Updated March 19, 2026, 6:11 p.m. ET 30 minutes ago
President Trump said he would do whatever was necessary to lower oil prices, and his Treasury secretary said the government might even take the paradoxical step of lifting sanctions on some Iranian oil.
Tony RommIsabel KershnerDavid E. SangerJavier C. Hernández and Johnatan Reiss
Here’s the latest.
Global markets experienced a day of gyrations on Thursday as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran entered its 20th day, amid fears of a deepening global energy crisis and as oil prices surged at one point to $119 a barrel, an increase of nearly 10 percent, before they settled at $108.65.
President Trump, seeking to reassure Americans, said he would do whatever was necessary to ease the crisis but stressed that it was temporary. “It will be over with soon,” he said, even as the Pentagon said it had sent the White House a request for $200 billion in funding for the war — a significant sum adding to the costs of an already divisive campaign.
Investors latched onto any signs of a de-escalation in the conflict, as prices had been climbing fast, after a new round of attacks on major energy facilities in Iran and Qatar on Wednesday raised concerns about energy supplies. To help ease the crisis, the United States was even weighing lifting sanctions on millions of barrels of oil from Iran, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business earlier on Thursday. Still, the S&P 500 ended the day 0.3 percent lower.
Oil prices have been surging since the start of the conflict on Feb. 28, with international crude futures up almost 50 percent in less than three weeks. The concern at first was Iran’s effort to halt oil and natural gas exports out of the Persian Gulf, but in the past 24 hours, the attacks and counterattacks on oil and gas production have injected new uncertainty.
As oil prices eased on Thursday afternoon, it allowed nervous investors to exhale slightly. But the market swings were a reminder of what analysts say is a stubborn truth: Prices will likely not dip meaningfully until the region is secure.
“It really comes down to when tankers can securely flow through the strait again,” said Jim Burkhard, the head of research for oil markets at S&P Global Energy. “But then you will have bottlenecks even after that opens.” He added that tankers will be backed up, and that to get huge refineries online again, “it’s not like you flip a switch and there you go.”
The pullback on oil prices on Thursday came after Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he had directed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to cease attacks on Iran’s energy fields. Mr. Trump’s comments came hours before the Israeli leader said during a news conference in Jerusalem that it was no longer possible for Iran to enrich uranium or manufacture ballistic missiles after 20 days of bombardment.
He provided no evidence and said nothing about Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium that was buried under the country’s nuclear site at Isfahan by U.S. strikes last year. The White House did not address his comments.
Mr. Netanyahu also said the war against Iran could end “a lot faster than people think,” though he did not suggest a concrete timeline. He then said, “There’s still more work to do, and we’re going to do it.”
While an end to the conflict would reopen the shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, serious damage to oil infrastructure would be longer lasting. That outcome is what economists fear most, as they try to forecast the potential effects on the global economy.
Missile attacks on Wednesday and Thursday hit the Ras Laffan energy hub in Qatar, reducing the country’s natural gas export capacity by 17 percent and causing an estimated loss of $20 billion in annual revenue, according to Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, the country’s energy minister and head of QatarEnergy, the state-owned energy company. He said damage from missiles would take three to five years to repair and would affect supply to markets in Europe and Asia.
Earlier on Thursday, during a meeting with the Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump was asked about using ground troops in Iran. He said: “I’m not putting troops anywhere. If I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”
At the otherwise congenial meeting, Mr. Trump broke a long-held taboo by invoking the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941, that led the United States into World War II. Responding to a reporter’s question about why Japan and other allies had received no warning of the U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran, he said: “We didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan, OK? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK?”
As he spoke, Ms. Takaichi widened her eyes, appeared to take a deep breath and kept her arms crossed in her lap. She did not respond.
Here’s what else we are covering:
* Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said that the country reserved the right “to take military actions if deemed necessary” to protect itself from Iranian attacks. Read more ›
* Death tolls: Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said last week that at least 1,348 civilians had been killed since the start of the war. On Wednesday, a Washington-based human rights group, the Human Rights Activists News Agency, reported that at least 1,369 civilians had been killed. The number of Lebanese killed rose to more than 1,000, Lebanon’s health ministry said on Thursday. At least 14 people have been killed in Iranian attacks on Israel, officials have said. The American death toll stood at 13.
March 19, 2026, 5:29 p.m. ET 1 hour ago Karoun Demirjian and David E. Sanger Reporting from Washington
Trump says he won’t send troops to Iran, though he leaves some room to change his mind.
