WASHINGTON — President Trump told The Post on Tuesday that he believes the Iran war is likely to end soon and that other nations can reopen the Strait of Hormuz without US military action — sparking a stock market rally and optimism that elevated fuel costs will drop.
“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.
Major stock indices jumped dramatically shortly after Trump proclaimed the conflict was wrapping up and that a more protracted war is unlikely.
Trump posted the video of a massive explosion in Ishfahan on Truth Social. Truth Social / @realDonaldTrump
“It’s a total obliteration,” the president said on the heels of a morning Pentagon briefing revealing 11,000 targets have been bombed in 32 days.
“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 president’s hints of a shorter war spurred a market rally around noon. The Dow closed up more than 1,100 points (2.5%) — in unison with the Nasdaq’s nearly 800-point gain (3.8%) and the S&P’s 185-point bump (2.9%).
After trading ended for the day, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he expected the war to end in “maybe two weeks, maybe a couple of days longer.”
Gasoline prices will come down soon, he added, declaring that “all I have to do is leave Iran, and we’ll be doing that very soon, and they’ll come tumbling down.”
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He added that “Iran doesn’t have to make a deal” for the war to end.
‘Let them go and open it’
The president left unanswered his precise vision for reopening the Strait of Hormuz after Iran closed the corridor for more than a month — saying both that it will open itself or that nations dependent on its exports will secure the zone.
“Well, I think it’ll automatically open, but my attitude is, I’ve obliterated the country. They have no strength left, and let the countries that are using the strait, let them go and open it,” Trump told The Post.
“I would imagine whoever’s controlling the oil will be very happy to open the strait.”
President Trump said Iran has been obliterated. AP
Trump has railed against US allies for not volunteering for a multinational military flotilla to open the crucial waterway, through which about a fifth of global oil exports flow, mostly to Asia — though many allies in Europe and Asia have vaguely said they’d be willing to take actions to resolve the impasse.
Trump previously offered to use military escorts to help commercial ships pass once the US takes out more of Iran’s offensive capabilities, and introduced a new federal reinsurance program for cargo firms.
Very little of the oil, natural gas and other resources, like helium, from the Persian Gulf are shipped directly to the US, though the bottleneck has impacted global markets, with the hike in oil costs also trickling down to Americans paying at the pump.
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Pressed by The Post on a Wall Street Journal report that said he was willing to end the war without opening the strait, Trump said: “I don’t think about it, to be honest. My sole function was to make sure that they don’t have a nuclear weapon. They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. When we leave the strait will automatically open.”
Iran has floated taxing ships that pass through the strait in a power play to cement its control of the lane, though Malaysia said Tuesday that its ships are now passing toll-free.
Trump’s remarks on potential US military actions can’t necessarily be taken at face value, and he has used public deception before to give Tehran a false sense of security.
An aerial view of the Iranian shores and Port of Bandar Abbas in the strait of Hormuz, December 10, 2023. REUTERS
The White House said last June that Trump would decide “within two weeks” whether to bomb Iran’s nuclear program as negotiations sputtered. Just three days later, US bombs fell on three sites.
And before Trump launched the current US-Israeli war on Feb. 28, there were plans for March 2 talks in Vienna. The element of surprise allowed for the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior officials.
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Despite forecasting a rapid end to the war, Trump has left his options open by also deploying thousands of US troops to the region for possible land assaults — including two Marine Corps amphibious ready groups and Army parachute specialists.
A third US aircraft carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush, is deploying to the Middle East, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday — after the USS Gerald R. Ford arrived in Croatia for repairs following a laundry fire.
Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on March 29, 2026. AFP via Getty Images
Trump has given Iran an April 6 deadline to open the strait or face US airstrikes on power plants. He did not clarify on Tuesday whether that threat remains on the table.
Trump also declined to divulge what exactly the overnight airstrikes hit near Isfahan, a major city outside of which Iran operated a nuclear facility, but said he was surprised at the size of the explosion, which he said showed a substantial on-the-ground payload.
“I’d rather not say, but you’ll learn soon enough. They were rather large, weren’t they?” Trump told The Post after posting to social media Monday night a video of huge explosions near Isfahan.
“It’ll come out, but it was just another one of their wonderful areas that we took care of,” he went on.
Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. REUTERS
“That was a beauty. That was a beauty. That was stuff that we blew up. That was some explosion,” Trump marveled.
“It was actually bigger than we thought, meaning they had a lot of stuff. Well, we’re taking away their nuclear capability, and we’ve achieved regime change. You know, we’re dealing right now with a totally different group of people, and they’re much more reasonable than previous, much more reasonable.
“And that is truly regime change.”
Trump also declined to say if he was considering dispatching his negotiating team — including special envoy Steve Witkoff and Vice President JD Vance — to Pakistan or another country.
“I don’t want to say that,” Trump said. “I can’t talk to you about this stuff, all of it. Okay? I just can’t talk to you. It’s so ridiculous, right? What do you want me to give, my strategy? Do you want me to give you my strategy?”
