(RTTNews) – Oil prices rose sharply to hit a one-month high on Tuesday amid escalating U.S.-Iran tensions.
Brent crude futures jumped nearly 4 percent to $86.30 a barrel, bringing gains for the week to more than 11 percent. WTI crude futures were up 2.6 percent at $80.16.
Supply concerns returned to the fore after U.S. President Donald Trump reimposed a blockade on Iranian ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz and proposed to impose a 20 percent fee on all cargo passing through the vital waterway for guarding it.
The USA will be, from this point forward, known as ‘the guardian of the Hormuz Strait,” said the President.
Trump also said he would back a Russian bill championed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham that would renew efforts to penalize buyers of Russian oil and natural gas.
In a post on X, Iranian foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghci mocked Trump over his proposal and said Iran has always been the GUARDIAN of the Strait and will remain so FOREVER. “20 percent is of course too much. We will be fair,” Araghchi wrote.
Meanwhile, after the United States launched fresh strikes on Iran for the third consecutive night, Tehran responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, Jordan and two tankers associated with the United Arab Emirates.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed that it downed an American MQ-1 drone over the Strait of Hormuz.
An Indian crew member was killed and eight others injured after Iranian missiles struck two UAE tankers in the Strat of Hormuz.
Houthis launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia’s Abha airport after strikes on Sanaa. Russia has sent one of its most secure airborne command aircraft to Tehran, as per flight tracking data.
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