What News Do We Trust?

March 23, 2026

Shortly after the close of the U.S. stock market on Friday, President Donald J. Trump

appeared to try to address the losses it had sustained since his February 28th attack

on Iran by posting that the war was winding down.

This reassurance appeared designed to calm market fears over the weekend.

But then, at 7.44 a.m., Trump posted,

if Iran doesn't fully open without threat, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 hours from

this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various

power plants, starting with the biggest one first.

Thank you for your attention to this matter, President Donald J. Trump.

Aside from the fact that attacking civilian infrastructure is a war crime, this threat against

Middle East oil infrastructure made the market teeter again, especially after Iran threatened

to strike power plants in Israel and other Gulf states.

Then, at 7.23 this morning, Trump posted,

I am pleased to report that the United States of America and the country of Iran have had,

over the last two days, very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and

total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.

Based on the tenor and tone of these in-depth, detailed and constructive conversations,

which will continue throughout the week, I have instructed the Department of War to postpone

any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure

for a five-day period, subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions.

Thank you for your attention to this matter, President Donald J. Trump.

The five-day period in which Trump promised to hold off on this particular threat,

the war itself continues, coincides with the days the stock market is open.

According to the Cobecy Letter, which analyzes the stock market, the S&P 500 surged upward by

240 points. The price of Brent crude oil dropped to $96 a barrel.

Then, Iran denied Trump's claims and said its leaders had had no direct or indirect contact.

With Trump's people, Iran's foreign ministry suggested Trump was trying to reduce energy

prices and to buy time for implementing his military plans. It said that countries in the region

had approached Iran to begin negotiations and that our response to all of them is clear.

We are not the party that started this war and all such requests should be directed to Washington.

The S&P fell 120 points and the price of Brent crude rose to about $100 a barrel.

What is happening here? Wrote Adam Cobecy about the stock market in his newsletter.

The answer to which social media posters jumped was market manipulation.

Economist Paul Krugman suggested the same in a post today, noting that someone who had

insider knowledge could have sold a bunch of crude oil futures at very high prices. Brent

was over $112 over the weekend, then bought them back immediately after Trump's announcement

of triumphal progress. But before the Iranians said that is not happening and you could have turned

a very, very nice, very large profit. Indeed, by the end of the day, reporters like Yun Lee

at CNBC noted that about 15 minutes before Trump's announcement, there had been a sudden and sharp

jump in S&P 500 futures and oil futures. Krugman had other observations as well, though.

Trump threatened to commit a massive war crime by striking civilian energy facilities

and must be looking for a way out. Krugman noted that there is no apparent reason for

Iranian leaders to be making a deal right now. It seems pretty clear that attracting the war

constitutes winning in the metric of humiliating the US. Krugman goes on to make a major point.

Think about how much America's position in the world has been weakened, not just by a parent

failure to subdue a fourth rate power, but by the fact that everybody now knows that you cannot

trust anything. Cannot trust any promises the United States makes. You cannot count on the United

States carrying through with promises, with threats, not just promises, but threats are also

incredible in the sense of not being all credible, and that the default assumption should be

that anything that this administration says is a lie.

Trump doubled down on his post this morning when he talked to reporters at Palm Beach International

Airport, seeming to see an off-ramp from the conflict. He claimed that his middle-east

envoy, Steve Whitkopf, is speaking with a top person in Iran. The man who, I believe,

is the most respected and the leader, not the supreme leader, but the people that seem to be running

Iran. Barack Reved of Axios later reported that Whitkopf and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner,

both freelancers who have financial ties to the Middle East, rather than the US Secretary of State

Marco Rubio, have sent messages to the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohamed Bogger Galibov,

through Egypt, Pakistan, and Turkey, where intermediaries are trying to set up a call between

US and Iranian negotiators. Galibov is a close associate of Iran's new supreme leader, Moktaba

Khomeini. Trump seemed to consider that plan a done deal, and said the US and Iranian negotiators

would talk today by phone. He continued, will at some point very soon meet. We're doing a five-day

period. We'll see how that goes, and if it goes well, we're going to end up with settling this.

Otherwise, we just keep bombing our little hearts out.

Caitlin Collins of CNN asked Trump, you said there's many points of agreement with Iran right now.

Can you give us a few of them? He answered many, like 15 points, 15 points.

Colin followed up that Iran has said yes to. Trump replied, whether or not going to have a nuclear

weapon, that's number one. That's number one, two, and three. They will never have a nuclear weapon.

Collins asked, they've said yes to that. Trump replied, they've agreed to that.

When another reporter asked if Iran has agreed to no enrichment whatsoever, even for medical purposes,

civilian purposes, Trump answered, they have. Then Collins asked, what about the

Strait of Hormuz? Who's going to be in control of that? Trump answered, that'll be opened very soon

if this works. To questions of how soon, he responded immediately. Asked who would control the

Strait, he answered, it'll be jointly controlled. By who, Collins asked, maybe me, maybe me,

Trump said, not the United States or an international coalition, but me and the Iatola,

whoever the Iatola is, and there'll also be a very serious form of regime change. Now in

all fairness, everybody's been killed from the regime, but we're dealing with some people that I

find to be very reasonable, very solid. The people within know who they are. They're very respected,

and maybe one of them will be exactly what we're looking for. Look at Venezuela, how well that's

working out. We're doing so well in Venezuela with oil and with the relationship between the President

elect and us, and maybe we find someone like that in Iran. Today at the Palm Beach Airport,

a reporter asked Trump, if the war is ending, do you still need $200 billion? Trump answered,

we, uh, it's always nice to have. It's always nice to have. It's a very inflamed world.

Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at

Soundscape Productions, Dead and Massachusetts, recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.