Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country is ready to end the war, but only if there are guarantees against future attacks. This isn’t particularly new as it’s been Iran’s position for awhile. There was a WSJ report about security guarantees late last week and there has been talk that China has been contacted to provide the guarantees (no word on whether they’re willing) or possibly Pakistan.
Since early March, he laid out ‘three pillars’ for peace, which were the recognition of “legitimate rights” like peaceful nuclear rights, reparations, and firm international guarantees.
The difference now is that we’ve heard it directly from the President, which may be a communication strategy change that is laying the groundwork, or the public acceptance, for a deal. One potential issue is that Pezeshkian may not speak for the IRGC or the military. Americans often hear ‘President’ and think of it in the US context but decisions on missile strikes or ending the war belong to the Supreme Leader and the IRGC and the President’s office is often relegated to protocol and ceremony.
Still, it’s validation that the US is actually speaking to Iranian officials and that there is some progress towards an end to the war. Increasingly, it looks like the April 6 deadline that Trump set could actually work. At the same time, Iran seems to have halted strikes on the energy infrastructure of neighboring states and both sides are mostly focused on military targets.
It’s all so precarious though as one bomb or phone call could change everything.
SPX daily
In terms of the market, the S&P 500 is up 2.5%.
Some of the biggest gainers:
- United Airlines +7.8%
- Carnival Cruise Lines +7.2%
- META +6.8%
- Freeport-McMoran +6.5%
- Intel +6.0%
