Trump's Market-Boosting Lies Fall Flat as Iran Refuses to Budge, Deepening Rift

BlockBeats News, March 24th. U.S. President Trump stated that the U.S. and Iran had very good and productive discussions over the past two days, pausing any military strikes against Iran's power plant and energy infrastructure for five days. He mentioned that Iran wishes to end the war, and both sides are discussing whether a broader agreement can be reached, with talks initiated last Saturday. He stated "they are serious this time" and mentioned "hopefully we can get it done." An Israeli official and two insiders stated that Iran's dialogue representative is Iran's powerful Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf. Israeli media reported that Washington has set April 9th as the target date to end the war, approximately 21 days from now.

However, Iran denied any "talks" with Trump. Iran's Speaker Qalibaf referred to Trump's statement as "fake news," indicating that military actions are still escalating. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared that they are launching a new round of attacks on U.S. targets and described Trump's remarks as "psychological warfare," stating that it is "already ineffective" and has no impact on the battle in Tehran. According to CCTV News, a senior Iranian official mentioned that U.S. President Trump does not have the authority to set conditions or deadlines for negotiations. The official stated that Iran and the U.S. have exchanged messages through Egypt and Turkey to ease tensions, but the U.S. has not yet accepted Iran's two core conditions: compensating for losses and acknowledging the infringement on Iran.

Furthermore, on the military front, as per The New York Times, senior U.S. Pentagon officials are considering deploying about 3,000 troops from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, a rapid response brigade that can reach the target area within 18 hours. One option is to seize Iran's key oil export hub, Kharg Island. Simultaneously, sources from the Iranian military mentioned that they have prepared a new "surprise operation" for the coming days, promising a "significant impact" and claiming that "all of Trump's military options have failed."

On the economic side, Goldman Sachs raised the probability of the U.S. economy falling into a recession within the next 12 months to 30% on Monday, a 5 percentage point increase from before. The reason cited is the continued blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, leading to higher energy prices and subsequent financial tightening. The bank also expects this conflict to drag down global GDP growth by 0.4 percentage points.