? I seriously doubt it. Expect Israel to bomb few Iranian power plants rather soon.
Check! Fade the fake TACO.
Oil is still down and will go lower.
Oil will go lower when all the prices will be contaminated by inflation:then all the other prices will stay up,only the oil will go down.
This is whow you build artificial inflation to kill the debt.
— Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?
— The same thing we do every night, Marco – try to take over the world!
Thank you for your attention to this matter!
https://www.turkiyetoday.com/region/iran-denies-any-talks-with-trump-claims-he-retreated-3216761
American media is a joke.
This man is a disgrace to the human race
Its awful that he calls himself an American
He’s a spend, binge and bluff New Yorker.
Trump is spreading rumors to whipsaw the markets for his cronies to front-run.
Oil tanked faster than it took me to fill my gas tank and it is still down. Seems central banks aren’t buying gold anymore either. Both actions look frothy with weak underpinnings.
Do you really think the Iranians are going to believe this ?
dont worry = Moe, Larry, and Curly” = are in charge!
Shemp needs to return and restore order.
jesus!
biden looks like more and more relevant!!
=====
Reporter: “what about the Strait of Hormuz, who is going to be in control of that?”
Trump: “uhhh, be jointly controlled …”
Reporter: “by who?”
Trump: “maybe me … me and the Ayatollah”
=========
Trumpstien and Ayatollah, sitting in a tree…
They called him “Sleepy Joe” because you could sleep at night when he was president.
No. Because he hadn’t a clue where he was or who he was so he slept while his wife ran the country.
LOL neurodegenerate reply
Is that the best insult you can manage? That is pitiful. Did you go to school or were you homeschooled by a talking parrot?
Was that word too long for you Dougie? Maybe we can break it down to your level by calling it “dum dum” or “cringe”, does that track for you?
… and somehow that little lady didn’t crash the global economy and kick of world war 3.
Even Nancy Regan did a better job than President PedoPig.
I have postponed my plan to destroy the world pending ongoing negotiations for Jessica Biel to marry me. My time limit is FIVE DAYS ! Thank you for your attention to this matter.
i heard kurnikvoa is tired of that Spanish firebrand
GIVE HER A CHANCE!
If this is like his previous “negotiations” going back over a year, this is just a ploy and he will likely claim Iran reneged on the “deal” and he will attack tonight. Witcoff, Kushner and Don Jr. likely went heavy short on Friday and will need to the end of today to cover their shorts and go long. Hope I am wrong.
Dyslexic investors?
sounds like =Moe, Larry, and Curly” =
Chris rock summed it up a bunch of years ago. Behind every great fortune is a great crime
He will wait the five days he mentioned, which just happen to coincide with the closure of the markets on Friday
Something has been gained by this. Iran won’t be launching any nuclear missiles for a while.
So you are saying the situation is exactly what it was a month ago?
Not the oil price,not the inflation reboost.
And a few thousand people are dead.
still reading from 2000x iraq wmds papers?
how long before we see notayahoo on our TV telling us Iran is months away from having ‘the Bomb’?
Tell me what that something is, my Brand New Friend.
Will I ever see you again?
Note that you are unable to name anything that the USA gained from Trump 1) working to shut down the Strait of Hormuz and now 2) POSSIBLY getting it reopened to get back to where he started.
We can wait for you to search the globe for such evidence
Nobody has ever launched a nuclear missile. Because of a thing called mutually assured destruction. So somehow a total imbecile like you knows the Iranians would be the first? Like hell.
I am surprised the Republicans arent advocating for Iran to have a.nuclear bomb.
after all, according to the 2a supporters, an armed society is a polite society.
Taco’s for everyone!
Trump’s buying.
What’s you take on gold, Mish. Down $400 overnight, now making a comeback “with Trumps’ questionable tweet”? Almost seems like a concerted attack rather than fundamentals. Filling gaps? Only suggestion I heard was Gulf States need the money lost from oil revenues (seems unlikely).
President Trump in Monday remarks to the press stated that the United States will “just keep bombing” if Iran talks fail.
==== from zh
BASICALLY IT IS ALL BS!
IT IS A FANTASY,
I wont be surprised kuchner and company just straight fucking lie to mo11ron-in-chief!
Lies are expected in that crowd. Most of them believe a lie as soon as they think of it.
Trump’s mind is gone, he probably believes he did speak to someone from Iran govt. The sooner Trump dies the safer America will be.
Trump is simply jawboning markets, that is all. I have to say it is working.
That said, there is no agreement with Iran that would satisfy Trump’s masters in Israel.
How is it working?
DJIA + 829.
Ten year yield down 5 bps.
Brent crude down $9.80.
Surprisingly well. I have no idea why anyone would believe anything Trump says, but there’s a sucker born every minute.
I suspect the Gulf State oligarchs conveyed to Trump their anxiety at the prospect of seeing their desalinization facilities destroyed. They rely on them for almost all their fresh water. They host millions of foreign guest workers in their countries. Imagine the chaos.
It is a sad state of affairs when you can trust the Iranian government more than the US government.
After being underhandedly sucker-punched twice by Trump-Israel while in negotiation, what would you do if you were Iran?
Send a small squad of special operatives to kill Trump, his cabinet and his family.
