Dow Falls Over 500 Points, Trump's Latest Iran Threat Sends Crude Oil Prices Over $100 A Barrel — Nasdaq Declines After TSLA, GOOGL Earnings

• U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Thursday that Iran “suckered” the Houthi rebels into attacking the Saudi tankers on Wednesday.
• Crude oil prices soared past $100 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since May 20, 2026.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the exchange of messages between the negotiators of Iran and the U.S. is not the problem, calling out what he termed as the United States’ “hegemonic” approach.

U.S. equities declined in the morning trade on Thursday after President Donald Trump issued a new threat to Iran following attacks by Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabian tankers in the Red Sea.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell more than 500 points, while the S&P 500 index declined about 1% and the Nasdaq Composite fell over 2%. The fall in Tesla Inc. (TSLA) and Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) shares following their second-quarter results also dragged the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

“Please let this Truth serve to represent that if they do this again, the U.S. will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

He also added that the U.S. will inflict “major military punishment” upon Iran and the Houthis if they attack ships again.

Tensions in the Middle East continued to escalate on Thursday, with a CNN report stating that Iran fired four missiles toward Jordan and a drone assault at a Kuwait-Iraq border crossing.

Rubio Says Iran ‘Suckered’ Houthis Into Attacking Saudi Tankers

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Thursday that Iran “suckered” the Houthi rebels into attacking the Saudi tankers on Wednesday, per another report by CNN.

He echoed Trump’s views, saying that the Houthis had largely been smart throughout the ongoing Iran war by staying out of the hostilities. Rubio called on the rebels to de-escalate.

Crude Oil Prices Top $100 A Barrel

Crude oil prices soared past $100 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since May 20, 2026. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures expiring in September were up 6.08%, hovering around $92.01 a barrel. Brent crude futures expiring in September rose 7.13%, hovering around $100.73 a barrel.

The United States Oil Fund ETF (USO) and the ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil ETF (UCO) gained about 6%.

Trump Says US Not Opposed To Nuclear Facilities For Civilian Use

In another post on Truth Social, Trump said that the U.S. is not opposed to nuclear facilities for civilian use, while announcing additional details about the criteria that Saudi Arabia would need to fulfill to reach a nuclear deal with the United States.

He added that the nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia is similar to the ones that Iran, the United Arab Emirates and other countries already have.

However, Trump said that Saudi Arabia must join the Abraham Accords in order to reach the nuclear deal with the U.S.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that if Saudi Arabia joins the Abraham Accords, it would be a “historic leap forward” for peace in the Middle East, according to a report by Al Jazeera.

Iranian FM Calls Out US’s ‘Hegemonic’ Approach

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the exchange of messages between the negotiators of Iran and the U.S. is not the problem, per a report by Al Jazeera.

“The problem is the nature of the US approach – its irrational, excessive and hegemonic approach – which has been met with a firm response from our side,” he said.

Araghchi added that as long as the U.S. does not understand that the way forward is by respecting Iran and its people, the talks will not be effective.

At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, fell 1.23%; the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) was down 2.4%; and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) declined 0.9%. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits regarding the S&P 500 ETF was in ‘extremely bearish’ territory.

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