President Trump spoke to the nation from the Cross Hall of
the White House in a primetime address washed by 10s of
millions of Americans on a Wednesday evening that also saw
the launch of Artemis 2, the first crude lunar mission in
more than 50 years. He said the wars core strategic
objectives are nearing completion.
He vowed to hit Iran extremely hard over the next two to three
weeks. He claimed Iran's president had
asked for a ceasefire, a claim Iran denied within hours.
And he told the countries that use the Strait of Hormuz to go
and take it themselves. It is Thursday, April 2nd, 2026,
day 34 of Operation Epic Fury. The president has addressed the
nation. Iran has denied everything he
said. A third American aircraft
carrier is steaming toward the region and April 6th deadline is
now 4 days away. This is episode 34 of Epic Fury,
the US Iran war podcast. Follow on Spotify and Apple
Podcast to stay with this story as it develops.
Let's get into it. The speech came at 9 in the
evening, Eastern Time, from the Cross Hall of the White House,
with Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Rubio,
Defense Secretary Hegseth and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
all present. Trump opened by congratulating
NASA on the launch of Artemis 2 earlier that evening, the first
crude lunar mission since the 1970s.
He placed the war in the context of 47 years of Iranian
aggression, invoking the Beirut barracks bombing, the USS Cole
and October 7th. He described Iran as the world's
number one state sponsor of terror and argued that every
American president before him should have dealt with Iranian
nuclear threat. The setting carried its own
significance. The Cross Hall is reserved for
moments of state, a deliberate choice by an administration that
has communicated this war primarily through Truth Social
posts. Trump also framed the speech
against the backdrop of Artemis 2's launch earlier that evening.
He described America as winning in space, on Earth and
everywhere in between, a narrative in which military
power and space exploration are chapters in the same triumphant
account. The core claim of the speech was
this. We are nearing completion, Trump
said. the US military has delivered swift, decisive and
overwhelming victories, he said. Iran's Navy is gone, their air
forces in ruins, Their key terrorist leaders have been
eliminated. Their ability to threaten
America and its allies is being systematically dismantled, he
said. Tonight, the core strategic
objectives are nearing completion.
He spoke about the 13 American service members who had died in
the conflict, saying the nation must honor them by completing
the mission for which they gave their lives.
He addressed gas prices directly, the most immediately
tangible domestic consequence of the war, saying the short term
increase was entirely the result of Iranian attacks on commercial
tankers and neighboring countries that have nothing to
do with the conflict. He urged countries that cannot
get fuel to buy oil from the United States, noting that
America has plenty and does not need anything Iran has.
He said to those nations that have refused to get involved in
the decapitation of Iran and who are now suffering the energy
consequences, build up some delayed courage.
But completion was not a declaration of victory.
Trump vowed the United States would still hit Iran extremely
hard over the next two to three weeks.
He said he would bring them back to the stone ages if Hormuz is
not reopened. He said the US would come back
to do spot hits on targets even after the main operations
conclude. The speech was not a ceasefire
announcement. It was not a deal announcement.
It was a progress report wrapped in a threat.
It resolved none of the central questions the war has raised
since February 28th. The ceasefire claim and its
immediate denial dominated the day before the speech even
began. Trump posted on Truth Social on
Wednesday morning that Iran's new regime president, much less
radicalized and far more intelligent than his
predecessors, had just asked the United States for a ceasefire.
He said the ceasefire would be considered when the Strait of
Hormuz is open, free and clear, he added.
Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion, or as they say,
back to the Stone ages. Iran's response was swift and
categorical. The spokesperson for the Iranian
Foreign Ministry called Trump's claim false and baseless.
A spokesperson for President Possession's office said Iran's
position regarding National Defense has not changed and no
attention is given to the delusions and falsehoods of
criminals. The people of Iran, the
spokesperson added, are determined, steadfast and
united. Iran's Foreign Minister Arachi
said you cannot speak to the people of Iran in the language
of threats and deadlines. He added that Iran does not set
any deadline for defending itself.
There's also a factual problem with Trump's framing.
He referred to Iran's new regime president as a new figure,
implying the war has produced a more moderate leadership.
