Trump announces temporary ceasefire on Iran's energy infrastructure

US President Donald Trump has announced that he has instructed the Pentagon to postpone any strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days - in the past two days, the US and Iran "have had very good and productive talks regarding a full and complete resolution of hostilities in the Middle East," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump called the talks with Iran "detailed and constructive," but did not specify with whom exactly they were held. The dialog will continue "for another week," he said. During that time - for five days - "subject to the successful conclusion of ongoing discussions," Trump instructed the U.S. military to "postpone any military strikes against Iranian power plants and Iran's energy infrastructure."

The cost of oil Mark Brent on the background of these reports from $113 per barrel in a moment collapsed to $96 and showed a decline of more than 10% relative to the closing level on Friday, March 20. A few minutes later, oil quotations slowed down - Brent is trading at $104.5 per barrel. April futures for WTI after falling to $84.37 per barrel returned to $89.96 (at an intraday high of $101.67).

The VIX Volatility Index (also known as the "Wall Street Fear Index"), which had jumped to 31 points on March 23, collapsed a little more than 11% from the previous close to 23.8 - any value above 20 indicates volatility in the markets.

Futures on the major U.S. stock indices came in plus: contracts on the S&P 500 added 2.6%, on the Dow Jones - 2.7%, on the Nasdaq 100 - 2.7%.

Reports of cease-fire talks in the Middle East came after Trump gave Iran an ultimatum on March 22, threatening to destroy Iranian power plants if Tehran did not open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, he wrote on the Truth Social network. Tehran, in turn, threatened that it would hit "all US energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure" in the Middle East region if the country's energy infrastructure was attacked.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor