Oil Breaks $90 Then Retreats as Iran Hints at Diplomacy
Brent crude jumped nearly 4 per cent overnight to break $90 a barrel — its highest since mid-June — before easing to around $88 as Iran’s openness to talks tempered supply fears. US West Texas Intermediate slipped to $82.24 a barrel. Yemen’s Houthis declared an immediate maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia, while the average American petrol price touched $4 a gallon.
The Strait of Hormuz normally carries about a fifth of the world’s oil; flows collapsed from roughly 20 million barrels a day before the war to 2.7 million in the spring, according to the International Energy Agency. The agency warns the renewed escalation “could upend the forecast that sees the market flipping to a surplus next year”. For British households the danger is direct: petrol pumps and winter energy bills track Brent closely. Watch whether the diplomatic hint holds or a tenth night of strikes reverses Monday’s retreat.