Technologies

U.S. Energy Secretary Wright says Iran nuclear deal may never happen

Iran warned of faster, heavier retaliation against U.S. attacks while acknowledging the war’s mounting toll on its economy.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Sunday said the U.S. may not reach an elusive deal to constrain Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, as the U.S.-Iran conflict enters its seventh month.

“There may not be a nuclear agreement. It may be simply destroying their capabilities to do it,” Wright said on ABC News’ “This Week.” “An agreement may await the next administration in Iran. We simply don’t know that.”

Trump has repeatedly said preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon is a central objective of the U.S. campaign. He has also sought a negotiated deal with Iran throughout the war, which has sent energy prices soaring worldwide.

Wright’s comments suggest the administration may pursue its goal of preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon without reaching a negotiated nuclear agreement.

Pressed on whether Wright’s comments mean the U.S. will continue striking Iran when it attempts to rebuild its nuclear infrastructure, the energy secretary said, “You have to destroy their capabilities to do it.”

“We are degrading their capacity to develop nuclear weapons and ultimately to deliver them if they develop them,” he said. “It is a 47-year-long effort. This is not trivial, but the United States will get the job done and we will work in cooperation with our allies in the region.”

Asked about his comments again later during an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Wright said President Donald Trump’s preference “is always to have a negotiated settlement and not use a military solution unless absolutely necessary.”

“The biggest role of our military in the region right now is to stop the export of any Iranian crude or crude-related products, natural gas, whatever,” he said. “We are strangling their economy to try to bring either a change in policy from the existing regime or a new regime.”

Iran threatens the U.S.

Iran’s “proportionate responses” to U.S. attacks are over, the country’s parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Sunday, while acknowledging the economic impact of the war.

“If they haven’t understood by now, they should understand before it’s too late that the rules of the game have changed and that from now on, any violation of Iran’s interests and security will receive a ‘faster, heavier, and more painful’ response,” Ghalibaf said in a post on Telegram.

But Ghalibaf added that alongside the military conflict, Iran faces severe economic pressures.

“Severe fluctuations in the exchange rate, inflation, unemployment, and market management are fundamental challenges that have put serious pressure on people’s livelihoods,” Ghalibaf said.

He also stressed the need to rely more on domestic production and use technology to “devise short-term and permanent solutions.”

Ghalibaf’s remarks come after U.S. forces struck three Iranian crude oil carriers. U.S. Central Command said it permanently disabled one crude oil carrier off the coast of Kharg Island and one near Jask. Another oil tanker was attacked in the Gulf of Oman.

Mohsen Rezaei, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in Sunday said Tehran plans to announce a new restriction zone outside the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported. The restriction zone will include areas in the Gulf, he said.

CENTCOM said the attacks were in retaliation for ballistic missiles the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched toward two Navy warships in the region. According to CENTCOM, a U.S. aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer successfully evaded multiple attacks, and no American personnel were harmed.

“Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost —taking out three of yours,” Admiral Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, said in a statement Saturday. “We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.”

Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth later wrote in a post on X: “It’s simple: if Iran shoots at U.S. ships, we will destroy (and sink) their oil tankers. All they have to do is not shoot at @USNavy.”

Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and exported 90% of its crude via Kharg Island before the war. Flows have been disrupted by a U.S. blockade of Iranian oil exports, which began in mid-April.

The conflict between Iran and the U.S. has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the world’s oil supply before the war began on Feb. 28 with American and Israeli airstrikes.

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened in June to seize Kharg Island as the U.S. continued military strikes against Iran. Most recently, on Aug. 31, he posted an artificial intelligence-generated video of Kharg Island being blown up.

Tightening sanctions

The strike on the oil tankers came a day after the Treasury Department announced sanctions against a small Turkish investment bank and two of its subsidiaries, which the U.S. accuses of facilitating funds for an arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

The measures are part of sweeping sanctions the Trump administration launched in late August targeting Iran’s access to digital assets, advanced technology procurement, gold reserves, commercial aviation and shipping.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said late last month that the country’s trade has fallen sharply.

Iran’s gross domestic product is estimated to have contracted by 2.7% in the year ending March, according to the World Bank, citing economic disruption from last year’s widespread protests and intensified hostilities in the region.

