President Donald Trump has told aides he is prepared to wind down the Iran conflict even if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing administration officials, a sign that the White House may be moving toward an exit from the war sooner than expected.

The report sent Dow Jones futures higher and pushed crude oil prices off overnight highs, with markets reading it as a signal that a near-term end to hostilities is within reach.

According to the Journal, Trump and his advisers believe that military operations to force open the strait would extend the conflict beyond the four-to-six-week timeline the president has set for the campaign. While military options remain available, administration officials told the newspaper they are not Trump’s current priority.

Instead, the president has settled on a sequenced approach: achieve the core war objectives of crippling Iran’s navy and missile capabilities, then halt hostilities and use diplomatic pressure to push Tehran to reopen the waterway. If that fails, the administration would call on European and Gulf allies to take the lead on reopening the strait themselves.

The posture comes amid conflicting public signals from the president himself. As recently as Monday morning, Trump threatened to strike Iranian civilian infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened. He has also suggested on other occasions that the strait’s status is not critical and is largely a problem for other nations to solve.

The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, is the world’s most critical oil chokepoint, carrying roughly a fifth of global petroleum supplies.

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