President Trump asserted on Thursday that he had no plans to commit ground forces to the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, even though he has acknowledged he is contemplating moves that could drag the military into land combat operations.
Mr. Trump’s comments still left some room for him to reverse course.
“I’m not putting troops anywhere,? Mr. Trump told a reporter who asked about using ground troops. “If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you.”
The president has spent several days alternating between threats to escalate strikes on Iran — which at times he has insisted are an “operation” or an “excursion” instead of a war — and promising that the hostilities are on the brink of completion.
His latest comments come just two days after Mr. Trump said that he was “not afraid” to put U.S. boots on the ground.
They also come amid revelations that the Pentagon has asked for $200 billion to pay for its war operations against Iran, a sum that is expected to encounter resistance on Capitol Hill.
The fighting has been steadily escalating since the United States and Israel first struck Iran three weeks ago. Overnight Israel and Iran exchanged a series of strikes on key energy infrastructure sites. Israel struck Iran’s the processing complex for the South Pars natural gas field, and Qatar blamed Iran for missiles that damaged Ras Laffan International City, a major energy hub.
Those strikes shocked global markets, sending oil prices soaring before falling later in the day. The turmoil may have prompted Mr. Trump to speak in calmer tones when challenged about the negative economic impact the war was having.
He said on Thursday that while he hated to attack Iran, he felt it was necessary, even though oil prices would rise and the economy might “go down a little bit.”
“I thought there was a chance it could be much worse,” he said. “It’s not bad, and it will be over with pretty soon.” He provided no further explanation.
Despite Mr. Trump’s efforts at reassurance, the administration was sending signals that it was bearing down for a longer fight. It was not immediately clear what operations the $200 billion the Pentagon was seeking would pay for, but even at the steep price tag of recent operations — the first six days alone cost more than $11.3 billion, officials recently told lawmakers — that sum could most likely sustain operations for months.
The United States is currently weighing whether to attempt a takeover of Kharg Island, where Iran loads most of the oil it produces onto tankers. The United States struck what it described as several military sites on Kharg Island over the weekend, though Mr. Trump has repeatedly pointed out they left the oil infrastructure alone. On Wednesday, however, he also threatened that the United States could destroy Iran’s oil infrastructure or its electrical grid.
The United States is also deciding whether to attempt to seize the underground nuclear site at Isfahan, where Iran stores most of its 970 pounds of near-bomb-grade nuclear fuel. Either operation would likely require ground troops.
Last week, the United States began moving 2,500 Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit from the Indo-Pacific region to the Middle East, adding to approximately 50,000 U.S. troops already in the region. The selection of that unit, which has expertise in conducting ground operations buttressed by sea and air support, suggests that the United States might be planning raids into Iran, potentially against the islands from which Iran has been launching fast boats capable of mining the Strait of Hormuz.
Two days of attacks on Gulf energy sites
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IThe New York Times Price of Brent Crude Oil March 15March 16March 17March 18March 19 105110$115 per barrel
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The New York Times Emmett Lindner March 19, 2026, 5:17 p.m. ET 1 hour ago Emmett Lindner
The easing of oil prices on Thursday afternoon signals a slight exhale from nervous investors. But the market swings are a reminder of what analysts say is a stubborn truth: Prices will likely not dip meaningfully until the region is secure.
“It really comes down to when tankers can securely flow through the strait again,” said Jim Burkhard, the head of research for oil markets at S&P Global Energy. “But then you will have bottlenecks even after that opens.” He added that tankers will be backed up, and to get huge refineries online again, “it’s not like you flip a switch and there you go.”
March 19, 2026, 5:15 p.m. ET1 hour ago
Ephrat Livni International breaking news reporter
Missile attacks on Wednesday and Thursday targeting the Ras Laffan energy hub in Qatar reduced the country’s liquefied natural gas export capacity by 17 percent, according to Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, the country’s energy minister and head of QatarEnergy, the state-owned energy company. He said damage from missiles will take three to five years to repair. Qatar halted L.N.G. output earlier this month. It is the world’s second largest L.N.G. exporter after the United States.
March 19, 2026, 4:35 p.m. ET 2 hours ago David E. SangerWhite House reporter Trump’s reaction to Israeli strike on gas field exposes divergent strategies.
President Trump said on Thursday that he had complained to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel about the bombing of one of Iran’s largest offshore gas fields, exposing the sharply different strategies by the United States and Israel as they try to collapse the Iranian government.
Asked about the Israeli strike, which sent oil markets reeling, Mr. Trump said, “I told him don’t do that,” and he suggested that Mr. Netanyahu “won’t do that” again in the future.
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