Iran Strike Rattles Oil and Wall Street Futures as Khamenei Admits Sanctions Are Biting

Since U.S. forces struck Iranian rocket launchers this weekend, ending a month-long pause in direct action, oil markets and Wall Street futures moved fast to price in more Middle East risk. Dow Jones futures, S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures all fell slightly Sunday night, according to Investor's Business Daily. Crude oil prices jumped on the news. The small-cap Russell 2000 had already fallen last week even as the broader indexes notched modest gains, with Treasury yields spiking Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's Jackson Hole speech, IBD reported. AP News separately confirmed U.S. stocks are slipping further from their recent record highs as oil prices keep swinging on the same Hormuz strike.

Khamenei Acknowledges the Squeeze Fox

News reported that Iran's supreme leader is now admitting economic hardship tied to the U.S. sanctions campaign, a significant shift in public posture for a regime that has spent months insisting it can outlast Washington. The specifics of his remarks were thin in available reporting, but the timing lines up with what CENTCOM has already confirmed: Iranian oil exports are sitting at zero six months into the war. A supreme leader publicly conceding pain is unusual for Tehran, and it suggests the sanctions regime, not just the military campaign, is doing real damage.

Israel Says the Fight Isn't Over Even

With a Deal Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen told the Israeli outlet Ynet, in comments carried by Al Jazeera and reported by Fox News, that Israel will strike Iran again if Tehran tries to rebuild its nuclear or ballistic missile programs, even if Iran signs a new agreement with the United States. "If Iran makes the mistake and tries to renew its nuclear programme or ballistic missile programme, even if there is an agreement with the United States, we will be there to attack," Cohen said Saturday. Cohen also said Israeli intelligence assesses that the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes set Iran's nuclear program back two to four years. That's an Israeli government assessment, not an independently verified figure, and no outside inspector or agency has confirmed the timeline. Cohen argued Iran would already have nuclear weapons had Israel not acted. Iranian officials, meanwhile, have signaled openness to renewed diplomacy with Washington while continuing to resist U.S. pressure over the Strait of Hormuz, according to Fox News.

Greece and Israel Sign a

$3.6 Billion Air Defense Deal Greece is set to sign a $3.6 billion agreement with Israel on Monday for a multilayered air defense network aimed at countering threats from Iran and Turkey, The Jerusalem Post reported, in coverage carried by Fox News. The deal, three years in the making, would be the largest defense export agreement in Israeli history. Dubbed "Achilles Shield" in Greece, the system reportedly bundles Israel's David's Sling interceptors, mobile SPYDER systems for drones, and the Barak MX system, along with an AI-assisted command center modeled on Israel's own setup. European governments are treating Iran's missile and drone reach as a long-term planning problem, not a passing crisis.

Unverified Claims of a Crackdown on Iranian Teachers

A Persian-language report from Iran's Teachers' Movement Research Institute, reviewed in translation by Fox News Digital, alleges Iranian security forces killed at least 15 teachers, including three women, during protests in January, and arrested 78 others between September 23, 2025, and August 16, 2026. The report claims one educator now faces two death sentences. No international human rights body or government has confirmed the figures in available reporting, and Iran's government has not responded to the allegations in these sources. If accurate, it would mark a significant escalation in domestic repression tied to the broader war; if inflated or unverifiable, it wouldn't be the first opposition-aligned report to run ahead of confirmable facts. Either way, it remains an allegation, not an established count. Against that backdrop, the USS Abraham Lincoln is sailing home from the Middle East, passing Singapore on its return leg, according to AP News. A carrier heading home even as strikes resume reflects Pentagon strategy. The military isn't surging forces back into the region despite the weekend's attack. Markets open Monday with the Larak Island strike still the dominant variable, oil prices still swinging, and the Fed's meeting minutes due out Wednesday as the next scheduled catalyst.