Trump Ramps Up Threats Ahead of Iran Deadline

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Alex Ossola (0:18)

President Trump draws criticism from across the political spectrum as he ramps up his threats against Iran. Plus, a growing number of workers are choosing to retire instead of learning how to use AI.

Ray Smith (0:30)

The financial cushion of rising home equity, stock market returns, that's given a lot of these older workers comfort in saying, I can decide when I want to exit or when I want to retire.

Alex Ossola (0:44)

And the White House is keeping Kristi Noem's controversial $70 million jet. It's Tuesday, April 7th. I'm Alex Ossola for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.

President Trump is ramping up threats ahead of his 8 p.m. Eastern deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or else face the bombing of its bridges and power plants. He wrote on social media this morning, quote, a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will. WSJ National Security reporter Alex Ward says negotiators are pessimistic about a diplomatic solution.

Alex Ward (1:26)

Hope is still pretty low that there will be some kind of deal ahead of that deadline. This morning, after Trump's threat to wipe out the whole of Iranian civilization, the Iranians cut direct talks to the Americans. That happened basically within a few minutes. The Iranians told the mediators, that's Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, that they weren't going to keep talking to the US. But they had been talking to the mediators throughout. So there is still time to get some sort of breakthrough or to convince Trump that a diplomatic pathway could work. So at the end of the day, it comes down to, as it usually does, Trump's wins. Does he feel a desire that he should continue to keep diplomacy going because he thinks he can get some sort of deal that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz? Or does he worry about the markets and the pushback that he's getting? Or does he feel the Iranians aren't serious, they're not going to make a deal, and the US is going to go and start attacking Iranian bridges and power plants?

Alex Ossola (2:21)

Trump's threats have drawn rebuke from both sides of the aisle. Senator Ron Johnson, a Trump ally, said he didn't support the US bombing Iranian civilian infrastructure. Influential right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson said US officials should resist any potential attempt by Trump to launch mass attacks that would kill Iranian civilians. On the left, House Democratic leadership called for lawmakers to return to Washington immediately to hold a vote to end the Iran war, while dozens of Democratic lawmakers called for Trump to be removed from office. And United Nations spokesperson Stefan Dujarek said targeting civilian infrastructure violates international law.

SPEAKER_6 (2:57)

What is a crime, what is not a crime, will have to be determined once something takes place, and we very much hope that none of the threats that were verbalized will actually be implemented.

Alex Ossola (3:13)

On the ground in Iran, videos and photos posted by state media show Iranians assembled at power plants and forming a human chain along a bridge. Early this morning, the US conducted strikes on more than 50 military targets on Karg Island, Iran's most strategic economic asset.

Major US stock indexes ended the day mixed. The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 closed up about 1 percent, while the Dow fell roughly 0.2 percent. US oil futures climbed for a third consecutive session, settling at roughly $113. That's a new 52-week high and the highest settling value since June 2022 Markets reporter Hannah Erin Langs has Trump's deadline for Iran has investors on edge.

Hannah Erin Langs (3:57)

Investors are facing down what almost feels like the kind of mother of all taco moments. And TACO is this acronym that's been thrown around among investors that stands for Trump Always Chickens Out. Since the war started roughly six weeks ago, monitoring the president's shifting ultimatums and his social media posts has become kind of a part of the job for, you know, pros on Wall Street, but also just individual traders. My colleague talked to this managing director at a crypto market maker who said he's seen a growing number of people betting against oil-linked perpetual futures. This essentially suggests that those traders are betting that Trump will reverse course and cause oil prices to retreat and risk your assets to rebound. So maybe folks might be buying the dip in stocks today, you know, expecting maybe we'll see a rally if Trump reverses course.