Trump's Iran off-ramps up in smoke after Israel assassinates key officials- National & International News - WED 18Mar2026 -

Trump’s Iran off-ramps up in smoke after Israeli assassinations and oil field strikes

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that the Iran war “will certainly end” in the next few weeks. Wright, along with the rest of the Trump administration, has been attempting to calm fears about soaring energy prices resulting from the Iran war, and the potential to drive up prices across the board and worsen inflation. The White House continues to claim that the war will be over within a few weeks and that Iran is attempting to negotiate.

However, Iranian officials have told Western media outlets that they have repeatedly rebuffed recent US attempts at negotiation. Furthermore, the officials say that Iran has no interest in ending the war without establishing a long-term deterrent against future aggression by the US and Israel. This is the second time in less than a year that the US and Israel have struck Iran while the US was engaged in negotiations with Iran.

Israel blocks path to de-escalation

Since Secretary Wright’s comments on Sunday, the Israelis have taken actions that could prolong the war further still. In targeted strikes this week, the Israelis killed three senior security officials: Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council; Gholamreza Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force; and Esmail Khatib, Iran’s Intelligence Minister.

Larjiani’s killing in particular is likely to put de-escalation even further out of reach. Larijani was a key figure in negotiations with the West and favored improving relations with neighboring Gulf Arab nations. Larijani’s official successor has not yet been appointed, but Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has appointed retired Revolutionary Guard commander Mohsen Rezaei as his new senior military advisor. Compared to Larijani, Rezaei is considerably more hardline in matters of Iran’s security and foreign policy.

The Israelis followed up the killings of these senior Iranian figures by striking Iran’s largest oil field for which the Iranians retaliated by striking Qatari and Saudi energy facilities. These strikes signal a marked escalation in tactics by both sides and are sure to increase oil prices even further as bottlenecks and production disruptions increase.