Trump on Iran: ‘We're going to beat the effing sh*t out of them'

President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric against Iran after a fresh missile attack on a U.S. base in Jordan, telling Fox News the U.S. will retaliate hard. Trump said, ‘We are going to beat the effing sh*t out of them,' adding ‘We'll be hitting them hard. They're going to get a beating.'

What happened

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired several ballistic missiles at a U.S. base and a CENTCOM facility in Jordan, with U.S. Central Command claiming all incoming missiles were intercepted. U.S. forces reportedly had only minutes to shoot down the incoming Iranian ballistic missiles, according to Trump's account of reviewing the shoot-down footage.

The attack came as backchannel talks between Iran and the U.S. over the Strait of Hormuz and Tehran's nuclear ambitions were ongoing, following 13 straight days of prior U.S. bombing.

Why it matters for markets

A renewed U.S. strike cycle against Iran keeps the Strait of Hormuz risk premium alive. Iran previously announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz on July 12. Any real disruption to Hormuz flows would ripple straight into crude, tanker rates, and broader risk sentiment.

The brief pause in the war with Iran now appears to be over, with Trump using blunt language to threaten further strikes, and the conflict spreading to a new explosion in Egypt and joint U.S.-Saudi strikes in Iraq. That is a widening theater, not a contained one.

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The talks angle

Trump signaled talks with Tehran would continue in parallel, saying ‘We're going to let them keep talking,' even as strikes are ordered in response to the surprise attack. Translation for traders: expect a strike-and-negotiate rhythm rather than a clean off-ramp.

Options market and stocks to watch

Energy and defense names are the obvious focus while headlines run hot:

• XOM and CVX: watch for a bid on any Hormuz escalation headlines or crude spikes.
• USO: watch for how the crude ETF prices in supply-shock risk versus demand fears.
• LMT and RTX: watch for defense flow as missile-defense and munitions demand narratives resurface.
• SPY: watch for hedging activity and any risk-off gap on further U.S. strike headlines.

For more on this and other developing stories, see Unusual Whales news.

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