Key facts
- Oil prices are marching higher for the fourth consecutive session.
- Uncertainty between the US and Iran has increased.
- Concerns persist over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
- President Donald Trump issued sweeping new demands on Iran.
- Iran is negotiating with Oman to partially open the Strait of Hormuz.
- Iran has set six conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Oil prices are marching higher for the fourth consecutive session, supported by new uncertainty between the US and Iran and continued agitation over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – was holding above $87 per barrel on Tuesday morning. The latest rise follows President Donald Trump issuing sweeping new demands on Iran, including compensation for people the Islamic Republic has killed in conflicts, after Tehran reiterated calls for reparations as part of negotiations to wind down the conflict. Trump declared that it “always works out” as he said the US will scale down the intensity of its efforts to reopen shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. “We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” he told Axios. “It will work out. It always works out. It’s like a chess game.” Tehran is also in negotiations with Oman to partially open up the narrow waterway, but has set out six conditions the US must meet, including a permanent end to the war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq.