WTI above $80 as US launches strikes, Iran disrupts shipping

The benchmark West Texas Intermediate continues to gain ground, trading around $80.20 per barrel in Europe on Tuesday, as crude oil prices rise due to rising supply concerns, attributed to the escalating US-Iran tensions.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) executed fresh precision strikes against Iranian military targets, highlighting that more than 50,000 American troops remain deployed throughout the region.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for disabling two “offending supertankers” in the Strait of Hormuz. The IRGC alleged the vessels ignored maritime warnings and navigated through a mined route.

Tehran has issued a stark warning that any cooperation with the US will prolong the closure of the strategic waterway and spark a global energy crisis.

The UAE Ministry of Defence confirmed that two of its national oil tankers, the Mombasa and Al Bahiyah, were struck by Iranian cruise missiles. According to Reuters and local military reports, the precision strike occurred in the southern shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz, contextually positioning the targeted ships within Omani territorial waters at the time of impact.

President Donald Trump has officially reinstated a maritime blockade restricting Iranian shipping and its commercial partners from transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

In a significant policy shift, the Trump administration simultaneously announced that all other commercial traffic passing through the vital bottleneck will be hit with a 20% safe-passage reimbursement fee.

President Trump argued that the United States must be financially compensated for the high costs of securing the volatile corridor, pointing directly to neighbouring Gulf states, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, as entities that heavily profit from American military protection.

(Source: OANDA)