Brent crude oil prices have begun to surge again after the US and Iran ended their peace talks and US President Trump announced that the country will continue its Blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices surged after Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim News Agency reported that Tehran would suspend its involvement in peace negotiations with the United States, and would seek “complete closure” of the Strait of Hormuz, in reaction to Israel’s military actions in Lebanon. In response, President Trump told NBC News the US will continue its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz after Iran suspended negotiations.
“I think we’ve been talking too much if you want to know the truth. I think going silent would be very good, and that could be that could be for a long time,” Trump told NBC Journalist Garrett Haake. “It doesn’t mean we’re going to go and start dropping bombs all over there.” “We’ll just go silent. We’ll keep the blockade. Blockade is a piece of steel.”
Brent crude, the international crude benchmark, was up about 5 percent to more than $96 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, jumped roughly 7 percent to sit above $93 a barrel. Oil prices have continued to surge since the war’s beginning in late February, as a fifth of the world’s oil supply travels through the Strait. Gas prices in the US have surged as a result as well, with the average price nationally now creeping toward $5 a gallon.
Mohsen Rezaei, a senior military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said in a post on X that Tehran would not accept a continued naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz or an escalation of Israeli attacks in Lebanon. He also asserted that the strait falls under Iran’s control, adding, “The patience of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran has its limits.”
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Meanwhile, the U.S. and Iran exchanged fire over the course of the weekend. U.S. Central Command said it struck Iranian air defenses, two drones that were threatening ships and a ground control station in response to “aggressive Iranian actions,” including the shooting down of a U.S. MQ-1 “Predator” drone that was operating over international water.