But Masood Posseshkian has been president since July 2024.
He is the same president who was in office before the war began.
He is a reformist. Yes, he was elected on a
platform of reengaging with the West.
And he has made statements this week about Iran's willingness to
end the conflict under certain conditions.
But he's not a new figure installed by the war.
He did not come to power as a result of the military campaign.
Trump's characterization of him as a new, less radicalized
president is not supported by the timeline of events.
It also raises a more substantive question.
If Possesshkian is the moderate who is now apparently seeking A
ceasefire, and the United States has spent 34 days bombing Iran,
destroying its universities, its nuclear research centers, its
industrial infrastructure, its military command structure, and
killing nearly 2000 of its people, including hundreds of
women and children, has the bombing produced a more moderate
Iranian leadership willing to deal?
Or has it produced a devastated country whose civilian president
is expressing willingness to stop a war he had no vote in
starting, while the IRGC and parliament are simultaneously
threatening to set American troops on fire and legislating
Hormuz transit fees? The difference between those two
readings matters enormously for what a deal with Iran would
actually be worth. The factual situation is this.
Posseshkian did say on Tuesday that Iran possesses the
necessary will to mend this conflict, provided essential
conditions are met, particularly guarantees to prevent repetition
of the aggression. That statement was made to the
European Council president in a phone call.
It contained no ceasefire request.
It stated A conditional willingness to end the war, not
a formal offer. Whether Trump characterized that
statement or a private message passed through an intermediary
as a ceasefire request, or whether he was describing
something that has no basis in what actually occurred, is
something the available public information cannot resolve.
What is certain is that Iran's government denied making any
ceasefire request and that the formulation Trump used, Iran's
new regime president, was factually inaccurate since
Possesskian has been president since July 2024 and is the same
person who held the office before the war began.
The speech offered one notable shift in the framing of the
Strait of Hormuz. Trump said that countries that
depend on the Strait, not the United States, should take
responsibility for its security. He said those countries must
take care of that passage, grab it and cherish it.
He said the US does not need Iranian oil and does not need
anything Iran. Has he told other nations to go
to the straight and just take it.
The phrase go and take it is a remarkable piece of strategic
communication. It simultaneously withdraws
American responsibility for reopening the straight and
delegates that tasked to the rest of the world the same
multilateral approach that the China Pakistan 5 Point
Initiative and the Islamabad consortium proposal have been
building toward. From the diplomatic side, Trump
is saying in the plainest possible terms that the Strait
of Hormuz is not America's problem to solve.
That is a dramatic departure from the posture that launched
this war, which was explicitly premised on protecting American
allies and global oil flows from Iranian interference.
The practical implication is significant.
If the United States is withdrawing from Hormo's
responsibility, and if that responsibility is falling to a
coalition of countries that use the Strait, then the post war
order in the Gulf will not be American dominated in the way
the pre war order was. France, the UK, China, India,
Saudi Arabia, Japan, all the countries that depend on Hormo's
passage will have to construct and fund and staff a security
architecture for the world's most important oil waterway.
Whether they can do that without Iranian cooperation and whether
Iran will accept a multilateral arrangement it did not agree to
are the questions the next chapter of this conflict will
need to answer, Oil markets read The speech is a sign the war
will not end quickly. Brent crude jumped nearly 4% in
the two hours following the address, rising back above $100
per barrel. A president who vows to hit Iran
extremely hard for two to three more weeks while offering no
ceasefire terms, no deal framework and no diplomatic exit
pathway has not given markets any reason to price in a near
term resolution. Bank of America published a
forecast on Wednesday saying Brent crude would likely remain
at approximately $100 per barrel for the rest of 2026 due to the
massive supply disruption triggered by the war.
That forecast full year. Elevated oil means the economic
consequences of this conflict are not temporary distortions.
They are structural realities that will compound across every
sector that touches energy. US gas prices have now risen
above $4.00 per gallon for the first time since 2022.
The largest one day move in prices in more than two weeks
occurred on Wednesday alone, with regular gas jumping nearly
$0.05 to $4.06. JetBlue raised checked bag fees.
