Oil prices rose on Monday as investors digested overnight headlines about military action between the US and Iran, even as President Trump continued to telegraph that a deal is close to being signed.
Futures on Brent crude (BZ=F), the international benchmark, rose 2.8% to trade above $93.50 per barrel, while those on US benchmark WTI crude (CL=F) gained a slightly stronger 3% to trade at $90 per barrel.
News that the US military had struck radar and drone sites in Iran after the Iranian regime shot down a US drone sent prices surging back upward after spending a week consistently falling on hopes of a deal between Washington and Tehran.
Fighting also reportedly picked back up in Lebanon between Israel and the Iran-backed proxy force Hezbollah, calling into question the status of ceasefire negotiations, within which Iran has said Israel’s campaign in Lebanon must be included.
Several headlines last week reporting that US and Iranian negotiators had agreed to terms for a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz sent prices falling. That move downward paused over the weekend after reporting that Trump demanded stronger concessions from Iran instead of approving the deal on the table.
Trump said early Monday morning that Iranian leadership “wants to make a deal,” and that it will be a “good one for the U.S.A., and those that are with us,” leaving the market once more in limbo over the status of a deal — and therefore, the global oil market.
The US has helped roughly 70 ships exit the Strait of Hormuz over the past three weeks, The New York Times reported on Sunday, though the count remains far below the roughly 120 crossings per day before the war.