Was Trump’s Big Iran Announcement Just a Ploy at Market Manipulation?

President Trump’s supposed five-day postponement of strikes on Iranian power plants may very well be a ploy to manipulate the markets in his favor amid skyrocketing oil prices.

“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,” Trump wrote Monday morning on Truth Social, adding that the U.S. would not strike Iranian power plants or energy infrastructure for the next five days.

The announcement came just two hours before U.S. stock markets opened, and the supposed halt in strikes will end at the end of the energy sector trading week. The decision caused previously skyrocketing oil prices to dip significantly.

However, an Iranian official told Fars News Agency that Iran’s government had “no direct contact with Trump, not even through intermediaries. Trump retreated after hearing that our targets would be all power plants in West Asia.” Iran’s Foreign Ministry also told the semiofficial Mehr News Agency that there are no talks between the two countries. This raises serious doubts as to whether the president is telling the truth or just saying whatever he can to stop gas prices from rising more and more as Iran locks down the Strait of Hormuz.

The Kobeissi Letter detailed how Trump’s announcement sent shock waves through the stock market. “At 7:04 AM ET today, President Trump said ‘the US and Iran have had productive discussions’ to end the Iran War. By 7:10 AM ET, the S&P 500 surged +240 points adding +$2 TRILLION in market cap,” the analysis noted. “27 minutes later, Iran completely denied all of President Trump’s claims and said there has been ‘no contact’ with the US. By 8:00 AM ET. the S&P 500 had fallen -120 points erasing -$1 trillion in market cap. That’s a $3 TRILLION swing market cap in 56 minutes, just in the S&P 500. What is happening here?”

The likely attempt at market manipulation only further solidifies doubts that Trump can reopen the Strait of Hormuz, pummel Iran into submission, or win the war he started. We should expect more bombs—at the very least—next week.

“Every week, when markets open, Trump makes these kinds of statements to drive down oil prices. Even his five-day deadline aligns with the closure of the energy market,” Iranian academic Seyed Mohammad Marandi, who is closely linked to the government, wrote on X. “But in reality, there are no negotiations underway, nor does Trump have the capability to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s firm threat has once again forced Trump to back down.”

Donald Trump has claimed that Democrats are responsible for the long lines at airports, but the president just rejected a deal that would fund the Transportation Security Administration.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune approached Trump Sunday with a plan for Republicans to agree to fund all agencies under the banner of the Department of Homeland Security, with the exception of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, senators and aides told Punchbowl News. TSA workers are facing their second missed paycheck this week, as the partial government shutdown enters its sixth week.

Thune planned to handle ICE funding in reconciliation instead, sidestepping Democrats’ requests for certain reforms, like banning face masks for federal agents and requiring judicial warrants to enter homes. Some Senate Republicans and White House aides had urged Thune to take the deal to the president.

But Trump rejected the deal, multiple sources told Punchbowl News. He wanted Republicans to stay in Washington and keep fighting with Democrats over DHS funding and the SAVE America Act, Republicans’ disastrous voter ID bill that now features other clauses on banning men in women’s sports and “transgender mutilation surgery.” The president warned that any Republican who left town would become his next target.

In a post on Truth Social Sunday, Trump wrote that he wasn’t interested in making a deal with Democrats “unless, and until” they vote to support the SAVE America Act. “It is far more important than anything else we are doing in the Senate,” Trump added.

Republicans have repeatedly blamed Democrats for the ongoing shutdown and the chaos it’s caused at airport security lines, but they have voted multiple times to block funding essential agencies under DHS.

Trump ordered ICE agents to deploy at airports Monday in order to assist with security lines, a move that is sure to sow even more chaos, not less.

After four weeks of useless threats, bombings, and death, President Trump is placing a five-day pause on his war on Iran after failing to attain the “unconditional surrender” that he claimed he would earlier this month.

“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,” Trump wrote Monday morning on Truth Social. The announcement came just two hours before U.S. stock markets opened, and Trump noted the pause in strikes will last the duration of the trading week. The decision caused previously skyrocketing oil prices to dip significantly.

“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,” Trump continued.

This move—at least somewhat of a surrender—will surely anger Israelis and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and war hawks like Senator Tom Cotton.

However, an Iranian official told Fars News Agency that Iran’s government had “no direct contact with Trump, not even through intermediaries. Trump retreated after hearing that our targets would be all power plants in West Asia.” This directly contradicts Trump’s claim and raises serious doubts as to whether the president is telling the truth or just saying whatever he can to stop gas prices from rising more and more as Iran locks down the Strait of Hormuz.

“Every week, when markets open, Trump makes these kinds of statements to drive down oil prices. Even his five-day deadline aligns with the closure of the energy market,” Iranian academic Seyed Mohammad Marandi, who is closely linked to the government, wrote on X. “But in reality, there are no negotiations underway, nor does Trump have the capability to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s firm threat has once again forced Trump to back down.”

When Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman was elected in 2023, the Democratic Party thought it might have a new kind of leader. The gruff, hoodie-wearing Fetterman was able to win over the working class in the country’s most important swing state and defeat his Republican challenger, Mehmet Oz, despite suffering a stroke in the middle of the campaign.

As it turns out, the Democratic establishment was right—just not in the way they thought.

Since Fetterman’s election, his net approval with Pennsylvania Democrats has dropped 108 points, from +68 in 2023 to -40 in 2026, as CNN’s Harry Enten reported Friday.

“He’s down there with the Titanic,” Enten said. “There’s no historical analog to his unpopularity.”

Fetterman’s unpopularity is easily explained: Since taking office, he has drifted hard to the right, for reasons largely unknown. He is often the lone Democrat who votes alongside the GOP, for instance when he voted to continue funding the Department of Homeland Security in February or to advance GOP Senator Markwayne Mullin’s nomination for secretary of homeland security out of committee last week. He is also probably the most vocally pro-Israel Democrat in the Senate.

It’s a stark change for a politician who formerly championed progressive causes.

Enten noted that Fetterman’s popularity among his own party is worse than that of every single sitting senator who lost a primary this century. He will certainly be a target for replacement when the Pennsylvania Senate primaries occur in 2028.

Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy paid for a lavish trip to Puerto Rico using campaign funds, a new report from MeidasTouch has revealed.

Ramaswamy’s campaign paid $11,898.25 to the Dorado Beach Ritz-Carlton Reserve, one of the island’s most lavish resorts, in November. Campaign finance records cite the purpose of the payment as “travel.”

Ramaswamy, who is worth $2.2 billion per Forbes, traveled to the island in preparation to give a keynote speech at ITServe Synergy, an annual conference held in early December by the tech collective ITServe Alliance.

MAGA social media users then deduced that ITServe Alliance was committing the grave sin of advocating for H1-B visas, which allow noncitizens to enter the country to work in specialized fields. Ramaswamy immediately attracted fierce, sometimes racist criticism from his fellow conservatives for speaking at the event.

Ramaswamy caved to the pressure, withdrawing from the event before it began. Bizarrely, a campaign spokesperson then told Signal Ohio that Ramaswamy had planned to be in Puerto Rico regardless of the conference.

So maybe Ramaswamy was planning to go on vacation anyway, and then spontaneously decided to speak at the conference? But wouldn’t that make the use of campaign funds for the trip even more heinous?

It speaks to the selfishness of billionaire Ramaswamy—who also wants to repeal birthright citizenship from undocumented immigrants even though he himself received birthright citizenship—that he would spend thousands in campaign money on a fancy resort so he can play pickleball with Logan and Jake Paul. No, really.