United Airlines began cutting lower profit routes due to
higher fuel costs. FedEx and UPS raised fuel
surcharges. the US Postal Service is seeking regulatory
approval for an 8% package surcharge.
The war's cost to the everyday American consumer is no longer
an abstraction. It is the price of the pump, the
ticket price, the delivery fee and the grocery bill.
Because higher fuel costs raise food transportation costs, which
raise food prices. The USS George HW Bush, the
third American aircraft carrier to be committed to this
conflict, deployed from Naval Station Norfolk on Tuesday along
with three destroyers. The carrier strike group carries
more than 6000 sailors. the United States now has three
carrier strike groups either in or bound for the Middle East
simultaneously, the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, the
USS Tripoli's Amphibious Force carrying 3500 Marines, and now
the USS George HW Bush on route. The scale of American military
presence in the region is without precedent in modern
times for a sustained operation against a single country.
Maritime data firm Kaplur reported that almost 4 million
barrels of crude per day transited the Bab Al Mandab in
March, up from 3 million to prior month, as Saudi Arabia
rerouted oil through its Trans Arabian pipeline to the red
seaport of Yambu. The world has found an
improvised workaround to the Hormuz closure.
It is not found a solution. Hormuz handles 20% of global
oil. No combination of alternative
routes can absorb that volume. The gap between what Hormuz
handled before the war and what these routes can accommodate is
why oil remains above $100 and the Bank of America forecast it
stays there all year. The deployment of 1/3 carrier
simultaneous with a prime time presidential address does not
happen accidentally. It is a deliberate signal to
Iran, to US allies, and to the American public that despite
Trump's language about nearing completion, the United States is
building military capacity in the region, not drawing it down.
1/3 carrier is not needed to finish a war that is nearing
completion. It is needed if the next phase
of operations requires significantly more firepower
than the first, either for cart island seizure, ground
operations, or the kind of sustained air campaign that
destroying power plants would require.
The simultaneous deployment of the George HW Bush and the
delivery of a speech about nearing completion represent 2
contradictory signals from the same administration on the same
day. Trump's NATO comments, delivered
to The Telegraph newspaper and published on Wednesday, sent a
secondary shockwave through the international community.
Trump said he was strongly considering pulling the United
States out of NATO, calling the alliance of Paper Tiger.
He cited the refusal of European allies to join the US Israeli
war on Iran and the reluctance to help police the Strait of
Hormuz. He also threatened to halt arms
supplies to Ukraine under the Pearl program if Europe did not
participate in ensuring shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a
threat that would link the Iran conflict directly to the war in
Ukraine in ways that could fundamentally reshape the entire
Western strategic posture. Secretary of State Rubio said
the administration would have to re examine NATO's value once the
Iran war ends. Senate leaders McConnell and
Coons issued a bipartisan statement defending the
alliance. Senate Minority Leader Schumer
said the Senate would not support withdrawal.
British Prime Minister Starmer called NATO the single most
effective military alliance the world has ever seen.
But Starmer also offered a substantive development on the
Strait of Hormuz question. He announced that 35 countries
have signed a statement committing to work together on
restoring maritime security in the Strait.
He said British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper would
lead a conference on the issue and that military planners from
multiple nations are already working on implementation plans
for the post war period. This is the first concrete
multilateral framework for post war hormone security ever
publicly announced. 35 countries is a significant coalition.
It does not resolve the question of what happens to the straight
before the war ends. It is explicitly a post war
framework and it does nothing for the ships that cannot pass
Hormuz today. But it demonstrates that the
international community has not been passive in the face of the
Hormuz closure and that there is a structured, internationally
backed plan ready to be executed the moment the fighting stops.
And that plan, combined with Trump's speech telling nations
to go and take the straight themselves, suggests the post
war Hormuz architecture is being assembled even as the war
continues. Israel killed at least 50 people
in Lebanon within a 24 hour period on Wednesday, according
to Lebanese health officials. This is the first night of
Passover, the Jewish holiday that commemorates the liberation
of the Israelites from Egypt celebrated this year.
While Israel is conducting an active military campaign
simultaneously in Lebanon and Iran, the imagery of a people
celebrating freedom from oppression while conducting its
own military offensive is not lost on the international
community. Israeli air defenses intercepted
Iranian missiles on the first night of Passover.