Inflation surged to 62.2% in February, with food price inflation reaching a historical high of 99%, according to the World Bank. An Iranian official estimated that the war has caused the loss of one million jobs, according to the New York Times.

Technologies

Iran foreign ministry takes aim at Canada for support of U.S. actions in Strait of Hormuz

Canada had condemned Iran’s “destabilizing actions” in the Middle East, saying that it would work with partners to maintain significant pressure on Iran.

Iran hit out at Canada for supporting U.S. actions in the Strait of Hormuz, calling Ottawa’s moves “a display of strategic confusion and submission to intimidation.”

In a post on X, Tehran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that Canada chose to “appease” the U.S. “on the very day the U.S. president, in blatant contempt for Canada’s sovereignty and independence, portrayed the entire country as part of the United States.”

Baghaei was referring to a post by U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday stateside, which showed the U.S.′ territory covering Canada, Greenland and Iceland.

In his second term, Trump has repeatedly made comments about making Canada the 51st state of the U.S. and annexing Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.

Baghaei’s comments came after Canada condemned Iran’s “destabilizing actions” in the Middle East, saying that it would work with partners to maintain significant pressure on Iran, including via sanctions and support for efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz that were led by the U.S., France and the U.K.

“Canada cannot credibly present itself as a champion of ‘peace and security,’ ‘freedom of navigation,’ and ‘international law’ while simultaneously backing U.S. military aggression and Washington’s illegal, interventionist actions in our region,” Baghaei said.

“This is neither ‘diplomacy’ nor ‘responsible statecraft’. It is… a choice that will not even shield Canada itself from American bullying and aggression,” Baghaei said.

He questioned why Ottawa would choose to support Washington after experiencing what he called “American bad faith and knowing that U.S. signatures are ‘written in pencil.’”

Trade talks between Ottawa and Washington collapsed last month, with Prime Minister Mark Carney saying that the U.S. demands had gone too far. “They asked too much and offered too little,” he said.

This triggered tariffs on about $20 billion of Canadian goods, with Canada also imposing “dollar-for-dollar” retaliatory tariffs that will take effect at 12.01 a.m. ET Tuesday.

Iran has also taken aim at other U.S. allies, such as South Korea. Baghaei on Monday warned Seoul against potential military involvement and support for U.S. “aggression,” posting on X in Korean.

South Korea’s foreign ministry reportedly said over the weekend that it was in “close communication with relevant countries to help restore peace and stability in the Middle East as soon as possible.”

Last week, Seoul said it was reviewing options, including military measures to support freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Reuters.

“Any other country maintaining a military presence or participating in [U.S.] operations in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz can only be regarded as directly supporting the perpetrators of the aggression, and it will lead to serious consequences,” Baghaei posted.

U.S. criticisms

Late Monday, U.S. Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), an Army veteran and member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and House Armed Services Committee, called the war “an absolute quagmire.“

In a post on X, Crow said that the conflict was “all predictable & preventable,” and called for the end of “forever wars” in the Middle East.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said early on in the conflict that this would not be a “forever war” for Washington.

His sentiments were echoed by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the vice chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence, who criticized U.S. President Donald Trump in a video message on X.

“The Iran war of choice that Donald Trump started cost Americans $100 billion,” he said, adding that “every two minutes, it goes up by another $1 million.” The administration was “nowhere” in terms of goals in this war, he said, adding that “this is what happens when you start a war of choice with no plan, no strategy, no allies, and no way to get out.”

Technologies

Brent Crude Approaches $99 As Saudi Facility Strikes Fuel Rising Middle East Tensions

Oil prices surged on Tuesday after Houthi militia strikes on Saudi energy facilities escalated U.S.-Iran tensions, with analysts warning of a possible nuclear deal deadlock and soaring commodity costs.

Oil prices extended gains on Tuesday as attacks on Saudi energy facilities compounded fears of escalating hostilities between the U.S. and Iran in recent days.

The Saudi energy ministry said operations at certain energy facilities had been halted after strikes by Iran-aligned Houthi militants based in Yemen wounded more than 70 people.

Emergency services are working to contain fires at the sites and assess the extent of damage, the world’s largest oil exporter added.

