Markets falter after Trump’s primetime pitch on Iran

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Trump's address to nation about Iran war

Trump's address to nation about Iran war

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▪  Trump defends Iran operation

▪ GOP backs DHS funding plan  

▪ NATO withdrawal floated 

▪ Surgeon general confirmation stalled 

President Trump took his case on the Iran war directly to the American people from the White House for the first time since the U.S. offensive started, promising a swift end to a conflict now in its fifth week.  

“We’re going to finish it very fast. We’re getting very close,” Trump said.  

Markets were not convinced. Futures tied to the major U.S. stock indexes fell by 1 percent or more, while oil prices jumped around 7 percent overnight.  

Trump once again called on Europe to take the lead in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which he said would “open naturally” when the war ended.  

He also threatened to bomb Iran “back to the stone ages” if it refused to strike a deal in the coming weeks, promising to strike electricity infrastructure, a possible violation of international law.  

Trump’s address was largely notable for what he didn’t say. The president did not mention potential plans to put boots on the ground or lay out U.S. demands for a ceasefire. 

“We have no additional certainty ⁠or clarity around timeline from this address and this is what the market was looking for,” Jon Withaar, senior portfolio manager at Pictet Asset Management in Singapore, told Reuters.  

“The fact that we can expect 2-3 more weeks of action, boots on the ground were not ruled out and that threats to hit infrastructure were reiterated will put the market back on the defensive, particularly as we come into the long weekend.”  

Trump had earlier Wednesday claimed that Iran asked the U.S. for a ceasefire, saying he would consider it once the Strait of Hormuz is “open, free, and clear.” 

“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!” he said in a post on Truth Social, not clarifying who the leader was. 

Iran denied that it requested a ceasefire, as Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei called Trump’s statement “false and baseless.” 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi did confirm Tehran has had direct contact with the U.S. He told Al Jazeera he has received messages from U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, but the “trust level is at zero.” 

Trump has been under rising pressure to bring an end to the conflict as oil prices have soared, boosting the average national cost of gas to more than $4 per gallon for the first time since 2022. He’s also faced declining poll numbers as more Americans say they disapprove of his handling of the Iran situation and of his presidency in general. 

The Hill’s Sarah Fortinsky reports Trump’s approval numbers have slipped even with his own MAGA base and 2024 supporters, who are growing wary of a prolonged war that could further inflict turmoil on the economy. 

Trump in his primetime address laid out a rosy picture of how the economy will rebound once the war in Iran comes to an end.  

“It will resume the flowing, and the gas prices will rapidly come back down. Stock prices will rapidly go back up,” he said.  

The war showed no signs of letting up early Thursday, as Israel said it intercepted missiles fired from Iran. The Gulf countries of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia also said they responded to missile and drone strikes. 

But Trump emphasized that this conflict shouldn’t be compared to past quagmires the U.S. has engaged in historically, such as the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan. 

“Tonight, every American can look forward to a day when we are finally free from the wickedness of Iranian aggression and the specter of nuclear blackmail,” Trump said. “Because of the actions we have taken, we are on the cusp of ending Iran’s sinister threat to America and the world. And I’ll tell you, the world is watching.” 

▪ The Hill: Five takeaways from President Trump’s address on Iran 

▪ The Atlantic: Maybe Trump Should Not Have Given This Speech

▪ CNBC: Trump’s Iran speech ignores the risks of a return to the 1970s: Analysis

3 Things to Know Today

Trump has discussed ousting Attorney General Pam Bondi and replacing her with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, multiple outlets reported. It comes as the president has apparently grown frustrated with Bondi’s leadership of the Department of Justice and handling of the Epstein files. 

The Department of Homeland Security has formally terminated a controversial policy by former Secretary Kristi Noem to personally review contracts of more than $100,000. The policy was blamed for holding up billions of dollars in funding. 

The president’s White House ballroom is set to receive a final vote from the National Capital Planning Commission as Trump seeks to get his project approved. He is appealing a ruling from a federal judge blocking the construction from going forward.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) addresses reporters alongside Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) during a press conference on Friday, October 10, 2025, on the tenth day of the government shutdown. (Greg Nash/The Hill)

PATH FORWARD: Trump has declared his support for a Republican-only bill to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, giving the GOP a path forward to ending the ongoing partial government shutdown. 

Trump made his announcement in a post on Truth Social, effectively putting him on the side of the Senate Republicans who approved a bill to fund all of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) except for ICE and Border Patrol, with a plan to cover the outstanding agencies through the reconciliation process. 

