U.S. oil jumps above $75 a barrel after Trump reinstates Strait of Hormuz blockade on Iranian ships
Oil tankers, bulk carriers and ships are anchored around Qaboos Port in Muscat, Oman, on June 22, 2026.
Elke Scholiers | Getty Images
Oil prices rose Monday after President Donald Trump said the United States would reimpose a naval blockade against Iran.
International benchmark Brent crude futures rose 5.3 percent to $80 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were last seen up 5.3% at $75.18.
The US military launched a new wave of strikes against Iran on Sunday after hitting 140 targets on Saturday. US Central Command. The attacks were in response to an attack by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on a container ship passing through Hormuz.
Iran responded by launching attacks on US military facilities in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman on Sunday. state news agency Tasnim.
Iranian state media said the Revolutionary Guard had closed Hormuz until further notice, but the US military denied this claim. Centcom said the strait was open to “all ships wishing to pass legally.”
“US forces are positioned and ready to ensure that freedom of navigation remains available despite Iran’s unwarranted aggression, harassment, threats and arbitrary declarations,” Centcom said in a statement on its social media account on Sunday. he said. “Iran does not control the strait. Traffic is flowing.”
President Donald Trump said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” Sunday that Hormuz is open. maritime intelligence firm Windward It tracked nine ships passing through the strait on Saturday.
The Joint Maritime Information Center, the US-led naval coalition in Bahrain that provides security updates to civilian ships passing through waters in the Middle East, said the southern route through Omani waters was open to incoming and outgoing traffic.
But the security situation in Hormuz remains serious, the center said on Sunday. It was stated that sailors should be “extremely careful”.
The weekend airstrikes marked the fourth time the United States has bombed Iran in the past week in retaliation for attacks on merchant ships passing through Hormuz in the southern corridor guarded by the U.S. military.
Since Iran maintains control of the strait, it demands that ships use the northern route through its territorial waters.
The latest outbreak of hostilities stems from conflicting interpretations by the United States and Iran about how Hormuz should be reopened under the interim peace agreement they signed on June 17.
Before the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, approximately 20% of the world’s oil supplies passed through Hormuz. Traffic dropped when Iran started attacking ships in the strait in early March, but passages accelerated after Washington and Tehran signed the interim agreement.
What’s next for oil prices?
Argus chief economist David Fyfe said shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz had slowed significantly following new strikes at the weekend.
“All the indications we have are that the actual flow of ships passing through the strait in the last few days has really been in the single digits, compared to the 30 or 40 tankers and bulk carriers that passed through early last week,” Fyfe told CNBC.European Early Release” on Monday.
“So that’s really had a chilling effect on the movement of oil, and you know, we’ve been steadily reducing our stockpiles since late February, when the crisis started. And on top of all that, there’s something that’s now flying under the metaphorical radar, which is Russia cutting diesel exports to the international market.”
Taken together, Fyfe said these factors could increase oil prices “significantly.”
