Trump's speech claims "victory," the Iranian president sends a letter to "the American people," and the U.S. announces that the Iran target is "close to completion."

[Global Times correspondent in the U.S., special correspondent Xiao Da Wang Yi] On the night of April 1 local time, U.S. President Trump delivered a nationwide televised address from the White House on the Iran issue. This was the first time since the U.S.-Iran war involving Israel broke out at the end of February that he made an important nationwide address on the conflict. In his remarks, he unilaterally claimed that the United States’ core strategic objectives for the war against Iran were “nearly completed,” but he also threatened that if Iran did not reach an agreement, the U.S. would “launch extremely fierce strikes on every power plant of theirs within the next two to three weeks,” as well as on oil facilities. In response, on April 2, a spokesperson for the Central Command of Iran’s Hatem Ambeia said it would take “actions that are more destructive, broader in scope, and more powerful” to counter the U.S.-Israel aggression, vowing to continue fighting until the other side “permanently, completely, and finally surrenders.” On April 2, Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a press conference that the root cause of the disruption to navigation through the Strait of Hormuz is the United States and Israel’s unlawful military actions against Iran. Only by halting hostilities and ending the war, and achieving peace and stability in the Gulf region, can the safety and smoothness of international shipping lanes be maintained fundamentally. All parties should work together to cool down the situation and prevent regional turmoil from having an even greater impact on global economic and energy security.

After the speech, oil prices surged immediately

“Same old tune.” The U.S. Cable News Network (CNN) said that in Trump’s first nationwide televised address on the U.S.-Israel-Iran war on April 1, he used familiar talking points, telling the American public that “the war is about to end,” and that the core strategic objectives were “nearly completed.” At the beginning of the speech, Trump claimed on his own that the military actions against Iran had achieved “rapid, decisive, overwhelming victory,” that Iran’s navy had been “completely destroyed,” and that the capability to launch missiles and drones had also been “greatly weakened,” with weapon factories and rocket launchers “left with scarcely anything.”

Multiple media outlets said Trump’s speech was full of contradictions. On the one hand, he said that regime change in Iran was not the goal of the United States, but at the same time he said, “Regime change in Iran has already taken place.” He also threatened that if Iran did not reach an agreement within the next two to three weeks, the U.S. military would target Iran’s key objectives, “launch extremely fierce strikes on every one of their power plants as well as on oil facilities.”

CNN said Trump was trying to downplay the United States’ reliance on the Strait of Hormuz in his speech. He said the U.S. almost doesn’t need to import oil through the Strait of Hormuz: “We don’t need it.” He also pushed the issue of opening the Strait of Hormuz onto other countries. He said, “The countries that need to get oil through the Strait of Hormuz must be responsible for maintaining that passage themselves.” Trump also encouraged those countries to “either buy oil from the U.S., or muster courage and go directly to the Strait of Hormuz to抢 oil.” He said that when the war against Iran ends, the strait “will naturally be opened,” and “gasoline prices will fall quickly.”

The New York Times commented that in Trump’s total 19-minute speech, he did not make any major statements—neither providing any details about the negotiations he claimed he was conducting with Iran, nor offering a detailed plan and clear timeline to end the war. The report said that, as he demonstrated throughout the war, Trump did not present a clear exit strategy, but instead made vague, inconsistent statements. He described the military actions against Iran as an “overwhelming victory,” while threatening to “blast Iran back to the Stone Age.”

CNN said that although White House officials claimed Trump’s remarks promoted “successes in military operations to date,” they were satisfied with them, many Democratic lawmakers harshly criticized the speech as “incoherent” and said it completely failed to answer the most basic questions that “the American people want to know.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer accused Trump’s speech of being “scattered in content and confused in logic,” failing to clearly lay out the objectives of the military actions against Iran, alienating allies, and ignoring the day-to-day issues that ordinary Americans face. “What Iran is doing will be seen as one of the most serious policy failures in U.S. history,” he said. Democratic U.S. Representative Ansari condemned his claim that he would “blast Iran back to the Stone Age” as “despicable, terrifying, and evil.” Democratic Senator Van Hollen said: “He has been lying to us. More than two weeks ago he claimed ‘we’ve won,’ but why are we still stuck here? What happens next? The only thing we can expect is more lies.”

The market quickly responded to Trump’s speech. Before the speech began, international oil prices had fallen at one point because Trump the day before hinted at “withdrawing from Iran within two to three weeks.” But after he finished speaking, Brent crude prices immediately surged by more than 4%, to $105.38 per barrel. At the same time, U.S. Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq index futures fell sharply. CNBC in the U.S. cited a Fidelity International investment manager as saying that Trump’s speech “doused people’s hopes that the conflict would de-escalate.”

Iran responds firmly to U.S. threats

The New York Times said that although Trump insisted in his speech on April 1 that talks with Iran were still ongoing, multiple U.S. intelligence agencies have recently assessed that the Iranian government believes it is in a strong position in the war and does not need to comply with the United States’ diplomatic demands.

Before Trump gave his address, on April 1 Iran’s President Pezeshkian issued an open letter to the American people. According to Iran’s News TV report on April 1, Pezeshkian said in the letter that Iran has no hostility toward ordinary Americans. He urged Americans to clear away the fog of war propaganda and refuse “artificially manufactured threats.” He questioned whether the United States truly practices “America First,” or whether it is simply acting as “Israel’s proxy.”

After Trump delivered the address, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, on April 2 a statement was issued by a spokesperson for the Central Headquarters of Iran’s Hatem Ambeia of the armed forces. It said that although the U.S.-Israel side believed it had destroyed Iran’s missile production centers, drones, air-defense systems, and other military targets, in fact they had “no knowledge of Iran’s vast strategic capabilities.” He said that so far the Iranian facilities that have been hit are “insignificant,” and that “our strategic defense and military-industrial production is carried out in places you are not aware of and can never reach.”

In response to Trump’s threat to “blast Iran back to the Stone Age,” on April 2 the commander of the Aerospace Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Moussavi, posted on a social media platform saying: “It’s you who sent your soldiers to the grave, not Iran that has been blasted back to the ‘Stone Age.’ Hollywood-style fantasies have contaminated your thinking so much that you would threaten a country with more than 6,000 years of civilization using only a brief 250-year history.”

On April 2, Veleyati, an adviser on foreign affairs to Iran’s Supreme Leader, posted on social media saying: “The Strait of Hormuz is open to the world, but it will forever be closed to Iran’s enemies and their bases in the Middle East.” He said how the war ends will be determined by “Iran’s strategy and strength,” not by “the aggressor’s arrogance and fantasies.”

On April 2, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a statement saying that during the 90th-wave offensive of “True Commitment-4,” it carried out strikes against major portions of U.S.-Israeli industrial and military targets in the region and destroyed a main part of them. The attack caused dozens of U.S. servicemen casualties. The statement emphasized that the operation had “the nature of a warning.” If similar attacks targeting Iranian industrial facilities occur again, the Iranian side will carry out an even more severe retaliation.

Ceasefire and end the war is a common call from the international community

The continued attacks by the U.S. and Israel on Iran have drawn increasing criticism from the international community. According to Brazil’s Jornal São Paulo (Folha de São Paulo), Brazilian President Lula said on April 1: “The United States has launched an unnecessary war against Iran, claiming the country is trying to develop nuclear weapons—this is a lie.” He emphasized that the war has directly affected Brazil, leading to higher fuel prices and putting pressure on the economies of countries around the world.

According to a report by France’s Le Monde on April 1, during his visit to Japan, French President Macron delivered remarks criticizing, “Some countries even hurt you without so much as notifying you.” The report said this was clearly aimed at hinting at the United States. Regarding this war, Macron said: “We stand on the side of international law, on the side of negotiations, and we support the return of diplomacy.”

On April 2, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a phone call with the Gulf Cooperation Council’s rotating chair and Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Zayani. Wang Yi outlined China’s principled position of opposing aggression and advocating peace. He said that a ceasefire and ending the war is a common call from the international community. China and Pakistan recently issued a five-point initiative to restore peace and stability in the Gulf and Middle East regions, which includes calls to stop attacks on civilians and non-military targets, ensure the security of the Strait of Hormuz, restore normal navigation, and so on.

“Trump’s fatal choice.” The website of U.S. magazine The Atlantic on April 1 said that multiple people with knowledge of the matter revealed that as more and more U.S. forces reinforcements arrive in the Middle East, the U.S. military is planning to launch a high-risk ground offensive against Iran: one plan targets Iran’s energy industry hub on Khark Island, and another plan aims to seize Iran’s concentrated uranium. At present, these plans only require Trump’s approval. However, citing analysis by multiple experts, the report said that these ground actions cannot guarantee ending the war within weeks as Trump claims, and also cannot reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said that the ground offensive is intended to pressure Iran’s regime, forcing it to seek a resolution. However, these actions are more likely to lead to escalation and prolong the conflict, rather than to facilitate negotiations.