Oil Extends Decline as Trump Says 'Great Progress' in Iran Talks Oil fell a second day as US President Donald Trump said “Great Progress” has been made on a final agreement to end the war with Iran. (Bloomberg) — Oil fell a second day as US President Donald Trump said “Great Progress” has been made on a final agreement to end the war with Iran. Prices fell Wednesday after Trump said in a Truth Social post the US would pause an effort to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz to see if a deal can be reached with Iran. Benchmark Brent dropped toward $108 a barrel, after sliding 4% on Tuesday, while West Texas Intermediate traded near $100. tap here to see other videos from our team. Back to video Crude has climbed by about 50% since the conflict started at the end of February, cutting off hundreds of millions of barrels of Persian Gulf oil from global markets. Flows through the critical chokepoint are now constrained by a double blockade, with Tehran obstructing shipping while the US is stopping vessels from accessing Iranian ports. Earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at the White House that “Operation Epic Fury is concluded,” 66 days after the US and Israel began bombing Iran. “We achieved the objectives of that operation,” he said. On Tuesday, Washington played down the prospect of a return to active war, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirming the truce that began just under a month ago is still in place. Meanwhile, General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said attacks by Iran on vessels in the Persian Gulf and energy infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates didn’t constitute a breach of a ceasefire. The shutdown around Hormuz has left more than 1,550 commercial vessels, carrying some 22,000 sailors, trapped in the Persian Gulf, Caine said. “Even if we see some deescalation headlines, the supply recovery is inherently delayed,” said Dilin Wu, a research strategist covering cross-asset markets at Pepperstone Group. “This is not a switch you can just flip: You still see limited oil shipment through the strait and it still needs time for stranded tankers to be rerouted, for the insurance market to reprice risk and for production to ramp back up.” In the US, industry data showed crude inventories fell 8.1 million barrels last week, which would be the biggest draw since mid-February if confirmed by official data due later Wednesday. “We’re holding the pattern from rally to profit-taking each day,” said Carl Larry, an oil and gas analyst at Enverus. “Markets may take it in their stride but irrational exuberance usually gets the best of the market. Draws bring all the bulls to the yard.” Oil has seen wild price swings since the war started, prompting traders to move to the sidelines to avoid extreme volatility. Aggregate open interest in Brent has dropped to its lowest level since August. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia cut the price of its main oil grade for Asia next month from a record high in May. It remained elevated as the hostilities in the Middle East continue to severely disrupt supplies. —With assistance from Charles Gorrivan. PMN Business PMN Business - Advertisement 1Story continues below Economy News Economy
Oil Extends Decline as Trump Says 'Great Progress' in Iran Talks Oil fell a second day as US President Donald Trump said “Great Progress” has been made on a final agreement to end the war with Iran. (Bloomberg) — Oil fell a second day as US President Donald Trump said “Great Prog…
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A tanker identified as the Kaifan was struck by an unknown projectile northeast of Oman’s Limah in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a July 21 report from UK Maritime Trade Operations. No ships were observed transiting the strait that day. Attribution of the strike and links to prior incidents have not been confirmed by the vessel’s owner.
Goldman Sachs has projected Brent crude averaging $80 per barrel in the fourth quarter and $75 in the following year, conditional on reduced Middle East tensions, while noting upside risks from potential shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz or Red Sea.
Brent prices rose above $91 per barrel amid recent U.S.-Iran exchanges and Houthi threats to Saudi shipments before edging lower on Tuesday. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that mediators had proposed a 10-day ceasefire to preserve an interim agreement.
Opening summary: Iran claims attacks on strait of Hormuz ships amid fresh US strikes Welcome to our live coverage of the latest developments in the Middle East crisis. Iran attacked a tanker in the strait of Hormuz early on Tuesday, forcing its crew to abandon the ship, as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis announced they were imposing an immediate maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea after the two sides traded fire last week for the first time in years.
A Houthi official said the Bab al-Mandeb strait – at the southern end of the Red Sea, through which about 12% of the world’s trade usually passes – would be closed to the Saudis in response to the kingdom’s “unjust blockade on Yemenis for over 10 years”.
Saudi Arabia said it would take “all necessary measures to protect its vessels in accordance with international law”. A 10 consecutive night of US airstrikes has not compelled Tehran to loosen its grip on the strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global energy supplies.
But even as Iran’s president said the country had returned “full-scale war”, the Iranian interior minister travelled to Pakistan – a key mediator in the conflict – for talks. In key developments: The latest US strikes came hours after Donald Trump said Iran would pay “many times over” for killing US soldiers after multiple service members were killed in action over the weekend.
A tanker came under attack early Tuesday in the Hormuz strait off Oman, forcing the crew to abandon the vessel, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed the attack as well as two other attacks on ships in the waterway on Monday.
The US military’s Central Command said its latest airstrikes were to “degrade” Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping in the strait and included hitting military command centres and missile and drone launch sites. Iranian media reported strikes in parts of the country including Bandar Abbas, Tabriz and Bushehr, home to the country’s only operational civilian nuclear power.
Iran’s launched attacks in response against Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, which all host US forces. Oil prices softened after hitting their highest levels in more than a month in the previous session. Brent crude futures eased 0.4% to $88.87 a barrel by 0052 GMT on Tuesday while US West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was steady at $82.
47 a barrel. Democrats have seized on the deaths of three US troops killed in Iranian strikes to urge Trump to urgently reverse his resumption of the war with Iran amid widespread anxiety over climbing casualties. The Lebanese army began taking charge of security in three southern villages, the US said, as a deal to secure an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah faced its first test on the ground.
US forces struck the tanker Settebello in the Gulf of Oman on June 10, killing three Indian crew members when munitions hit the engine room and adjacent areas. Maritime tracking data indicate the vessel had transported Iranian oil under US sanctions for several years and conducted offshore transfers prior to the strike.
The US military described the action as a precision operation, while reports note the ship was stationary at the time.