U.S. President Donald Trump said “strong progress” has been made toward ending the conflict in Iran, while warning that the U.S. could “completely destroy” key infrastructure — including power plants, oil fields and Kharg Island — if negotiations fail to produce a deal soon.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump revealed that Washington is holding “serious discussions with a new, and more reasonable, regime,” marking the first public indication of a possible leadership shift in Tehran since the war began five weeks ago. His reference to a “new regime” suggests talks are taking place with a governing body that was not in place when hostilities erupted in late February.
Trump also called for the Strait of Hormuz to be “immediately open for business” and warned that critical energy and utility assets could become targets if diplomacy breaks down. He added that desalination plants are also being considered — facilities that had previously been spared during the conflict.
The mixed messaging creates a difficult backdrop for markets to interpret. On one hand, negotiations with a new leadership and signs of progress suggest potential de-escalation. On the other, the explicit threat to vital infrastructure highlights the risk of escalation if talks collapse.
Crypto markets reacted with a modest uptick. Bitcoin rose above $67,600, gaining around 1.3% over the past 24 hours. Ether led the move, climbing 3.1% to roughly $2,070. Solana advanced 1.9% to $84.09, while XRP added 1% to $1.35. Despite the rebound, weekly performance remains negative for most major tokens, with bitcoin down 1.3%, XRP 1.2%, and solana 2.2%. Tron continued to outperform, gaining 1.3% on the day and 5.3% over the week.
The upward move triggered a wave of short liquidations. CoinGlass data shows $9.32 million in short positions were wiped out within an hour, compared with just $207,000 in long liquidations.
Across the past 24 hours, total liquidations reached $340 million, with $242.25 million occurring during the earlier market drop before Trump’s comments. The largest single liquidation was a $9.8 million BTCUSD position on Bybit.
