WTI, Brent as Trump threatens energy sites without a deal
General view of the Kharg Island Oil Terminal Port in Iran on March 12, 2017, 25 km from the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf and 483 km northwest of the Strait of Hormuz.
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Oil prices continued to rise as the month-long war showed little sign of easing as the United States threatened further attacks on Iran, including on its energy infrastructure and desalination plants.
“If Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz and agree to a peace deal to end the war, we will complete our beautiful ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely destroying electrical utilities, oil facilities and “possibly” desalination infrastructure,” President Donald Trump said Monday, according to a post on Truth Social.
West Texas Intermediate futures for May delivery extended gains, rising 3.5% to $106.44 a barrel as of 8:25 p.m. ET and on track to post monthly gains of 56.8%, the biggest monthly advance since 2020.
May contracts for Brent crude oil rose 2% to $115.17 per barrel, setting them up for the biggest monthly increase in history, up 58.6% so far this month.
The Iran war has entered its fifth week with increasing hostilities across the region. Teheran Crashed into a fully loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker in the anchorage area of Dubai port in the early hours of Tuesday.
“Authorities in Dubai continue firefighting operations in response to the incident involving a Kuwaiti oil tanker,” the statement said. social media post There were no reports of any injuries, the Dubai government added.
Trump has wavered between hailing talks with Iran as productive and warning that he is ready to order more military forces to the region.
He told reporters on Monday that Tehran had accepted the “majority” of a 15-point ceasefire proposal put forward by the United States, but that Tehran had publicly rejected those terms and responded with its own conditions, including maintaining control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump is also reportedly considering the option of sending ground forces to capture Kharg Island, a major fuel hub that provides 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports.
Shipping traffic on the Hormuz waterway, which carried one-fifth of global seaborne oil shipments before the conflict, has come to a near standstill since the war began on February 28.
Experts warn that a potential ground operation to capture Kharg Island could risk increasing US losses and prolonging the cost and duration of the war.