Trump didn’t mention how the other parts of DHS would be funded, but his weigh-in could help end the feud between House and Senate Republicans over the way forward. House GOP leadership refused to entertain the Senate bill last week and instead passed a short-term continuing resolution, which was declared dead on arrival in the upper chamber. 

“We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won’t be able to stop us,” Trump said, calling on Congress to send the bill to his desk by June 1. 

While Democratic votes wouldn’t be needed in the GOP-controlled House and Senate, passing the bill through reconciliation could be difficult as only a few Republicans would need to defect to block it. But Trump’s support could move the process along once Congress returns from recess later this month. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) released a joint statement backing Trump’s position, saying they would fund most of DHS through the regular appropriations process and fund border security and immigration through reconciliation to last the next three years. 

▪ CNN: Hurdles remain to funding plan. 

▪ The Hill: Trump ramps up war on mail-in voting. 

SECOND THOUGHTS: Trump made one of his strongest rebukes yet of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), raising new questions about whether he may seek to pull the U.S. from the decades-old alliance.

Trump said in an interview with The Telegraph published Wednesday that removing the U.S. from NATO is “beyond reconsideration.” 

“I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way,” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Trump did not reiterate his frustrations with NATO during his primetime address, as had been speculated earlier in the day.  

Trump has increasingly expressed frustration with the U.S.’s European allies amid the Iran war, as they have repeatedly rebuffed pressure to get directly involved in securing the Strait of Hormuz from Tehran. He has argued European countries should be responsible for reopening it because they rely on the oil that passes through the area much more than the U.S. does. 

But that argument hasn’t proven convincing among fellow NATO members, who have mostly sought to stay out of the conflict and have denounced the U.S. offensive against Iran. 

Trump lashed out last month against NATO and its members, calling them “cowards” for not getting involved. A group of six countries, including five NATO members, said in a joint statement last month that they would “contribute to appropriate efforts” to keep the strait open but didn’t detail what they were willing to do. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to echo Trump’s comments Tuesday evening, saying the U.S. would reexamine its relationship with NATO once the Iran war ends. 

Following the publication of Trump’s interview, past comments from Rubio declaring no president should be able to pull the U.S. from NATO without Senate approval gained attention online. 

▪ The Hill: Keir Starmer defends NATO after Trump comments. 

▪ The Guardian: Can Trump pull the U.S. out of NATO? 

THE COURT’S SKEPTICISM: The Supreme Court appeared doubtful of the president’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship as they came face-to-face with Trump on Wednesday. 

Trump attended the court’s arguments, making history as the first known sitting president to do so. He sat in the front row of the public gallery that fills the back half of the courtroom, but the justices didn’t acknowledge his presence. 

He left the courtroom soon after the administration’s advocate, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, finished his argument. 

Arguments lasted two hours, and key members of the court appeared skeptical of overturning more than a century of the conventional understanding of birthright citizenship, which holds that anyone born on U.S. soil is a citizen. 

Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office last year limiting citizenship to children with at least one parent with citizenship or permanent legal status. But the order hasn’t been permitted to go into effect. 

“The examples you give to support that strike me as very quirky,” Chief Justice John Roberts said to Sauer. 

Tensions between Trump and the court have been on the rise recently, as the president slammed the court earlier this year for striking down his wide-ranging tariffs. The birthright citizenship case is one of the most significant Trump cases before the court of the term. 

A decision is expected by this summer. 

▪ The Hill: The very rare exceptions to birthright citizenship. 

▪ The Hill: Trump says U.S. is ‘stupid enough’ to allow birthright citizenship. 

LIFTOFF: The Artemis II mission went forward Wednesday after weeks of delays, bringing the U.S. another step forward as part of its journey to get back to the moon. 

The Space Launch System rocket successfully took off during its launch window Wednesday evening and entered orbit around the Earth. The journey will be the first flight to the moon in more than 50 years. 

While this mission won’t land on the lunar surface, the crew of four astronauts will orbit the moon and go further into space than any human has gone before. They plan to return after a 10-day trip. 

The mission’s success will be critical to advancing the Artemis program, with NASA planning to return astronauts to step foot back on the moon with the Artemis IV mission as soon as 2028. 

The president will participate in executive time at 8 a.m. He will receive an intelligence briefing at 11 a.m. He will sign executive orders at 2 p.m. and participate in a policy meeting at 5:30 p.m. 

The Senate will meet at 7 a.m. for a pro forma session. 

The House will convene at 8:30 a.m. for a pro forma session.

