Oil prices rose slightly Monday after President Donald Trump said Iran would pay for the deaths of three U.S. service members and Houthi militants in Yemen declared a maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia.
Brent crude Futures, the international benchmark, were last seen up 0.87% at $88.87 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate American Brut Futures were up 0.44% at $82.85 a barrel.
“Every time Iran kills an American soldier, it will pay many times over for this murder!” Trump said in an article on Social truth. “This directive has been relayed to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Daniel Caine, and all military leaders.”
Brent crude jumped almost 4% overnight to above $90 a barrel, after the United States confirmed that at least three service members had died in recent fighting with Iran. Prices fell when Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said negotiations with the United States could continue based on Tehran’s interests.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Houthi allies in Yemen have declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia Monday. The embargo could exacerbate the oil supply disruption triggered by attacks on Iranian tankers in Hormuz. The Houthis have repeatedly threatened to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to global markets.
The Saudis divert millions of barrels of oil each day via a pipeline to an export terminal on the Red Sea. These exports acted as a crucial safety valve for the global crude market during the U.S.-Iran war.
The United States has bombed Iran for nine consecutive nights in retaliation for repeated attacks on oil tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran is trying to force ships to transit the strait through its territorial waters. Its attacks have killed at least two sailors and injured more than a dozen this month.
An oil tanker off the coast of Oman was hit by a projectile over the weekend, causing a fire on board, according to an incident report released by the UK’s Maritime Commercial Operations Center on Sunday. The crew safely abandoned the ship and were picked up by a tugboat, the UKMTO said.
THE International Maritime Organizationa United Nations agency, identified the tanker as the Kavomaleas, which was sailing under the Maltese flag.
Iran responded to the US strikes by firing missiles at Washington’s allies in the Middle East. Tehran attacked an electricity and desalination plant in Kuwait this weekend for the second time in two days, the ministry said. Kuwait Times reported. Kuwait relies heavily on these plants for its drinking water.
Gasoline prices rose to $4 a gallon on Monday as U.S. crude oil jumped 18% this month, according to AAA. Pump prices last reached this level on June 17, when the United States and Iran sign an interim agreement intended to reopen the strait and stop the fighting.
Amrita Sen, founder and research director at Energy Aspects, said a substantial slowdown in shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and depletion of global inventories could push oil prices above $100 a barrel.
“The market is still quite complacent despite the price increase that we have seen,” Sen told CNBC.Access the Middle East” on Monday.