NEW YORK (AP) — A drone maker backed by President Donald Trump’s two oldest sons is trying to sell to Gulf countries while they are under attack by Iran and dependent on the U.S. military led by their father.

The sales drive by Florida-based Powerus – which announced a deal last month to bring aboard Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. – positions the company to potentially benefit from a war that their father began.

“These countries are under enormous pressure to buy from the sons of the president so he will do what they want,” said Richard Painter, a former chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush. “This is going to be the first family of a president to make a lot of money off war — a war he didn’t get the consent of Congress for.”

Powerus co-founder Brett Velicovich told The Associated Press that the company is making sales pitches that include drone demonstrations in several Gulf countries to show how its defensive drone interceptors could help them ward off Iranian attacks.

“Our team is doing many demos across the Middle East right now for our interceptors,” Velicovich said in an text exchange. “We have very incredible tech that can save lives.”

He declined to name the countries or give more details.

The Trump brothers’ deal with Powerus could give them sizable equity stakes. Their father, as commander in chief, launched the strikes with Israel against Iran over a month ago that began the war, the impetus for why these Gulf countries now need protection.

Powerus denied there were any conflicts when the Trump brothers’ stake was first announced. Velicovich emphasized its determination to help the U.S. catch up with Chinese and Russian drone makers and beat them.

“We are at war, my friend, we are in an arms race and America will lose if we don’t build fast,” said Velicovich, an Army veteran who had come under fire from the same Russian drones now being used by Iran. He added, “We should be thankful anyone is trying to invest in American manufacturing now. That idea transcends politics.”

The president’s oldest sons have expanded their business interests beyond hotels and golf courses since their father took office again. The companies they’ve invested in or been named advisers for — with equity stakes — run the gamut from cryptocurrency ventures to prediction markets to federal contractors making rocket parts and rare earth magnets.

This latest Trump venture has its sights on $1.1 billion set aside by the Pentagon to build up a U.S. manufacturing base for armed drones to fill a hole left when the Trump administration banned such imports from China.

The Trump Organization, where the two sons are executives, didn’t respond to a request for comment, but has dismissed claims of conflicts of interest in the past. The sons have said they didn’t get credit for their restraint in expanding their businesses in their father’s first term so have decided not to hold back much this time.

Asked about potential Powerus conflicts of interest specifically, Eric Trump sent AP a statement last month saying, “I am incredibly proud to invest in companies I believe in. Drones are clearly the wave of the future.”

Founded by U.S. Army Special Operations veterans about a year ago, Powerus makes drones for commercial uses, from spreading fertilizer to putting out forest fires. But it is bulking up fast to supply drones for military uses.

The company recently raised $60 million from investors and hopes to tap additional financing by doing a “reverse merger” with a Trump company listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange that owns a few golf courses in Florida. Such a merger allows a private business to quickly go public by taking over a company that already has publicly traded shares, shortening the process of filing paperwork and meeting various requirements of regular initial public offering.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump used his first major address since launching his war in Iran to assure Americans that all of his military objectives will be completed “shortly” and urge an increasingly skeptical electorate to give him a little bit more time.

Trump in his Wednesday evening speech dialed back the bluster that’s dominated his rhetoric in recent days as world markets convulse and a badly battered Iran is still landing some effective blows on Gulf neighbors’ infrastructure and U.S. bases.

But the Republican president’s promise to “finish the job” hardly built confidence with a jittery market as oil prices surged and Asian stocks fell as he vowed that the U.S. will continue to hit Iran very hard.

He offered no detail about the state of negotiations with Iran that could bring about a promised endgame that he insists could come in a matter of weeks. There was also no overt lashing out at NATO allies for failing to fall in line and help him reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz waterway — something White House officials had said would be a prominent part of his roughly 20-minute address.

The U.S. will continue to hit Iran hard for the next two or three weeks, he said, without saying how much longer the war would last. But he offered a plea to Americans to show a little patience.

“We are in this military operation, so powerful, so brilliant, against one of the most powerful countries for 32 days, and the country has been eviscerated and essentially is really no longer a threat,” Trump said. “This is a true investment in your children and your grandchildren’s future. The whole world is watching, and they can’t believe the power, strength and brilliance.”