Dr. Casey Means testifies during a Senate Health, Education Labor and Pension Committee confirmation hearing for U.S. Surgeon General on Capitol Hill on Feb. 25, 2026, in Washington. (Tom Brenner, Associated Press)

STALLED NOMINATION: Casey Means, Trump’s nominee for U.S. surgeon general, is facing a confirmation process in the Senate that, for now, is stuck.  

Means’s mired nomination is the latest sign that some Republicans in Congress may be tired of the more divisive aspects of the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) agenda, The Hill’s Joseph Choi reports.  

The position wields no regulatory powers but does command a bully pulpit that some Republicans are hesitant to give to Means, a healthy-living influencer with an expired medical license.  

Trump had indicated he was open to withdrawing her nomination over the weekend, before the White House quickly walked that back and reaffirmed its support of Means, who is the sister of White House adviser Calley Means, an important figure in the orbit of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.  

Mark Brewer, a professor and the chair of the department of political science at the University of Maine, told Choi that some congressional Republicans may be getting “gun shy” after some poor performances by Trump nominees.  

“She doesn’t have the appropriate qualifications. She doesn’t really have kind of any public health experience, per se,” said Brewer. “If she were to be installed as the surgeon general, I think it would send a message. And at least some senators are not interested, it appears, in the message that that would send.”  

It’s been more than a month since Casey Means’s nomination advanced out of committee and there are no immediate plans for a confirmation vote, Choi reports.  

Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) both said they walked away from Means’s confirmation hearing with unanswered questions, especially concerning vaccines.  

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who isn’t running for reelection and has a streak of disagreeing with Trump, told The Washington Post he’s a likely no if Means’s nomination makes it to a floor vote. 

The timing of her candidacy is also less than ideal for her, as both Congress and the president are more focused on the war in Iran.  

When discussing whether he was open to withdrawing her nomination, Trump told reporters, “I’m more focused on Iran.”  

▪ New York Magazine: Casey Means may be too kooky even for Republicans. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference, Aug. 12, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (Chris O’Meara, Associated Press file)

SUNSHINE SAVE ACT: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Wednesday signed into law a bill that mimics parts of the federal Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act currently stalled in Congress.  

The law, which would require displaying voter identification and proof of citizenship to cast a ballot, is being met with lawsuits from advocacy organizations. There is already a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union, which is filing on behalf of other advocacy groups as well, The Hill’s Ashleigh Fields reports.  

The groups allege the system being used to confirm citizenship status does not capture naturalization data. 

DeSantis noted during a signing ceremony Wednesday that he doesn’t think the SAVE America Act will make it past the Senate. He said the law, which would not allow student ID cards to serve as proper identification to vote, was needed to protect the integrity of state elections. 

“Our Constitution in the state of Florida says only American citizens are allowed to vote in our elections, so we need to make sure that is the law,” the Florida governor said during a press conference. 

The governor made no mention during the event of Trump’s recently penned executive order placing restrictions on mail-in voting. The new Florida law does not change Florida’s excuse-free, mail-in voting, which was recently used by the president and his family members to vote in a special Palm Beach County election.  

The new Florida law could conflict with Trump’s executive order, as the order asks that states send in approved ballot lists 60 days before an election. Florida law allows voters to register up to 29 days before an election.  

The law, signed by DeSantis during what will be his last year as governor, will not take effect until after the midterm elections.  

▪ The Guardian: Florida, Mississippi governors sign proof-of-citizenship voting bills. 

New SNAP data confirms millions of Americans have reclaimed their freedom, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins writes in The Hill. 

Afroman’s verdict is just the beginning: Officers also deserve criminal scrutiny, Michael Mellette writes in The Hill. 

Astronauts, from left, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, of Canada,, Pilot Victor Glover, Commander Reid Wiseman, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch pose for a photo after leaving the Operations and Checkout Building for a trip to Launch Pad 39-B and a planned liftoff on NASA’s Artemis II moon rocket at the Kennedy Space Center on April 1, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (Chris O’Meara, Associated Press)

And finally … It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for the weekly news quiz! 

The Artemis II mission marks the U.S.’s historic return to space as the next step in getting back to the moon. So this week’s quiz will cover the history of the U.S. space program. 

Be sure to email your responses to jgans@thehill.com — please add “Quiz” to your subject line. Winners who submit correct answers will receive deserved newsletter fame on Friday. 

The Artemis program follows other space programs named for Greek or Roman gods. Which of the following has not had a program named after them? 

How many people have walked on the moon? 

The Artemis II mission will include an orbit of the Earth before traveling the furthest anyone has ever traveled from the planet. Who was the first American to orbit the Earth? 

Voyager 2 is the second most distant human-made object sent into space, still operating years after it was first launched. About how long has it been journeying through space? 

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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