Trump says Iran gave the US gift ‘worth a tremendous amount of money’

US President Donald Trump teased on Tuesday that Iran had made an energy-related concession involving the Strait of Hormuz, which he described as “positive”, without providing details.

This came as analysts expressed scepticism that backchannel talks between the United States and Iran would result in an imminent breakthrough, given that the core conditions for a ceasefire were unlikely to be met. The mercurial president has been highly focused on the dollar value of energy assets and market implications since he and Israel struck Iran in late February.

Energy prices have soared, and his popularity has declined in advance of the November US midterm elections.

The “present” came a day after he claimed that Washington had held “productive” conversations with Iran despite his threats to “obliterate” the country’s power plants if the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane, was not fully reopened.