Yesterday Trump said inter alia that Hormuz was open and that Iran had agreed never to close Hormuz again; that Iran, with the help of the US, has removed, or is removing, all sea mines, and that US and Iran would work together to extract Iran's highly enriched uranium (HEU). Trump wrote:

"We're going to get ?it together. We're going to go in with Iran, at a nice leisurely pace, and go down and start excavating with big machinery … We'll bring it back to the United States very soon."

The President said earlier on Friday that Iran had agreed to hand over Iran's HEU stockpile.

None of these claims were true. Either Trump was confabulating (holding to fantasies, albeit believing them to be true); or he was manipulating markets. If the latter – it was a success. Oil fell and markets soared. Reportedly, 20 minutes before the claim that the Strait of Hormuz was open and would never close again, a $760 million short on oil was placed… Someone "made a pile."