Trump: 'We will hit Iran hard, take it back to the stone age'

He mentioned the possibility of fruitful negotiations with Tehran; in the absence of a compromise that he left undefined, however, he threatened to also destroy civil power plants and power grids, 'all and probably simultaneously' (and inprobably violation of the Geneva Convention).

The risk of new escalations, and doubts that weeks could turn into months, was enough to push crude oil prices up again after the speech, from which many traders and investors were expecting something more, more indications and details on when and how the crisis would be resolved.

In contrast, the president's speech offered very little that was new. His speech often echoed, sometimes word for word, the many daily White House posts on social media.

The reasons for the war remained unchanged: he cited the Iranian regime's long history of support for terrorist attacks and anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric, and the danger of it obtaining an atomic weapon. Both facts which, according to the opposition, do not explain why it was necessary to attack today: Iran did not yet appear to the intelligence community to be close to having nuclear weapons.

He also went on to reformulate the more concrete goals of the war, in fact downsizing them: the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, now in Tehran's hands, will be a 'natural' occurrence once the conflict is over.

Or at any rate, it is up to the allies and the 'countries of the world', who should 'find late courage' and 'take the strait', especially since the American forces have already done 'the hardest work'.

The US 'will help but they must take the lead in protecting the oil on which they desperately depend'. Earlier yesterday he had also threatened explicitly to abandon NATO given the poor support it received.

On Iran's stockpiles of enriched uranium, previously considered to be recovered at any cost, he said that they are buried and that 'it will take months for the Iranians to reach nuclear poverty'.

But this was already true before the war, as an outcome of last year's bombings. Forgotten seemed to be an initial plan by Trump himself to seize the stockpiles and which would require a dangerous and uncertain special forces ground mission.

Trump then spent most of the speech claiming an unparalleled series of Pentagon successes. "We are unstoppable," he said, "so far we have not hit their oil but we can do it."

He compared, positively and with superlatives, the 32 days against Iran to the country's other far more protracted wars, including the Second World War. The victories are 'never seen before', the enemy's losses 'never so devastating'.

This is despite the fact that Tehran remains capable of launching reprisals with drones and missiles over the Middle East.

Trump also promised benefits for the entire country. "When it is over, the United States will be bigger and more prosperous" and the world "free of the sinister Iranian threat".

He admitted the Americans are concerned about the rising prices of crude oil and especially gasoline, but asserted that prices will soon come down after rising 36% to USD 4 per gallon, a hypothesis that finds no credence among experts even if the conflict ends immediately.

Certainly the American public does not seem convinced by his promises: today he is losing out in the polls and last night's speech is unlikely to be enough to popularise the new war and change the country's mood.