Arabic version: ارتفاع أسعار النفط بعد إعلان الولايات المتحدة عن حصار بحري على إيران
Oil prices have risen sharply following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a naval blockade of Iran. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose more than 8 percent on Sunday to top $103 a barrel, marking the first time prices exceeded the significant threshold of $100 since they surpassed $111 earlier in the week.
According to Al Jazeera, the blockade announcement followed the collapse of ceasefire talks between US and Iranian officials over the weekend. In a statement, the US Central Command clarified that it would only block vessels traveling to and from Iran, allowing other maritime traffic to continue unaffected.
The blockade is set to take effect on Monday at 10 am Eastern Time (14:00 GMT). This escalation follows a tumultuous period for oil prices, which have fluctuated significantly since US-Israeli strikes on Iran initiated a de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital passageway for approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas supply.
Despite a fragile truce that remains officially in place until April 22, maritime traffic has drastically declined, with only 17 vessels crossing the strait on Saturday, compared to about 130 daily transits prior to the conflict. As a result of the blockade announcement, major Asian stock markets opened lower on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling by 0.9 percent and South Korea’s KOSPI dropping more than 1 percent.
