(RTTNews) – Oil prices rebounded on Thursday after nosediving in the previous session following a conditional ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran.
Benchmark Brent crude prices traded up more than 3 percent at $98.15 a barrel after a 13 percent plunge in the previous session.
WTI crude futures for May delivery were up over 3 percent at $97.30 on doubts about the durability of a fragile Middle East ceasefire.
With Israel expanding Lebanon strikes, the Islamic Republic has closed the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s semi-official news agencies published a chart today, suggesting the country’s Revolutionary Guard Navy put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz during the war.
“The U.S. must choose ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both. The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments,” Iran Foreign Minister Araghchi said in a post on X.
Tehran claimed that three clauses of the ceasefire proposal have been contravened. These include the denial of the Islamic Republic’s right to enrich uranium, Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon and a drone’s entry into Iranian airspace.
Amid a sharp escalation in violence, U.S. Vice President has clarified that the ceasefire agreement did not include Lebanon, calling the confusion a “misunderstanding” by Iranian negotiators.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt accused Iran of saying “one thing publicly” while communicating something very different behind closed doors, raising questions about whether Washington was misled in high-stakes negotiations.
U.S. President Trump announced that the U.S. military will remain in and around Iran until the “real agreement” on a ceasefire “is fully complied with”, warning of more conflict otherwise.
“All US Ships, Aircraft, and Military Personnel, with additional Ammunition, Weaponry, and anything else that is appropriate and necessary for the lethal prosecution and destruction of an already substantially degraded Enemy, will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with. If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the ‘Shootin’ Starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before. It was agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE. In the meantime, our great Military is Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest. AMERICA IS BACK!”
Several strikes were reported across the Gulf region, with Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline, a critical artery bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, reportedly hit in an Iranian drone attack on Wednesday.
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