Tension and defiance in Iran after Trump’s ultimatum

Iran war

Tension and defiance in Iran after Trump’s ultimatum

Trump gives Iran’s leadership 48 hours to open the Strait of Hormuz. The civilian population is worried – and is divided as to whether war is not the lesser evil. The markets are also reacting.

In light of US President Donald Trump’s ultimatum to the Iranian leadership to open the Strait of Hormuz, the situation in the Islamic Republic is tense. Those in power in Tehran are defiant and are threatening to completely close the strait, which is important for global oil trade. The stock exchanges in Asia slipped significantly into the red at the start of trading in the morning, and the price of oil also continued its upward trend.

Shah’s son Reza Pahlavi appealed to the US President to reconsider his threat and to spare civilian infrastructure in Iran in the event of attacks on the country. The residents of the metropolis of Tehran are suffering from the war – but some fear that the Islamist leadership will survive even more. In the morning, Israeli air strikes and violent explosions were reported again from the city of over a million inhabitants. There was initially no information about victims or damage.

Trump threatened Iran on Sunday night (CET) with the destruction of its energy facilities if the country did not open the Strait of Hormuz completely and “without threats” within 48 hours. Otherwise, the US would attack and destroy Iran’s power plants, “starting with the largest!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The threat of escalation is making the markets nervous. Japan’s leading index Nikkei 225 and the South Korean Kospi temporarily slipped by around five percent at the start of the week after the holiday-related trading break on Friday. In the Chinese special administrative region of Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell by around 2.8 percent, while in China the CSI 300 index, which tracks the most important stocks on the mainland, temporarily fell 1.4 percent at the start.

The developments in the Iran war also have a strong impact on the price of oil. The price of crude oil, the North Sea variety Brent, which is crucial for Europe, continued to hover well above the $100 mark at around $112 per barrel (159 liters), which was more than 50 percent higher than the price level before the start of the American-Israeli attacks on Iran.

Shah’s son Pahlavi wrote on Platform “The regime must be dismantled, but Iran itself must remain protected,” demanded Pahlavi, whom monarchist groups see as the political leader of the opposition. Both he and the monarchist opposition in exile have so far been largely in line with Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.