WASHINGTON — President Trump said Wednesday that Iran has begged the US for a cease-fire — but he won’t agree to stop bombing the theocratic regime “back to the Stone Ages” until it opens the Strait of Hormuz.
“Iran’s New Regime President, much less Radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors, has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!” he threatened.
This is the first time the president has mentioned Tehran formally requesting a cease-fire, though Trump has indicated it has long been begging to negotiate a way out of the war in Iran that began on Feb. 28.
The president’s announcement notably came before the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq opened for trading. Over recent weeks, Trump has made several significant announcements about progress in Iran before markets opened.
Iranian officials have previously disputed some of Trump’s characterizations of diplomatic exchanges with the regime. At one point last month, for example, top Iranian officials denied that there were even any talks with the US, despite multiple media reporters suggesting there were.
Despite Iran’s denials, the Trump has suggested ongoing talks between the US and the regime’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf.
On Tuesday, Trump told The Post that the Operation Epic Fury attacks in Iran are winding down.
“We’re not going to be there too much longer. We’re obliterating the s–t out of them right now,” Trump said in a phone interview.
“We won’t have to be there much longer — but we have more work to do in terms of killing their offensive, whatever offensive capability they have left.”
The Trump administration has claimed that 11,000 targets in Iran were struck in 32 days. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claimed Tuesday that “Over the last 24 hours saw the lowest number of enemy missiles and drones fired by Iran.”
The US recently took down a key Iranian command bunker and blew up an ammo depot in Isfahan, footage of which Trump shared on Truth Social.
But one hangup that’s loomed over the joint US-Israeli onslaught against Iran has been Tehran’s effort to wreak havoc in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint where about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil flows through on an annual basis.
While the US, the world’s largest oil producer, gets only a small amount of its oil through the strait, the interconnectedness of global oil markets has sent petroleum prices surging back at home, unnerving the stock market.
Trump has fumed at NATO allies for not stepping up and helping the US reopen the strait, with oil vessels sitting on the outskirts of it amid fears of Iranian strikes and mines.
“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. Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil,” Trump chided on Truth Social Tuesday, name-checking the United Kingdom.
Oil prices have largely been hovering around $100 a barrel, and gasoline prices have jumped past $4 a gallon on average nationally, having been below $3 before the war in Iran erupted.
Top Trump administration officials have signaled that the US is nearing the completion of its objectives in Iran, which include destroying Iran’s missiles, missile production capacity, navy, and ability to obtain a nuclear weapon.
“I think we’re very close to achieving our objectives,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News’ “Hannity” Tuesday evening. “I don’t want to put a timeline on it, but we can see the finish line, the finish line meaning we will have achieved all of the objectives that the President outlined.”