Oil Prices Climb Amid New Middle East Attacks

The price of a barrel of North Sea oil climbed over three percent to $94 on Monday morning. This rise follows new attacks in the Middle East that, according to Reuters, challenge optimism about the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Early Monday, the U.S. Central Command announced on X that the U.S. military had carried out strikes against several military facilities in Iran over the weekend. The U.S. described the attacks on targets in Goruk Kandi and Qeshm Island as self-defense. Simultaneously, Iran's Revolutionary Guard reported conducting attacks on an airbase, which Iran claims the U.S. used in an attack on Iranian territory.

These attacks occurred as the U.S. and Iran are negotiating a deal to end the war. Former President Trump seeks the dismantling of Iran's nuclear facilities and the removal of its possession of radioactive uranium, claims Iran denies regarding its nuclear program's purpose.

Israel and the U.S. launched a comprehensive attack on Iran on February 28. Since then, energy prices, including oil, have remained higher than usual. This is partly because Iran's response included halting nearly all shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical trade chokepoint between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, through which approximately 20% of the world's oil passes.

In recent months, oil prices have fluctuated with varying reports from Iran and the U.S. Ceasefire reports have brought calm and lowered prices, but statements from then-President Donald Trump have repeatedly had the opposite effect. Most recently, the president expressed that Iran "very much" wants a deal with the Americans, tweeting, "Just sit back and relax, it's all going to work out in the end - it always does."

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Just sit back and relax, it's all going to work out in the end - it always does.