Trump finds himself not only negotiating with an enemy that refuses to throw in the towel but also dealing with an American tolerance for a conflict that’s being stretched.

Most Americans believe recent U.S. military action against Iran has gone too far, and many are worried about affording gasoline, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in mid-March, a couple of weeks after the war started. While Trump is deploying more warships and troops to the Middle East, about 59% of Americans say U.S. military action in Iran has been excessive.

Meanwhile, 45% are “extremely” or “very” concerned about being able to afford gas in the next few months, up from 30% in an AP-NORC poll conducted shortly after Trump won reelection with promises that he would improve the economy and lower the cost of living.

Americans, Trump noted, have certainly shown patience during times of war.

“American involvement in World War I,” he said, “lasted one year, seven months and five days. World War II lasted for three years, eight months and 25 days. The Korean War lasted for three years, one month and two days. The Vietnam War lasted for 19 years, five months and 29 days. Iraq went on for eight years, eight months and 28 days.”

Hours before his address, Trump seemed to reflect on the domestic pressure he’s feeling to wrap up the war.

Speaking at a private lunch at the White House to mark Easter, Trump argued that the U.S. could “very easily” use this moment to take Iran’s oil. It is “unfortunate,” he lamented, that there did not seem to be patience among the American people for such an effort.

“They want to see it end,” he said. He added, “People in the country sort of say, ‘Just win. You’re winning so big. Just win. Come home.’ And I’m OK with that, too.”

Democrats lash at Trump for failing to offer a coherent argument for conflict

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Trump’s speech was “grounded in a reality that only exists in Donald Trump’s mind.”

The president, Democrats fumed, offered no plan for how he would go about reopening Hormuz, the critical waterway for oil tankers that a battered Iran has effectively choked off even though Trump claims it’s been defeated.

For allies worried about a global economy that’s been rattled by rising oil prices, Trump suggested they “buy oil from the United States of America” and “build up some delayed courage” and help the U.S. secure the strait. Trump made no attempt to answer his European critics who say he entered his war of choice against Iran without consulting global allies but is now expecting the world to help him fix the unintended damage that it has caused.

“We are losing this war,” Murphy added. “We cannot destroy all their missiles or drones, nor their nuclear program. Iran projects more power in the region than they did before the war, especially if they now permanently control the Strait of Hormuz. We are spending billions we don’t have and losing American lives in a war that is destabilizing the world and making us look feckless.”

President steers clear of suggesting ground troops deployment could be coming

Trump offered cautious optimism that those now in power in Iran after more than a month of U.S. and Israeli strikes are “less radical and much more reasonable” with much of the pre-war Islamic Republic’s hierarchy taken out. He didn’t explicitly mention a Monday deadline he has set for Iran to open the strait or face attacks from U.S. forces on its energy infrastructure, though he made clear that he remains open to targeting the heartbeat of Tehran’s economy.

“If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard and probably simultaneously,” Trump said. “We have not hit their oil, even though that’s the easiest target of all, because it would not give them even a small chance of survival or rebuilding. But we could hit it, and it would be gone.”

Trump also notably did not signal that he’s making any preparation for a ground invasion by American troops.

He seemed to steer away from the possibility of sending ground troops to secure Iran’s nearly 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms) of highly enriched uraniumsaying it “would take months” for Iran to get to it as it’s buried under the rubble created by last year’s American bombing campaign of Iran’s nuclear sites.

Trump has offered shifting reasons for launching the war, but he has been consistent in articulating that a primary objective in joining Israel in the military action is ensuring that Iran will “never have a nuclear weapon.”

But over the course of the conflict, he has been more circumspect about how far he’s willing to go to follow through on his pledge to destroy Iran’s weapons program once and for all, including seizing or destroying the near-bomb-grade nuclear material that Iran possesses.

“We have it under intense satellite surveillance and control,” Trump said in his prime-time speech. “If we see them make a move, even a move for it, we’ll hit them with missiles very hard again. We have all the cards. They have none.”

