The US military had its finger on the trigger. Additional strikes against Iranian targets were loaded and ready to go when President Donald Trump pulled the plug, announcing that high-level talks with Iranian officials had opened a narrow window for a deal.
Markets didn’t wait for the details. Bitcoin ripped from roughly $62,300 to $63,700 within a single hour of the cancellation announcement. Oil, meanwhile, went the other direction, dropping from above $91 to below $87 per barrel.
What actually happened
The sequence of events unfolded across June 10 and 11, 2026. US forces had already conducted strikes on multiple Iranian targets as part of the broader conflict that began in late February 2026, when US and Israeli forces hit Iranian nuclear and military sites after negotiations collapsed.
Then came the pivot. Iranian officials requested a halt to further military action, and Trump turned a military operation into a negotiating moment. The additional planned strikes were called off.
