Oil prices surged back above $100 after US-Iran peace talks failed. Prices had jumped by more than 7% to over $100 a barrel on Monday after US President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of Iranian ports following the collapse of peace talks between Washington and Tehran. Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose to $102.02 a barrel (\u00a375.91) before retreating to $98 during Monday afternoon trading in the US. A barrel of oil had plunged well below $100 last Wednesday after the US and Iran reached a conditional two-week ceasefire deal that included reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for global oil and gas supplies. However, the failure of negotiations has heightened concerns that the global energy crisis will intensify.<\/p>\n
The Strait, through which a fifth of the world’s energy shipments pass, has become a flashpoint in the conflict after Iran retaliated against US-Israeli strikes by threatening to attack vessels attempting to use the waterway. Shipments have largely been at a standstill since the US-Israel war with Iran began on February 28, causing energy prices to surge globally and increasing costs for consumers, particularly making petrol and diesel more expensive. Despite this, Iran has continued to export oil. Windward, a maritime intelligence firm, reported that over 58 million barrels of oil have departed Kharg Island, Iran’s primary crude export terminal, since March 1. More than 90% of these exports were reportedly destined for China.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Trump announced that “effective immediately,” the US Navy “will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz.” US Central Command later stated it would block all vessels entering and exiting Iranian ports and coastal areas in the Strait from 10:00 EST (15:00 BST) on Monday. It clarified that the blockade would not apply to ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports. On Monday, the Unified Command of Iranian Armed Forces declared US restrictions on vessels in international waters “illegal and constitutes piracy.” It added that Iran would implement a “permanent mechanism to control the Strait of Hormuz following US threats.”<\/p>\n
China has called for restraint. “The Strait of Hormuz is an important international trade route for goods and energy, and maintaining its security, stability, and unimpeded flow is in the common interest of the international community,” a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry stated. Neil Shearing, group chief economist at Capital Economics, suggested Trump’s blockade might be “designed to pressure Beijing into playing a more active role in mediating a ceasefire and reopening full trade flows through the Strait.”<\/p>\n
A line chart illustrates Brent crude oil prices per barrel in US dollars from February 23 to April 8, 2026. The price opened at approximately $71 on February 23, rising to about $78 on March 2 after US and Israeli attacks on Iran began the prior weekend. It then fluctuated upwards, peaking at around $119 on March 31, before falling to $95 by 09:00 (BST) on April 8. The source is Bloomberg.<\/p>\n
Chua Yeow Hwee, an economist from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, commented: “Oil prices are likely to remain elevated because expectations now depend on whether the blockade is fully implemented, whether shipping disruptions spread, and whether diplomacy resumes.” Analyst Saul Kavonic from financial services firm MST Marquee told the BBC that “oil prices are not as high as they normally would be” given the scale of supply disruption, as traders still hope shipments will resume soon. “But if that doesn’t happen, oil prices will head higher,” Kavonic added.<\/p>\n
David Satterfield, former Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues, also noted that not only oil and gas are shipped through the Strait of Hormuz. “It is about 30% of the world’s aluminum, 30% of the world’s helium, up to 50% of the feedstocks for fertilizers globally, and about 17% of all polymers,” he told the BBC’s Today programme. “The impact, if this goes on for several more weeks, is going to become quite profound beyond the cost of petrol and diesel at the pump.” Marcus Baker, global head of marine and cargo at risk insurance firm Marsh, also raised the question of whether the two-week ceasefire will hold. “Will the Iranians decide that, despite what the US has said, they will continue to honor the ceasefire?” he asked. “Clearly, if that happens, we will get much more confidence coming back into the market, and I think the durability of that ceasefire is really critical to what happens next.”<\/p>\n
Stock markets in Europe trimmed earlier losses but were still trading down at midday. The UK’s FTSE 100 fell 0.35%, France’s CAC index dipped by 0.8%, and Germany’s DAX index dropped 1%. Major stock indexes in Asia closed down, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 ending 0.7% lower and South Korea’s Kospi falling 0.9%. Asian countries have been particularly hard hit by the fallout of the Iran war, as they are heavily reliant on Middle Eastern oil. US stocks opened lower on Monday but recovered early losses to finish slightly up on the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.2% higher on Monday afternoon, while the Nasdaq climbed 0.8% and the S&P 500 rose by 0.6%.<\/p>\n
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow stretch of water located between Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Oman. The waterway, approximately 21 miles (33 km) at its narrowest point, connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, making it a vital global shipping route. Approximately 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes through the Strait of Hormuz. This oil originates not only from Iran but also from Gulf states such as Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. In 2025, an estimated 20 million barrels of oil passed through the waterway daily, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) \u2013 representing nearly $600 billion (\u00a3447 billion) worth of energy trade annually.<\/p>\n
#OilPrices #StraitOfHormuz #USIranTensions #EnergyCrisis #GlobalEconomy #CrudeOil #Geopolitics #MaritimeSecurity #MiddleEast #TradeRoutes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Oil prices surged back above $100 after US-Iran peace talks failed. Prices had jumped by more than 7% to over $100 a barrel on Monday after US President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of Iranian ports following the collapse of peace talks between Washington and Tehran. Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose to $102.02 a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iran_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}