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Associated Press writers Collin Binkley, Michelle L. Price and Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks shook off an early stumble to finish with slim gains on Wall Street Thursday and close out their first winning week since the start of the Iran war.

The early decline for stocks was driven by a surge in oil prices following a national address late Wednesday from President Donald Trump. He vowed the U.S. will continue to attack Iran and failed to offer a clear timetable for ending the conflict in the Middle East. Oil prices eased slightly during the day, but still remain elevated well above $100 per barrel.

The S&P 500 rose 7.37 points, or 0.1%, to 6,582.69. Several days of solid gains this week helped the benchmark index notch a 3.4% gain for the week. That’s the first weekly gain since the conflict started for index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts. Stock markets will be closed for Good Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 61.07 points, or 0.1%, to 46,504.67. The Nasdaq composite rose 38.23 points, or 0.2%, to 21,879.18. Both indexes also notched weekly gains.

A barrel of U.S. crude oil rose 11.3% to $111.54, though prices rose close to $114 at one point during the day. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 7.8% to $109.03 per barrel. Crude oil prices have been the main force behind the sharp swings for stocks globally. Shipping traffic has been severely curtailed in the Strait of Hormuzwhere a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes through during peacetime.

Crude oil prices had been sliding back toward $100 per barrel prior to Trump’s address on Wednesday. The U.S. only relies on the Persian Gulf for a fraction of the oil it imports, but oil is a commodity and prices are set in a global market. A disruption anywhere affects prices everywhere.

Stocks have been broadly sliding since the war began, with indexes often rising and falling sharply along with statements from Trump about the direction of the war. Just on Monday, the S&P 500 briefly neared a 10% drop from its record, a steep-enough fall that professional investors have a name for it: a “correction. The index gained ground Tuesday and Wednesday on hope that the war could end soon.

“For markets, a prolonged conflict increases the risk of sustained pressures on inflation, global growth, interest rates, and equity valuations,” wrote Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial, in a note to investors.

Airlines and other travel-related companies were among the biggest losers on Thursday. United Airlines fell 3% and Carnival shed 3.5%.

Tesla fell 5.4% after a report showing that sales over the past three months fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Several big technology stocks gained ground to help counter losses elsewhere in the market. Intel jumped 4.9% and Advanced Micro Devices rose 3.5%.

Treasury yields remained relatively steady in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to to 4.30% from 4.32%.

Wall Street is worried that higher energy prices are adding to already stubbornly high inflation. Rising fuel prices take a bigger chunk out of consumers’ wallets in several ways. Directly, gasoline prices in the U.S. have surged 36 percent from a month ago to average $4.08 per gallon, according to the auto club AAA.

Indirectly, rising fuel prices tend to make a wide range of services and goods more expensive. Flights become more expensive as airlines raise ticket prices to offset rising fuel costs. Consumer goods become more expensive as shipping and transportation costs rise.

Inflation has been stubbornly above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The war and its corresponding surge in energy prices effectively pushes inflation higher and that has dashed hopes for the Fed to cut interest rates. Wall Street had hoped for the central bank to cut rates in order to help offset a weakening job market. Lower interest rates could help stimulate the economy by lowering borrowing costs, but they also risk worsening inflation.

Traders came into 2026 forecasting several cuts to the Fed’s benchmark interest rate, which influences rates for mortgages and other loans. They are now expecting the benchmark rate to remain steady this year.

The war has also caused an anomaly of sorts in the oil market. Brent crude oil futures are typically priced higher than those for U.S. crude oil, but the war flipped that on its head. Because of the supply constraints, the sooner a buyer needs a barrel of oil, the more they’ll have to pay. Right now, the most actively traded futures contract for U.S. crude oil is for delivery in May, while the Brent futures contract is for delivery in June. That shorter timeframe is why U.S. crude is trading for more than Brent.

Tom Kloza, chief energy adviser at Gulf Oil, points out that a buyer who needs oil immediately will pay about $3 to $5 a barrel above the futures price for U.S. crude and an even steeper premium for Brent.

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An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the weekly percentage change for the S&P 500.

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Associated Press journalists Chan Ho-Him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.