U.S. crude oil swung near $90 a barrel on Wednesday after Iran reportedly struck Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain in retaliation for the latest U.S. attacks on its territory. Separately, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said a wartime-record volume of oil moved through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday.
Oil prices swung between gains and losses on Wednesday after Iran reportedly attacked Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain with drones and missiles in response to the latest U.S. strikes on Iranian territory, according to Al Jazeera. Brent crude futures for November delivery fell 40 cents, or 0.4%, to $94.27 a barrel as of 8:43 a.m. ET, paring earlier gains, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for October dropped 0.7% to $89.62 a barrel after adding about 1% earlier in the session.
Trump says he isn't seeking talks with Iran
U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that he is not trying to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table. According to Truth Social: "I'm not trying to force Iran to the bargaining table" he said, and argued the U.S. now holds almost total control of the Hormuz Strait while Iran's economy is collapsing.
CENTCOM cites attacks on shipping and troops
U.S. Central Command said the latest strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members, in a post on X. A tanker was struck by three unknown projectiles while transiting Hormuz on Monday, the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre said in an incident report.
Hormuz traffic hits a wartime record
Even as the conflict escalated, more than 17 million barrels of oil transited the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, a wartime record since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC. Counting pipelines that bypass Hormuz in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Monday's exports topped the roughly 20 million barrels per day that moved through the strait before the war began, Wright said.
The U.S. military has set up a shipping corridor along Oman's coast that tankers from Gulf allies use to cross Hormuz, often at night with transponders switched off to lower the risk of attack. Iran has repeatedly attacked vessels using that route while demanding ships instead take a northern corridor through its waters, and at least two tankers have come under attack in the strait this week, according to U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre incident reports.
Sanctions, stalled negotiations and mixed signals over whether Iran wants the war to end are keeping crude oil prices swinging day to day, said Edward Rosenberg, head of ETFs at Strategy Shares.
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