US-Israel-Iran War Live News Updates: Trump Claims Wins; Iran President Sends Message to Americans

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian in a message to American people said both confrontation and engagement between Iran and the US are accessible, also questioning if the war was in the the interest of US citizens. "Exactly which of the American people's interests are truly being served by this war? Was there any objective threat from Iran to justify such behaviour?” Pezeshkian said in the letter that he posted in English on his X account."

He asserted that Iran will endure any aggression by the US. Further, the Iranian president signalled that the US has entered the war as a proxy for Israel, and insisted that what Iran continues to do in its attacks against neighbouring countries is a "measured response grounded in legitimate self-defense."

"Is America First' truly among the priorities of the US government today?" he asked. "Today, the world stands at crossroads. Continuing along the path of confrontation is more costly and futile than ever before. The choice between confrontation and engagement is both real and consequential; its outcome will shape the future for generations to come," Pezeshkian said.

Mihir Vora CIO, TRUST Mutual Fund on US President Donald Trump's address:

• Global and domestic growth are likely to be downgraded after President Trump’s address. We will see earnings estimates cuts. 
• The longer the Strait of Hormuz remains shut, the worse it is, especially for Asia including India. 
• The greater issue is in gas supplies which are more difficult to source from alternative sources. 
• We may see stress emerging in smaller businesses. 
• We need proactive measures to ease foreign portfolio investors and FDI. Attracting foreign inflows to support the market and growth is very important in times like these. Continuous FPI selling is a worrying sign. Government should act. 
• Pockets of defensive growth are in Pharmaceuticals, IT, Defence, Power T&D, Generation and Renewables. Commodities are a tactical play.
   

Matt Orton, Chief Market Strategist at Raymond James Investment Management spoke to NDTV Profit discusses the implications of President Trump's statements on the Strait of Hormuz. 

Orton said, "I think there are two key takeaways from this. Based on the rhetoric we’ve heard from Trump over the past week or so, where he’s really trying to signal that they’re looking to wrap things up, I do think we’re slowly starting to eliminate left-tail risks, or the worst-case scenarios, from the market’s risk equation. I think that’s part of the reason why we saw markets rally, at least on Tuesday and today."

"However, the challenge is that there are still a lot of vague statements being made. As someone who has to take risk on a daily basis, and for all the long-term investors tuning in, the question becomes: what do I do in this situation? I think, first and foremost, days like yesterday and today should highlight to investors why you can’t completely pivot to cash," added Orton.

On what should investors do, Orton says:

• Be willing that if you get a much better entry point in some of those names where you might still have conviction or just a smaller position, that you can start to add to them a little bit later.
• What you want to make sure as an investor is that you have that proper diversification from a sector, industry, geographic perspective and that you're mindful not to panic when things can flip, because day-to-day, close-to-close volatility is masking just how sharp the volatility is intraday. 

James Bowden, Middle East Analyst, Near East Observers spoke to NDTV Profit on what he thinks of US President Donald Trump's speech to the nation. Here's what he said:

• We continue to see that the war is ongoing. I think what it signals is that the US is going to move into a new position.
• This will likely involve taking the islands and the Strait of Hormuz. Taking those islands will be key to granting some stability in that area.
• However, the President is definitely moving away from NATO and moving to a position where, as he has said, NATO allies are going to have to send ships and military vessels in order to help open it up.
• There is a lot of ambiguity in his position. I will say that I was very disappointed that the president did not really seem to sketch out any real military steps for the future.
• This was a very key moment for him to help guide understanding and provide additional clarity about what was going to happen. Yet, we were left with very vague statements and open-ended suggestions.

The president said at the top of his address that he wanted to “discuss why Operation Epic Fury is necessary for the safety of America and the security of the free world,” showing that part of the goal for Wednesday's speech was to take on the confusion that has persisted as he and his administration have shifted their reasons for launching the mission and its objectives.

But Wednesday night, Trump did not offer any new explanations.

He maintained that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, calling such a prospect “an intolerable threat.”

Trump said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “is being decimated as we speak." "In these past four weeks our armed forces have delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield," Trump said.

However, his claim "Iran has been essentially decimated" and that efforts by other nations to secure the Strait of Hormuz "should be easy," data from independent observers does not support this claim.

Seth R Freeman, GlassRatner Advisory & Capital Group spoke to NDTV Profit on what he thinks of US President Donald Trump's speech to the nation. Here's what he said:

• Trump's speech is a recap of what he has been saying for the last three weeks. We didn't hear anything new or anything definitive either.
• Trump's message is confusing, as on one side Trump threatens to "obliterate" Iran, while on the other, he says negotiations are ongoing, which is confusing.
• Futures are down and oil prices are rising, so it is not clearly playing very well.
• There is a consensus that the damage being done will take weeks/months to get back to normal.
• Market sentiment will be negative and can go negatively over time.
• Trump's popularity is extremely low, and the perception of how the US economy is being managed is at its lowest so far, going back even before his first term.
• Clearly, it was understood the Strait Of Hormuz would be for the Iranians, and they figured it out. This 20% access, especially LNG, affects the entire world, and I don't think it will snap back. The overall supply chain will have an impact for months. The impact will be on consumer spending, which is such a big part of our economy.
   

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said US forces will 'finish the job' in Iran soon as 'core strategic objectives are nearing completion' during his prime-time address. Trump claimed significant progress had been made towards achieving his goals in the war with Iran, which are to destroy the country's missile production and Navy, ensure its proxies can no longer destabilise the region and guarantee Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.

(Source: AP)

Trump says the military action is not for getting any of the country's vast resources, including oil, but instead to help America's allies. "We're now totally independent of the Middle East, and yet we are there to help," he said. “We don't have to be there. We don't need their oil. We don't need anything they have." But, he added, "we're there to help our allies."

(Source: AP)

US President Donald Trump said he is not sure if people in the US have patience' for the Iran war to continue. His private remarks at an Easter lunch at the White House seemed to reflect the domestic pressure the president is feeling to wrap up the war. He said the US could “very easily” take Iran's oil but said it “is unfortunate” that there did not seem to be patience among the American people for such an effort. "They want to see it end," he said.

(Source: AP)

Trump also said that the country's "navy is gone, their air force is in ruins," and the country's leaders, "are now dead." He also said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "is being decimated as we speak." This is Trump's first prime-time speech since launching strikes alongside Israel more than a month ago.

With the speech, Trump is getting a wide audience to articulate clear objectives for the war that could attempt to reconcile weeks of changing goals and often contradictory messages about whether he's winding down or ready to escalate military operations — even as Iran kept up its attacks on Israel and Persian Gulf neighbors and airstrikes pounded Tehran.

"In these past four weeks our armed forces have delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield," Trump said.

(Source: AP)

US President Donald Trump's prime-time address offered an update on the progress made toward achieving his goals in the war with Iran, which are to destroy the country's missile production and Navy, ensure its proxies can no longer destabilise the region and guarantee Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.

Speaking in the Cross Hall at the White House, Trump said that Operation Epic Fury's actions over the past month meant that Iran's “ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed, and their weapons factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces.”

(Source: AP)