Gold Prices Fall as Trump Threatens to Hit Iran "Extremely Hard"

(MENAFN) Gold’s remarkable winning run came to an abrupt halt on Thursday as President Donald Trump signaled a dramatic hardening of the United States’ military posture toward Iran, rattling investors and triggering a sharp reversal across precious metals markets.

Spot gold shed 2.7%, sliding to $4,631.25 per ounce by 0810 GMT — a steep retreat from the session’s earlier peak of $4,800, which had briefly sustained hopes of a continued rally. US gold futures tracked the decline, falling 3.1% to $4,664.15 per ounce.

From Withdrawal to Escalation — Within Days
The sell-off was not driven by economic data or central bank signals. It was driven by words.

Trump told reporters that Washington intended to intensify military operations against Tehran within the coming weeks, while reaffirming that the United States would under no circumstances permit Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. The remarks landed as a direct contradiction of statements made earlier this week, in which Trump had suggested US forces might withdraw from the region within a comparable timeframe — even absent a formal diplomatic agreement.

“We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” Trump said, in comments that immediately reoriented market sentiment.

The whiplash was swift and measurable.

Safe-Haven Demand Recalibrated
Gold, which had been climbing precisely because of geopolitical anxiety surrounding the Iran conflict, now fell victim to a different kind of uncertainty — one in which the trajectory of military escalation became suddenly less predictable, and investors moved to reassess their positions rather than double down on safe-haven bets.

The reversal was not contained to gold. Silver bore an even heavier blow, plunging 4.8% to $71.49 per ounce, as the broader precious metals complex absorbed the shift in tone.

Markets, analysts noted, remain acutely sensitive to any change in rhetoric surrounding the Iran situation. What moves prices now is not just the conflict itself — it is the uncertainty about where it is heading and how fast it will get there.

MENAFN02042026000045017169ID1110934148