Oil Futures Fall After Mediators Propose US-Iran Ceasefire

Crude oil futures declined on July 21 amid reports that mediators proposed a 10-day ceasefire between the United States and Iran. , down 0.77 percent, while September West Texas Intermediate futures reached $82.17 per barrel, down 0.38 percent. On the Multi Commodity Exchange, August crude oil futures opened at ₹7,943 per barrel, down 0.08 percent from the prior close, and September contracts traded at ₹7,822 per barrel, down 0.22 percent.

Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING Think, and Ewa Manthey, commodities strategist, said prices had closed higher on July 20 but retreated from intraday peaks, leaving Brent below $90 per barrel. m. ET on July 20 against Iranian military command centers, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and air defense systems.

The command added that commercial vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz continued afterward. Since early May, Central Command forces have facilitated the transit of about 900 commercial vessels and 450 million barrels of crude oil through the strait. The Houthis in Yemen announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia exported roughly 4.6 million barrels per day from Yanbu in June, up from 1.3 million barrels per day at the start of the year. Patterson and Manthey noted that an effective blockade would force vessels to reroute around Africa, raising insurance costs, though the market showed little conviction that the measure would succeed.

President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that Iran would pay many times over for any killing of an American soldier and said the directive had been passed to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Daniel Caine, and other military leaders.