The Houthis fired their third barrage of ballistic missiles at
Israel since entering the war on Saturday.
The Houthi pace one barrage per day consistently without
escalating to mass attacks, suggests they are maintaining A
strategic pressure posture rather than expending their
capabilities all at once. A cruise missile struck A tanker
contracted by state owned Qatar Energy off the Qatari coast.
The 21 member crew was evacuated safely and no casualties were
reported. The vessel was hit on its
starboard side. According to the UK's Maritime
Trade Operations, the strike on a Qatar Energy vessel is a
direct escalation in the targeting of Gulf state energy
assets and the specifically pointed one.
Qatar hosts the United States largest air base in the region
at Al Udiyid. Qatar also shares the world's
largest natural gas field with Iran.
The relationship between Doha and Tehran has historically been
with coexistence and occasional cooperation.
A strike on a vessel directly contracted to Qatar's state oil
company is Iran delivering a message to Doha that shared gas
fields and historical friendship provide no immunity in this
conflict? No one in the Gulf is outside
the targeting calculus. The speech did not mention the
15 point peace plan. It did not mention Pakistan's
role as intermediary. It did not mention the China
Pakistan 5 point initiative from Tuesday.
It did not mention the 35 country maritime coalition that
Starmer announced. It did not mention Arachi's
statement that Iran has not responded to any ceasefire
proposal. It did not mention the Islamabad
talks or the consortium management proposal.
It offered no diplomatic pathway, no framework for
negotiations, no conditions under which the United States
would consider stopping before its self defined objectives are
fully achieved. The speech was addressed to the
American people, not to Iran or the international community.
Its purpose was to justify the war, to claim progress, and to
prepare the public for two to three more weeks of intensive
military action. There is a further dimension
worth noting. This was the first formal
presidential address to the American public since the war
began 34 days ago, 34 days of the costliest military operation
in decades, conducted without a prime time presidential address,
without formal congressional consultation, and with a
defeated War Powers Resolution. The American public received its
war updates through Truth Social posts and cable news.
The speech on Wednesday was the first time Trump spoke to the
country as a whole about why this war was being fought, what
it had achieved and where it was going.
Arriving in the 5th week with 13 Americans already dead.
What the speech revealed about Trump's strategic thinking is
this. He believes the military
objectives can be completed without a formal deal with Iran.
He said the US would come back to do spot hits even after
leaving. He said countries that use the
straight should go take it. He said Iran has been
essentially decimated and the hard part is done.
Taken together, those statements describe a strategy of exit by
exhaustion. the United States withdraws its main forces once
its specific military targets are achieved, leaves the
hormones problem to others, and reserves the right to conduct
future strikes if Iran rebuilds. That is not peace.
That is not a ceasefire. That is a new kind of permanent
low grade conflict in which America claims to be out while
retaining the option to strike whenever it chooses.
As Day 34 closes, Trump has spoken.
The speech did not end the war. It did not announce a deal.
It promised more bombing for two to three weeks, delegated
Horma's responsibility to other nations, claimed credit for
military achievements that are real, and gave markets no exit
signal whatsoever. Iran denied the ceasefire claim,
called it false and baseless, vowed to keep fighting and fired
missiles at Israel on the first night of Passover.
The third carrier is steaming toward the Middle East. 35
countries have pledged post war Horma security.
Gas is above $4.00. Oil is above 100.
Bank of America says it stays there all year.
The April 6th deadline is 4 days away.
The speech is not resolved whether Trump will execute that
threat or extended 1/4 time. What it resolved is that the
concluding chapter of this war is now being written not with a
deal, not with a ceasefire, but with more bombing and an
uncertain diplomatic end game, Trump said the US is on the cusp
of ending Iran sinister threat to America and the world.
The cusp is where the war has been for the past two weeks.
Whether the other side of that cusp leads to a settlement or to
a further escalation is the question that the next four days
will begin to answer. This has been episode 34 of Epic
Fury, the US Iran War podcast. 4 days till April 6th.
The speech has been delivered. The next move belongs to both
sides. We will be back very soon.