Iranian media reported late on July 8 local time explosions were heard in Bandar Abbas, capital of Hormozgan province, and in Sirik; details remain unclear. In the early hours of the same day Bandar Abbas, Sirik and other locations in southern Iran were struck by U.S. military strikes.

Trump's hawkish remarks drove an intraday crude rally, prompting markets to price renewed "second‑round" inflation risk and cooling Fed rate‑cut expectations. US Treasury yields and the dollar rose, raising the holding cost of non‑yielding assets and triggering concentrated selling in gold and silver. The move looked liquidity‑driven: long gold positions were highly concentrated after bets that geopolitical risk would sustain prices, and simultaneous selloffs in tech and semiconductors forced cross‑asset funds under margin pressure to liquidate the most liquid, previously profitable holdings first—gold and silver. Pressure on high‑valuation tech (Samsung Electronics, NVIDIA) and a sharp intraday plunge in Korea 3x leveraged ETF KORU signalled broad risk‑exposure reduction. Breaches of key technical levels then triggered quant and trend funds' chain selling, amplifying volatility. Core takeaway: not a collapse in safe‑haven demand, but a de‑leveraging episode in which rising rate expectations and liquidity stress temporarily overrode traditional safe‑haven dynamics.

US President Trump said he does not expect another war with Iran.