August 21, 2026 07:36

Oil prices hit three-week high on U.S. threats to end war

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters that negotiations with Oman about “new maritime routes” on the Strait of Hormuz were in the final stages but “this, however, does not mean that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen.” That step requires conditions that “have been conveyed through intermediaries.” 

The Supreme National Security Council on Saturday said the strait will not reopen until the U.S. “corrects its behavior.” It demanded that the U.S. never threaten Iran again, a permanent end to the war with Iran and its armed allies, a lifting of the naval blockade of Iranian ports and a withdrawal of the US military from the area. The U.S. also must “completely compensate” Iran for war damage, lift sanctions and “unconditionally” release frozen assets.

The United States did not comment on the demands. Mr. Trump yesterday asserted to Axios that “we are only semi-negotiating” with Iran and letting economic pressures take their toll.

Mr. Araghchi said an “exchange of messages through intermediaries” continues with the U.S., but that doesn’t constitute negotiations, which he said can’t resume until violations of the interim deal end and the U.S. “has remedied” provisions it violated.

– AP

The UAE accused Iran of targeting a tanker belonging to its state-owned oil company in the Strait of Hormuz, even as both Iran and Oman suggested talks on administering the vital waterway were progressing.

Iran has imposed an effective blockade of the strait and wants to charge users for passage, repeatedly attacking ships it accuses of attempting to circumvent its preferred route.

The U.S. vehemently opposes any Iranian tolls in the strait, though a June deal struck by the warring parties does allow Tehran to hammer out arrangements for the “future administration” of Hormuz in conjunction with fellow coastal state Oman.

Continued attacks in the strait, which was free to transit before the war, led to the collapse of an April ceasefire, and mediators have since urged both sides to return to the terms of the June memorandum.

-AFP

Civilians carry coffins draped in the Iranian flag in Mosul, Iraq
| Photo Credit: AP

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto leader, in a phone call with President Donald Trump raised concerns about the U.S. potentially escalating the conflict with Iran, according to a person familiar with the leaders’ discussion.

The discussion, which was first reported on by Axios, comes as Mr. Trump weighs whether to carry out new strikes on Iran.

The Saudis, according to the person briefed on the substance of the call but not authorised to comment publicly, are concerned that if the U.S. targets Iran’s energy infrastructure or carries out massive strikes on other key infrastructure that Tehran could respond by carrying out attacks on the kingdom’s and other Gulf countries’ energy infrastructure.

-AP

President Donald Trump warned that the United States was “not finished” attacking Iran as strikes continued on Tuesday, as Tehran broadened its offensive against Gulf states after its Houthi allies threatened to blockade Saudi ports.

Two weeks after fighting resumed between the decades-old foes, Mr. Trump said Iran would need more than 20 years to recover from the damage inflicted in the West Asia war.

“If we left right now, it would take Iran 20, 25 years to rebuild,” he said. “We’re not finished at all…we’re not leaving right now.”

-AFP

Mourners stand next to a portrait of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 in Israeli and U.S. airstrikes, during a funeral procession on the day of his burial, in Mashhad, Iran, July 9, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters

Iran on Friday (July 10, 2026) laid to rest its former supreme leader Ali Khamenei over four months after his killing in an airstrike, as two days of U.S. and Iranian attacks raised fears of a return to all-out war.

Khamenei’s flag-covered coffin was carried aloft into the shrine of Imam Reza in his home city of Mashhad in eastern Iran as a sea of people waited outside and listened to prayers, with no sign of a public appearance by his son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei.

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Parliament speaker and chief negotiator in talks with the United States, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, powerful chief justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, and Khamenei’s eldest son Mostafa Khamenei were all present at the shrine, with some senior figures weeping over Khamenei’s coffin, state TV images showed.

Back-and-forth attacks from U.S. and Iran, including a day earlier, have repeatedly threatened the ceasefire. But Thursday’s appeared bigger all around, with sirens sounding at least three times in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters, and missiles targeting Kuwait and Qatar.

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High oil and gasoline prices and energy supply problems won’t be solved overnight, despite an agreement to end the Iran war and open the Strait of Hormuz announced on Sunday (June 14, 2026).

It will likely take months before energy companies can resume operations to the point of meeting the world’s demand, according to energy experts. The slow pace of the process of shipping and refining crude oil, and doubts about the security of traveling through the strait mean the effect won’t be seen immediately, they said.

Ships loaded with crude oil have been stranded in the Persian Gulf for more than three months, unable to safely travel through the waterway, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and gasoline supplies typically traveled before the war began.

– PTI

OPEC ⁠on Thursday (June 11, 2026) lowered its forecast for world oil demand growth in 2026 to 970,000 barrels per day, the producer group said in its ‌monthly report, marking the second straight downward revision.

The group continues to see a smaller impact on consumption ‌since the Iran war started than other forecasters such ‌as ⁠the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the International ⁠Energy Agency.

OPEC said consumption would rebound later and raised its demand growth forecast for 2027. The war has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important ‌oil routes, curbing millions of barrels of West Asia output. The resulting surge in fuel prices is hitting consumers and businesses around the world.

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Oil ⁠prices were up more than $2 a barrel on Monday (June 8, 2026) after Israel on Sunday (June 7) launched renewed strikes on Lebanon despite a truce between the two countries, eroding hopes ‌for an end to the wider war and a restart to crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. crude ‌futures were up $2.10, or 2.32%, at $92.64 per barrel as of 0013 ‌GMT, ⁠while Brent crude futures rose $2.33, or 2.5%, to $95.42 ⁠a barrel.

That erased most of the losses from Friday (June 5), when prices had fallen on mounting hopes of a de-escalation in the U.S.-Iran conflict, which started with U.S. and Israel strikes on Iran in February.

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