SOUTH-EAST ASIA (Bloomberg): Oil gained after US President Donald Trump said he would reimpose a blockade on Iranian ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz and demand a payment on all other cargo shipped through the waterway.
West Texas Intermediate futures jumped as much as 5.3% to trade near $75 a barrel, while Brent briefly topped $80 as clashes between the two sides ramped up over the weekend and some energy infrastructure came under attack.
The US leader said in a social media post that the Strait of Hormuz "will remain OPEN, with or without Iran.” He added the US will demand to be reimbursed 20% on all other cargo shipped through the Hormuz, following earlier statements on Fox News that the US would likely attempt to take over the chokepoint.
Iran said over the weekend that Hormuz would be closed "until further notice,” as the countries again traded military strikes. Iran has yet to respond to Trump’s statements on Monday.
A 20% charge would work out as about $32 million on a supertanker at current oil prices. That’s far higher than the tolls that have been charged by Iran, which people familiar with the situation have said were as much as $2 million.
The US on Sunday struck dozens of targets to degrade Iran’s ability to attack international shipping through the waterway. In response, Iran launched assaults on American allies across the Middle East, and Kuwait said an offshore drilling platform had been hit and damaged, the first direct strike on energy infrastructure in weeks.
If the conflict expanded to target key facilities more broadly, oil could head to $100, said Saul Kavonic, senior energy analyst at MST Marquee.
Tehran said Monday that contacts to reduce tensions continue, though the interim peace deal with the US has "undoubtedly entered a crisis phase.” The flare-up risks derailing global efforts to rebuild inventories, the International Energy Agency said on Friday - a reminder of what’s at stake for the global economy if the conflict drags on.
Fresh uncertainty over flows through the world’s most important energy transit point has reinserted a war premium into crude prices, erasing some of the declines seen in June after an interim peace deal unleashed more supply.
Visible traffic through Hormuz was low over Sunday and early Monday, though it was unclear how many vessels were transiting the waterway without their satellite signals on.
Prior to the interim peace deal, millions of barrels a day of oil were transiting dark. The Joint Maritime Information Center, which liaises between Western navies and merchant shipping, said the southern shipping lane coordinated by Oman remains available.
-- ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
