Iran’s military on Wednesday described U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to annihilate Tehran as “a sign of strategic desperation,” warning the country stands ready to inflict strikes “more crushing” than earlier in the nearly seven-month conflict.

The combative message, which was carried by Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency, accused Trump of trying to use the United Nations podium to justify aggression.

“Such words demonstrate America’s strategic dead end in its aggression against the Iranian nation, and the repetition of baseless claims and threats, given the exhaustion of the U.S. military, is not a sign of power but a sign of their strategic desperation,” Iran’s General Staff said.

Trump said during his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that he faced a choice between a deal and more aggressive military action, before telling reporters that U.S. officials held a “very good” three-hour meeting with Iranian envoys on the sidelines.

“Will a deal be made with Iran? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic, and do it quickly?” Trump said on Tuesday. He called on all nations to “enforce the complete economic isolation of Iran.”

Trump also said he expected an agreement after November’s midterm elections. “I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election, because it doesn’t make sense for them not to,” he said. “They’re waiting to see how I do in the midterm election.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is scheduled to speak at the General Assembly later on Wednesday.

Iran has been in negotiations with the U.S. through a Qatari mediator in New York, and communicated its conditions for ending the war on all fronts, according to regional media reports.

Tehran’s conditions include a halt to what it calls U.S. “acts of aggression,” an end to the naval blockade and economic warfare, and the release of Iranian assets, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said.

The proposal laid out concrete details aimed at restoring traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which carried about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments before the war, reviving fragile hopes for a diplomatic off-ramp to the seven-month war.

Separately, a senior Iranian official said Tehran could reopen the strait within a week if the U.S. eases military pressure and lifts its blockade of Iranian ports.

Oil prices were slightly higher on Wednesday. Futures for international benchmark Brent crude were last seen up 1% at $100.32 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 0.3% to $90.88 per barrel.

‘A Saudi-controlled shuttle corridor’

Shipping through Hormuz remains far below normal. Confirmed transits through the strait averaged 6.98 million barrels a day in the seven days to Sept. 20, according to Kpler. That’s about 38% of the 18.3 million barrel prewar baseline.

Iran’s own crude exports have dried up as the U.S. reinstated its naval blockade. Its crude loadings fell to zero so far in September from 893,000 barrels a day in July, according to Kpler.

The strait “is increasingly a Saudi-controlled shuttle corridor,” the shipping research agency said Tuesday. Saudi Arabia has shifted exports to its Gulf coast since a Houthi attack earlier this month halted flows on its East-West pipeline to the Red Sea port of Yanbu.

An interim peace agreement between Washington and Tehran collapsed in July, weeks after it was signed, and neither side has signaled when the next round of talks will take place.

The United States and China have agreed to prolong a tariff ceasefire and maintain the flow of rare earth materials, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent disclosed Wednesday local time. He made the remarks on Fox News as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Washington, D.C. for a state visit running through Friday. Xi and Trump initially struck a one-year trade truce during a meeting in South Korea last October. That agreement, originally slated to lapse in November, will now run until January 10, Bessent said, adding that Beijing must deliver on additional commitments. Prior to this week’s summit, many observers had anticipated a six-month or longer extension. The two nations should address trade disagreements based on mutual benefit rather than imposing restrictions, said Dong Shaopeng, senior researcher at Renmin University of China, who predicted the truce could be further refined and extended. Chinese state media did not immediately acknowledge Bessent’s comments on the trade pause. The two-month extension suggests the U.S. remains unsatisfied with China’s proposals and intends to maintain pressure, with the added effect of making Xi’s attendance at the G20 in Miami more likely, said Scott Kennedy of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Trump visited Beijing in May. The leaders could also convene alongside an APEC meeting in Shenzhen in November and the G20 summit in Miami in December. However, Jens Eskelund, president of the European Chamber of Commerce in China, noted that merely extending the truce fails to resolve challenges companies face, including the absence of a standardized process for rare earths export license applications. In an official arrival statement, Xi expressed confidence the visit would yield “fruitful results” for both sides, urging the countries to be partners rather than rivals and to build a stable relationship where competition and differences are managed. The statement omitted mention of tariffs, rare earths, or artificial intelligence. Footage from China’s state broadcaster showed U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump greeting Xi and First Lady Peng Liyuan at the base of the Chinese leader’s aircraft. The video did not capture a handshake between the two presidents, instead focusing on Xi and his wife accepting bouquets from two children. After welcoming Xi, Trump told reporters he would discuss the Iran conflict with the Chinese leader among “many other subjects.” Bessent met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York ahead of Xi’s U.S. arrival. The two sides discussed establishing an alert system for AI incidents, according to Bessent. While executives from major U.S. tech firms plan to attend a summit dinner Thursday, none of their Chinese counterparts are expected to participate. Politburo Standing Committee Member Cai Qi and China’s top diplomat Wang Yi accompanied Xi, state media reported. —Verum’s Eunice Yoon and Ashlee Trujillo contributed to this report.

A prolonged conflict with Iran could cause Brent crude to spike above $150 a barrel, according to Bank of America. The bank’s prediction comes as it raised its oil price outlook as supply disruptions across the Middle East and Russia tighten global crude and fuel supplies. Bank of America now expects Brent to touch $95 per barrel in the second half of this year, up from a prior forecast of $83 per barrel. But actual prices could skyrocket past that forecast to $150 a barrel or more if supply disruptions continue into next spring or if oil infrastructure suffers further damage, the bank said. Supply has been tightened due to several factors including ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict, constrained shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and Bab-el-Mandeb, refinery outages, lower exports from the Middle East and Russia, and tightened product exports from China. “Continued inventory draws support an average Brent price of around $80/bbl in 2027, but the most important change is an expanding tail risk: strategic and commercial inventories are becoming progressively thinner while physical crude markets are already signaling acute near-term scarcity through extreme backwardation,” Francisco Blanch, commodity and derivatives strategist at the Bank of America, said. Blanch said Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development strategic reserves have already fallen substantially and physical crude is commanding large premiums over the benchmark futures. “Although US refiners and fuel exporters have partly filled the gap, ultra-low product stocks and elevated refining margins indicate that the system has very limited spare capacity,” Blanch said, as he warned that the energy disruptions could morph into a “structural shock.” The bank estimates that disruptions through Hormuz peaked at roughly 14 million barrels per day and have recently averaged between 4 million and 8 million barrels per day compared with prewar levels. Blanch estimates at least 350 million barrels have disappeared from the global above-ground oil inventories since levels peaked in March. He said stocks are about 200 million barrels short of record seasonal lows.

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