US stocks slump and oil prices jump as Trump urges Iran’s unconditional surrender

US stocks slump under the weight of another jump in the price of oil, in a return to form for financial markets after Wall Street’s worries about Israel’s fighting with Iran had seemed to calm a bit yesterday.

The S&P 500 falls 0.8% following signals that the Israel-Iran conflict may be worsening and that one of the US economy’s main engines is weakening. The swing sends Wall Street’s main measure of health nearly back to where it started the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 299 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite falls 0.9%.

Stocks sink under increasing pressure from crude oil prices, which climb in their latest see-saw move. A barrel of benchmark US crude jumps 4.3% to $74.84. Brent crude, the international standard, adds 4.4% to $76.45 per barrel.

Their gains accelerate after US President Donald Trump raised the temperature on Israel’s fight with Iran by calling for “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” on his social media platform and saying, “We are not going to” kill Iran’s leader, “at least for now.”

Before that, Trump had left a Group of Seven summit early and warned that people in Iran’s capital should evacuate immediately. It took only about eight hours for Trump to go from suggesting a nuclear deal with Iran remained “achievable” to urging Tehran’s 9.5 million residents to flee for their lives.

The fighting has the potential to drive up prices for crude oil and gasoline because Iran is a major producer of oil, and it sits on the narrow Strait of Hormuz, through which much of the world’s crude passes. Past conflicts in the area have caused spikes in oil prices, though they’ve historically proven to be only temporary after showing that they did not disrupt the flow of oil.