{"id":1648,"date":"2026-04-20T23:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T20:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/?p=1648"},"modified":"2026-04-20T23:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T20:55:00","slug":"oil-explosive-6-rise-after-us-iran-tensions-and-fears-over-the-strait-of-hormuz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/?p=1648","title":{"rendered":"Oil: Explosive 6% rise after US-Iran tensions and fears over the Strait of Hormuz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <b>prices are soaring after renewed tensions in the Middle East<\/b> and <b>fears of disruption<\/b> to shipping in the <b>Seaway of Hormuz<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>The <b>international market energy is entering a new phase of intense volatility<\/b>, as oil prices <b>register a strong upward move<\/b> in a matter of hours, <b>reflecting heightened geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East<\/b>. Developments <b>around US-Iran<\/b> relations and concerns <b>about possible disruption or restriction of commercial shipping flows<\/b> in one of the world&#8217;s <b>most critical energy passages<\/b> have caused <b>strong turbulence in markets<\/b>, leading investors to immediate <b>reactions and strong volatility in crude prices<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>Crude oil <b>prices registered a strong rise of around 5.5%<\/b> on Monday, as <b>increasing concerns about the collapse of the US-Iran ceasefire<\/b> and renewed <b>tensions in the Strait of Hormuz<\/b> added to the uncertainty <b>in markets<\/b>.<\/p>\n<h3>Variance<\/h3>\n<p>Brent contracts gained $5.10 or 5.64% to close at $95.48 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude rose $5.76 or 6.87% to settle at $89.61.<\/p>\n<p>The rise came just days after Friday&#8217;s plunge, when prices were down 9 percent in the biggest daily drop since April 18, following Tehran&#8217;s announcement that the passage of commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz would remain open for as long as the ceasefire lasts.<\/p>\n<p>However, the situation deteriorated over the weekend when the US seized an Iranian cargo ship attempting to violate the blockade, with Iran warning of retaliation, reinforcing fears of a resumption of hostilities.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The goodwill that was created on Friday has now completely disappeared,&#8221; commented Bob Yorger, director of energy contracts at Mizuho.<\/p>\n<h3>Developments<\/h3>\n<p>With a two-week ceasefire set to expire later this week, the renewed tension casts doubt on the prospects of a second round of talks between the U.S. and Iran in Islamabad.<\/p>\n<p>According to a senior Iranian official, Tehran is considering joining the negotiations, but no final decision has been made.<\/p>\n<p>Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar that the &#8220;ongoing ceasefire violations&#8221; by the US are a key obstacle to the continuation of the diplomatic process.<\/p>\n<p>For his part, Donald Trump said over the weekend that he was unsure whether to extend the ceasefire, but stressed that the naval blockade would remain in place.<\/p>\n<p>Apart from the tension, analysts point out that oil prices remain lower than the highs recorded at the start of the Middle East crisis. As Yorger noted, &#8220;barring a full-scale military conflict, prices may move gradually downward.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Navigation of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world&#8217;s oil and LNG supply passes, remains essentially frozen, with just three transits recorded in the past 12 hours, according to shipping watchdog data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prices are soaring after renewed tensions in the Middle East and fears of disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.The international &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}