President Donald Trump celebrated what he described as a record-setting day for international energy transport, saying an extraordinary 19 million barrels of oil moved through the vital Strait of Hormuz on Monday.
In a Tuesday morning post on Truth Social, Trump said crude prices were “tumbling down” and argued that the renewed calm in global energy markets had left the world “a much safer place.”
According to AAA figures, the national average for a gallon of gasoline was $3.92 on Monday, down 13.6% from where prices stood a month earlier.
His remarks came against the backdrop of a delicate peace arrangement with Iran, following a high-stakes confrontation that Trump discussed directly from the Oval Office on Monday.
Asked by reporters whether additional US military action could trigger a worldwide economic crisis if Iran breaches the existing Memorandum of Understanding, Trump made clear where he believed the greater danger lay.
“Nuclear weapon supersedes depression,” Trump responded on Monday.
“Depression is real bad. Nuclear weapon will cause depression much more quickly,” the President added, justifying his hard-line stance toward Tehran’s nuclear program.
Trump maintained that his administration’s approach is producing the opposite of an economic collapse, citing the closely protected Middle Eastern shipping routes as evidence.
US Vice President JD Vance (L) speaks next to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif prior to a quadrilateral meeting between the United States, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar at the Burgenstock luxury hotel complex overlooking Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, on June 21
Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman
‘The way we’re doing it, we have the opposite of a depression,’ he said of the current deal that allows oil to flow through the Strait of Hormuz. ‘We are doing really well, the numbers are incredible.’
His economic optimism mirrors statements made earlier by Energy Secretary Wright, who confirmed that oil and natural gas are currently flowing through the Strait ‘at pre-crisis levels’ and teased that ‘we could get to above that.’
However, the President made it clear that his patience is not infinite, issuing a stark warning to Iranian leadership should they break the terms of the delicate truce.
‘If Iran doesn’t live up to their agreement, or if they’re not behaving, I will do what I have to do,’ Trump said.
Trump was also pressed on whether he had received any firm reassurances that Tehran wouldn’t simply redirect billions in unfrozen assets to rebuild its battered military infrastructure.
‘We’ll see, but they’re supposed to use money to buy food for their people, because right now the people are very hungry,’ Trump replied.
Notably, the President claimed that the economic arrangement is actually fueling American agriculture – saying the Iranians are buying food stocks exclusively from the United States.
But while the President paints a picture of total American leverage, the reality on the ground in Europe was tense – with his messaging almost pushing the sensitive negotiations to the brink of collapse.
President Donald Trump has cheered what he called a record day for global energy shipments, revealing that a staggering 19 million barrels of oil flowed through the critical Strait of Hormuz
Trump spent the weekend at the Presidential retreat Camp David. Above he is shown on his phone in April 2025
Taking to Truth Social on Tuesday morning, Trump declared that oil prices are ‘tumbling down’ and insisted that the sudden stabilization of global energy markets has made the world ‘a much safer place’
The Iranian delegation negotiating a peace deal with the US in Switzerland almost walked out after a barrage of President Donald Trump’s social media posts.
While meeting with Vice President JD Vance, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and his special envoy Steve Witkoff, the Iranian negotiators were fed up with the President’s incessant posting about the ongoing talks.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf led Iran’s negotiating team. Qatari and Pakistani officials attended as mediators between the US and Iran.
‘They did threaten to walk out, or at least there was social media threats that they would walk out,’ Vance said, adding, ‘They didn’t walk out.’
‘What we told the Iranians yesterday is when you guys engage in what us millennials might call ‘trash talk,’ you can’t expect the president of the United States not to respond and not to correct the record,’ Vance said he relayed to the Iranians.
Trump fired off several posts dealing with the specifics of the memorandum of understanding that the two sides have signed off on, making clear his position on the most controversial portions of the agreement as talks were ongoing.
‘There will be no tolls in the Hormuz Strait for 60 days during the Cease Fire Period, and there will be no tolls after the 60 day period has expired, unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America,’ Trump wrote matter-of-factly on Saturday.
Trump published nearly half a dozen posts about Iran on his Truth Social app while spending the weekend at the presidential retreat Camp David, the secluded lodge in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains. It was his second trip to the retreat this term.
This comes as Trump has been touting the prospects of his deal to end the Iran War, which he claimed forced Tehran into an ‘unconditional surrender’
The deal provides for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the launch of a 60-day negotiation period on broader issues, including Tehran’s nuclear program
President Donald Trump’s proposed Iran framework is drawing scrutiny from conservatives who argue the deal offers Tehran significant economic incentives, including a pathway to a reported $300 billion reconstruction fund, in exchange for future nuclear concessions
Striding into the room nearly an hour late, an ultra–confident President Trump, fresh off the diplomatic high of his early stage Iran deal, bluntly announced to the room of gathered G7 summit leaders, ‘I’m the boss,’ setting the tone for his summit
Tump posted on Sunday that Iran must ‘immediately stop their highly paid proxies in Lebanon from causing trouble,’ referring to Hezbollah, and touted how he destroyed the Islamic Republic’s Air Force, Navy and drone capabilities.
The repeated bashing of Iran frustrated its negotiators so much that they threatened to end the talks with Vance and his team, the VP said at a press conference on Monday morning.
‘So, yes, there was a little bit of threatening, there was a little bit of whining,’ the VP said. ‘But at the end of the day, the talks continued and we made great progress.’
‘When they say things that aren’t true, the President is going to respond to it, I am going to respond to it, Americans are going to respond to it.’
‘When they make threats that aren’t rooted in reality, they have to accept the President of the United States is actually going to set the record straight. That’s all that happened.’
Vance celebrated in the press conference that the Iranians agreed to allow the UN’s nuclear regulatory watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to inspect its nuclear sites.
‘The Iranians have agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country,’ Vance said. ‘That is a major milestone for the American people.’
The VP said the agreement amounts to ‘the first step in permanently denuclearizing- permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran.’
He touted progress on four key points, including a mechanism to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, coordinating a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the IAEA inspections and the process to continue negotiations over the next 60 days.
