Iran warns of ‘devastating’ response to impending US sanction barrage
Oil hits nearly one-month high as Iran tensions keep key Hormuz trade route in focus
Oil prices rose more than 2% on Thursday to settle at their highest levels in nearly a month amid escalating tensions across the Gulf, Reuters reported.
Brent crude futures settled up $2.16, or 2.4%, at $93.78 a barrel, their highest close since July 24. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for September gained $2, or 2.3%, to settle at $87.83 a barrel, also their highest since July 24.
Oil trading firm Ritterbusch and Associates said new threats from Washington appear “unlikely to sway Iran into relinquishing their primary source of leverage, that being control of the Strait, absent major concessions from the U.S.”
“So, the beat goes on with no resolution in sight that would spur a major decline in oil prices back to levels anywhere close to those prior to the war,” Ritterbusch and Associates told Reuters.
