Oil, Bitcoin, and stocks are in jeopardy due to President Trump’s threat to Iran that “the entire civilization will perish.”
President Donald Trump’s threat that “the entire civilization will perish tonight” if Iran defies his Strait of Hormuz ultimatum has sent global markets into a volatile holding pattern as Washington’s self-imposed Tuesday 8pm deadline approaches. In a post on Truth Social, President Trump warned that Iran must reopen the strait or face an attack that could take it “back to the Stone Age” and bomb the country, specifying bridges and power plants as targets. The standoff centers on a waterway that carries about 20% of the world’s seaborne energy exports, leaving traders to predict alternative outcomes, with oil and risk assets likely to move sharply in either direction.
https://t.co/1W3zdztNZa
— Commentary from Truth Social Posted by Donald J. Trump (@TrumpDailyPosts), April 7, 2026
According to the New York Times, President Trump escalated his rhetoric by repeating attacks on “power plants, desalination plants, oil facilities, bridges” and summed up that “an entire civilization” could be destroyed if Tehran did not act before time ran out. The White House has denied that a nuclear option is on the table, but has not responded to the president’s threat of a “significant military attack” if Iran does not respond by midnight GMT. Vice President J.D. Vance said the Iranian government needs to understand that the United States “has tools in our toolkit that we have not decided to use so far,” adding that President Trump “will decide to use them if the Iranians do not change their course of action.”
On the market side, Brent crude has been trading above $110 a barrel in recent days, up sharply from about $79 a month ago, as the Hormuz turmoil drags on, tightening supplies and raising geopolitical risk premiums. The S&P 500 index, which recently closed near 6,600, has been swinging between modest gains and losses as investors weigh cease-fire talks and Trump’s threats, and volatility gauges rise on expectations for an “emotional response” if missiles arrive.
Bitcoin (BTC) briefly rose above $69,000 after President Trump’s last deadline extension, but retreated toward mid-$68,000 levels on Tuesday as traders hedged their risk along with stocks. Bloomberg reported that Bitcoin fell as much as 2.2% to around $68,460 in the early London session, and Ether also fell as much as 2.8%, reflecting a broad sell-off in risk assets ahead of the ultimatum. The crypto.news market cap page lists Bitcoin at about $68,182 with a market cap of about $1.36 trillion, while Ethereum trades at about $2,085 with a market cap of about $251.6 billion. This positioning leaves both tokens at risk if airstrike headlines trigger a rush to dollars and US Treasuries.
A recent crypto.news article saw Bitcoin rise above $69,000 as President Trump extended the deadline on Iran and warned the US would “blow everything up” if no deal was reached, highlighting how closely the digital asset is starting to track the rise and fall of the war. Another crypto.news article noted that Ethereum’s price trend has already formed a double top, with the token trading 3.4% below $2,100, as President Trump rejected earlier Iranian offers and reiterated that the current offer is “not enough” to call off the strike. Another crypto.news article on Iran tensions quotes President Trump as vowing to “hit Iran extremely hard” and “bring it back to the Stone Age,” language that makes tonight’s deadline the next big trigger for the market.
