President Trump threatened today to significantly escalate the U.S. assault on Iran by destroying the country’s energy facilities if Tehran’s negotiators did not quickly agree to a deal. At the same time, the president also said that talks between the two sides were making “great progress.” Similar mixed messages have become commonplace as the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran enters its fifth week. In just the last couple of days, Trump has argued that his goal of “regime change” in Iran has already been achieved, while also sending thousands more U.S. troops to the region and raising the prospect of seizing Iran’s largest oil facility.

Commodity traders have been left guessing about how much longer the war will last and what kind of lasting effect it will have on energy supplies. Asia, which buys about 90 percent of the liquefied natural gas that the Middle East produces, could see a shortfall until 2028. Trump claimed that Iran had agreed to allow 20 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, but while two Chinese-owned container ships had passed the strait by this afternoon, there were no reports that oil tankers were going through.