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Morning Edition · Wednesday, September 23, 2026UpdatedPublished at 7:32 AM EDT · New York
Trump Threatens to "Annihilate" Iran at the United Nations as Brent Crude Falls Toward $98
Tehran promises a crushing response to any attack, offers to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the blockade on its oil exports ends, and the European Union's top diplomat presses for free passage.
Updated at 7:32 AM EDT
Added: Trump disclosed that US envoys held a three-hour meeting with an Iranian delegation on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, calling it "very good" and "very productive," with another round expected soon.
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, the American president said he must decide whether to reach a deal with Iran or to "annihilate" it, as The New York Times reported from the session. Al Jazeera set the statement alongside Tehran's warning of crushing attacks in response to any strike, noting that both governments escalated their language while negotiations continued.
Oil markets read the diplomacy rather than the rhetoric. Brent crude fell toward 98 dollars a barrel on Tuesday, a fifth consecutive session of declines. Trump told the assembly he expected an agreement with Iran after the November midterm elections and said oil flows had increased since the conflict began. Tehran has proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if Washington takes steps to end the blockade on Iranian oil exports.
The rhetoric was not the only channel open. Trump told reporters that his envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met an Iranian delegation for three hours on the sidelines of the General Assembly on Tuesday, calling the session "very good" and "very productive," according to The Times of Israel. The Hill reported that a further round of talks is expected "in the very near future." Neither government has disclosed what was discussed or whether the meeting touched the Hormuz proposal.
Europe is pursuing separate diplomacy on the same issue. Kaja Kallas, the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs, met Iran's foreign minister in New York and pressed for free passage through Hormuz, while also raising the rise in executions inside Iran.
The pattern is now familiar, but it has gained a direct-contact track alongside it. Threat and negotiation run in parallel, crude reprices on each shift in the odds of a settlement, and the underlying risk to the chokepoint through which a large share of seaborne crude moves stays unresolved even as American and Iranian officials sit in the same room for the first time in public view during this round of talks.
Part of a tracked trend
Middle East War Premium Returns to Oil
Renewed US-Iran conflict reinstates a geopolitical risk premium in crude that reverses the earlier de-escalation slide, feeding energy-driven inflation and redistributing income toward oil producers each time brinkmanship flares.
Veracity: Corroborated
90/100- If true, who benefits
Energy importers and airlines gain from a falling war premium, Tehran gains international pressure on the blockade of its ports by offering a reopening it controls the timing of, and the Trump administration gains a negotiating threat it can withdraw at no cost.
- The nuance
Trump's "annihilate" line, the seven-day Hormuz offer and the fifth consecutive session of crude declines are all corroborated, but Brent traded closer to 99 dollars than 98 on Tuesday, and Iran's offer is a conditional political statement with no verified sequence of steps behind it.
An open-source-intelligence read of how likely this story is true with its real nuance, not a judgment of any outlet. It assesses the claim, weighing independent and adversarial reporting. How we label confidence.
What this means
Crude is trading on the probability of a deal rather than on current barrels, which is why five sessions of decline coexist with an American president discussing annihilation from a United Nations podium. Energy importers in Europe, Japan, India and China gain directly as the premium declines, and oil-producing exporters lose the windfall they collected earlier in the conflict. The swing factor is Hormuz: a credible reopening would remove a large share of the remaining premium quickly, while a single incident in the strait would restore it just as fast. Airlines, chemicals producers and freight operators are the most exposed to that price through their fuel costs.
Synthesized from: Al Jazeera · The New York Times · Euronews
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Comments
2Sep 23, 10:54 AM · edited
Anchoring a deal to the period after the midterm elections gives Tehran a specific date against which to calibrate concession timing, since the administration's domestic political calculus shifts after November.
Sep 23, 2:00 PM · edited
Brent near $98 while annihilation threats land at the UN implies the market is pricing Tehran's Hormuz reopening offer above the rhetoric, a falsifiable read with a seven day settlement window.