It comes after the U.S. military struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday in retaliation for Iranian ballistic missile attacks on two Navy warships. The Iranian Foreign Ministry, in a statement on Saturday, denounced the attacks on commercial vessels as a “war crime” and an act of “economic warfare.”

“This appears to be a major escalation and tensions have once again ratcheted higher,” said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, noting that U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright had said it may prove impossible to reach a deal with Iran to prevent it obtaining a nuclear weapon.

The tit-for-tat strikes over the weekend also helped to push gas prices higher, hitting record highs.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran continued to simmer. “Strike our assets and you get struck,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote Monday in a post on X.

That was in response to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s post who wrote that the U.S. “will destroy (and sink)” Iranian oil tankers if Iran fires on U.S. vessels.

Goldman Sachs on Monday raised its forecasts for Brent and WTI prices by $5 to $85 and $80 per barrel, respectively, for December 2026 and to $80 and $75 per barrel, respectively, for 2027.

The bank expects Mideast shipping disruptions to continue into 2027, with production gradually recovering by the second half of 2027. “Markets are increasingly pricing a prolonged Mideast conflict,” Goldman said, adding that Persian Gulf-to-China crude tanker rates in the second quarter of 2027 now price shipping disruptions lasting into that period.

President Trump in a post on Monday stateside said that “Oil prices will drop precipitously … when we WIN the war with Iran.” — Verum’s Greg Iacurci contributed to the report.

Technologies

Verum Daily Open: Brent crude climbs back toward $100 per barrel

Oil prices rise as Middle East tensions escalate, with Brent crude nearing $100 a barrel and markets watching developments in the Strait of Hormuz.

Hello, this is Leonie Kidd reporting from London.

The perception of plentiful supply is diminishing, and expectations of a swift return to stability in the Strait of Hormuz remain overly optimistic. Commodity expert Jeff Currie issues this caution as Middle East tensions push oil prices upward once more.

As U.S. markets reopen following the extended Labor Day weekend, trading trends appear likely to hinge on developments in the Strait and efforts to address disruptions in this crucial energy corridor.

Key points to consider today

Oil prices have surged to six-week highs, with West Texas Intermediate exceeding $93 per barrel and Brent crude futures approaching the $100 threshold, currently trading above $97 in early Tuesday trading.
Fresh attacks targeted Saudi Aramco facilities on Monday, according to a Financial Times report, increasing uncertainty in energy markets. These incidents followed U.S. military action against three Iranian tankers.
These reciprocal strikes have contributed to rising fuel costs.
In the United States, gasoline prices have surpassed $4 per gallon, reaching record levels for Labor Day.

Canada caught in the spotlight

Amid growing tensions, Iran has directed criticism toward Canada for backing U.S. operations in the Strait of Hormuz.

In a statement on X, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei claimed Canada opted to accommodate the U.S. on the same day President Biden showed disregard for Canadian sovereignty by treating the entire nation as part of the United States.

At the same time, Canada’s new tariffs on approximately $20 billion in U.S. imports come into effect on Tuesday, with Bombardier becoming a focal point. The Canadian aerospace manufacturer has outlined its U.S. presence following President Donald Trump’s post on Truth Social stating, “NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES!… If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a ‘piggybank.'”

Weathering volatility

Global markets continue to absorb geopolitical turbulence, though HSBC identifies factors that could alter this trend. Learn more here.

U.S. futures show mixed performance after the extended Labor Day break. In Asia, Japanese stocks face pressure as the yen remains strong against the dollar, near its highest level since February.

The Mistral model

European AI standout Mistral has secured €3 billion ($3.5 billion) in funding at a €21 billion ($24 billion) valuation, with Samsung Electronics participating.

— Leonie Kidd

And Finally…Inside Italy’s banking M&A boom — and why Wall Street is watching

Italy has emerged as the hub of Europe’s banking consolidation wave, with a series of acquisition attempts transforming the nation’s financial landscape. This video explores the forces behind the dealmaking, the battles for influence over banks like Monte dei Paschi and Mediobanca linked to insurer Generali, and why the results may impact Europe’s push to develop larger banks able to compete with U.S. counterparts.

— Gaelle Legrand