Oil Prices Jump 5% Amid Stalemate in U.S.-Iran Talks Over Strait of Hormuz
Crude futures surge as doubts grow over a deal to increase ship traffic and U.S. oil reserves hit a decades-low.
Quick Look
- Oil prices jumped about 5% Monday, with WTI settling at $82.13 and Brent at $87.72, as doubts grew over a U.S.-Iran deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
- President Trump signaled reliance on a naval blockade rather than imminent talks.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The U.S. and Iran have clashed over commercial shipping and naval blockades in the Strait of Hormuz, causing disruptions in global crude supply.
Oil prices jumped about 5% Monday as doubt grew that the U.S. and Iran will reach a deal to increase ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures climbed about 5% to close at $82.13 per barrel. Brent crude , the international benchmark, also settled around 5% higher at $87.72 a barrel.
President Donald Trump told Axios on Sunday that the U.S. is "only semi-negotiating" with Iran, after he insisted last week that Washington and Tehran were in fact holding talks. Trump indicated that he would rely on the U.S. naval blockade to pressure Tehran rather than another wave of airstrikes.
"We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money," the president told Axios. Trump canceled a planned attack against the Islamic Republic on Aug. 1 to allow for negotiations.
Oil stocks in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve have fallen below 300 million barrels, the lowest level since January 1983, as the conflict drags on.
Oil prices sold off more than 7% last week after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that a deal to open Hormuz with freedom of movement for ships could come soon. But an agreement still has not been announced as Tehran's and Washington's positions have hardened.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said Monday that the U.S. must lift its blockade before Tehran would agree to fully open Hormuz.
"As long as the U.S. naval blockade continues, the necessary conditions for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz do not exist," Baghaei said, according to the state news agency Tasnim. Iran and Oman are holding bilateral negotiations over shipping routes in the strait, he said.
The U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on June 17 to open Hormuz to commercial ships, but the deal quickly collapsed as fighting erupted over which routes vessels could use.
Iran launched multiple attacks on tankers transiting Hormuz along Oman's coast under U.S. military protection. Tehran demanded that ships sail through its territorial waters when transiting the strait.
The U.S. staged multiple waves of airstrikes and reimposed its naval blockade in retaliation for the tanker attacks.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
U.S. and Iran will continue talks mediated by Oman.
Possible · Within weeks
Open Questions
- Will the U.S. lift its naval blockade?
- Can Oman successfully mediate the shipping dispute?
