Metals fall as Trump repeats threat to attack Iran power plants

Copper fell with other industrial metals after US President Donald Trump reiterated a threat to attack Iran’s civilian infrastructure should negotiations fail to end the monthlong war.

The US will strike Iran “extremely hard” over the next two to three weeks and could target “each and every one” of the country’s power plants, Trump said in a prime-time TV address on Wednesday. Though he also said the military operation was very close to completion, the risks around escalation sent copper, aluminum and zinc lower. Oil futures surged.

The metals pared some of the losses late morning in the US after a report that Iran is drafting a protocol with Oman to monitor traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Metals markets have been shaken by supply disruptions from the Middle East and the growing prospect of an oil shock that batters the global economy and crushes demand. Copper’s decline in March was its biggest monthly drop since 2022.

Aluminum, meanwhile, had notched its highest close in four years on Wednesday after Emirates Global Aluminium, the Middle East’s top producer of the metal, said Iranian missiles and drones had forced one of its smelters to halt output. But even aluminum fell on Thursday.

“Base metals including copper are now under threat of demand destruction if global central bankers start to revert from their liquidity-easing cycle,” said Kelvin Wong, senior analyst at Oanda. Oil prices are the prime driver for markets, he said, and the upward trend for crude will remain intact as long as there is no clarity on flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

In his speech, Trump urged allies who rely on Middle Eastern energy to resolve the near-closure of Hormuz, the strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passed before the war.

Copper dropped 0.6% on the London Metal Exchange to settle at $12,359.50 a ton, while aluminum fell 1.8% and zinc dropped 0.8%.