What iranian government?do you believe there is still a real central leadership?
gives Iran 5 more days to prepare for the supposed USA onslaught
Gives Trump 5 more days to make up some new bullshit.
Gives Trump a chance to wait for this week’s market to close
Trump is governing with the wisdom and sober thought process of a schizophrenic Grandpa Simpson.
Does anyone beside the US Media and apparently financial market players believe that Trump or any of his minions have actually been in discussions with the Iranians? I don’t. This 5 day “reprieve” is simply a panicky TACO from his impulsive, belligerent, bloviation of last week. It will last until Bibi and the Neocons read him the riot act.
Trump’s first cabinet would be horrified and activating the 25th Amendment. The current sniveling sycophants, Vance, Rubio, Gabbard, and Bondi, will watch the SS Trump slam into the iceberg and sink. Hegseth will probably cheer it on.
“WE WANT MATLOCK!”
The real conclusion here is that people in the stock market are dumb as a pallet of bricks. After the legendary crash we’re getting this year, it’s time for America to decouple its economy from being run by the stupidest people on earth.
Taco. You can be certain his buddies all bought this morning before this announcement
Yeah, I can hardly even imagine Jared and Witkof on the phone all weekend end with other “members” to give them the heads up….millions upon millions in illegal profits this AM??…although I’ll admit, I don’t know which OTC trades could be made in any type of volume before 7:23am EST when the “Truth” was posted
Futures and option contracts on the Dow and S&P for starters.
Oil options and futures for yummy seconds…
Burp go the insiders so gorged with profits they fall asleep by lunch.
All since the bell on Friday
Step 1: get the long the market, announce the war will be winding down
Step 2: reverse long, get short announce you will bomb infrastructure.
Step 3: golf
Step 4: golf
Step 5: cover shorts, get long announce successful talks
Step 6: profit!
They bought Friday and sold this afternoon. Waiting for the repeat later this week week when they short the market Thursday.
We all hear a constant flow of unreliable statements and threats from Trump. But in this War It looks like Iran— who firmly stick to their game plan—may have now trumped the Trump.
While Trump and Israel bomb Iran, the Gulf Nations hosting US bases seem to be the losers, as they have been hit hard.
Perhaps BiBi, Jared and Trumpty Dumpty have a Faux regime to impose on the theocracy and islamic people of Iran. Perhaps not, this does give him time to plan his targets more carefully and eliminate some in the meantime.
Trump was called out hugely by Bloomberg as being full of shit for the first time in a while!
There is a great deal more shipping activity today when compared to screenshots from ten days ago. Perhaps ships are turning on their AIS systems again?
Definitely the fog of war!
Economics are driving ships trapped on the bad side of the Strait (in the Gulf) to want to see if they can work out a safe passage through the Strait. Take tankers, with the price of Abu Dhabi oil at about $0 or even negative sitting on the bad side versus $150 in a tanker on the good side (Indian Ocean). Even after you pay high insurance fees, a “fee” to Iran, and a risk premium to the crew, if you make it, you make a big profit. Everyone may have been waiting thinking that if they held on, the Strait would open without the Iran fees, insurance would fall, and they could make even more money. But now everyone may be thinking “This is as good as it gets, gotta go now before the nut job puts boots on the ground in Iran, and we are stuck here for a very long time.”
Every one of them has made it so far.
Screenshots from ship-tracker.org that is
read someone
5 min before twit someone bought billions in spx500 futures/potions, and sold billions in oil futures/options. one transaction
and it was not Putin
Spread trading is fun.
Leaks out “fake news” and spikes the markets right before the open…WOW…UFB…blatant market manipulation
So Iran doesn’t know anything about this? That means Trump changed his mind about infrastructure attacks and is spewing a bunch of crap to pump up the farce markets. And here we are.
The dishonor that this man (Trump) brings upon our country is breathtaking. Pretends to negotiate to effect a surprise strike, insults allies, enters ill-advised and poorly thought-out military adventures, breaches international law, sanctions judges. I don’t know were the US can go to recover our reputation.
The amount of damage he’s done is staggering. I don’t see a path to coming back from it either.
During the Cuban missile crisis, Kennedy offered to show evidence of Soviet missiles to the Europeans. They famously declined, saying the word of the US president was enough. Oh, how we have fallen.
what does rhyme w/ =pants on fire= ??
i forgot
Pedophile
Buyer buyer pants on fire.
Israel’s Empire
At this point, Trump doesn’t really matter. Its what Netanyahu wants.
Does Netanyahu want the US to invade Iran? I’m sure he is 100% for that.
=Netanyahu
which version ? 5 or 6 or 4 fingers?
It’s interesting: Maybe the King’s family is making some money on these TACO’s. Maybe not. It appears that the 1929 and 2026 4-phase fractal decay series are identical: 7/17/18/10 days. The system is at day 15 of the 17 day 2nd fractal.Tuesday and Wednesday should be significant devaluation days for global equities.
There are no direct or indirect talks taking place with the Trump regime.
Trump simply backed down.
https://x.com/s_m_marandi/status/2036047576537894955
It’s too bad he didn’t TACO on this whole stupid war.
he was promised fresh juicy TACO
but all he got was turd: fresh and stinky!
Vintage taco as he ALWAYS chickens out. I bet his buddies are making a mint on insider trading.