finance
Oil Prices Near Pre-War Levels Four Months After US-Israel Strikes on Iran
@AJEnglish reported that oil prices have returned close to pre-conflict levels more than four months after the late February 2026 start of the US-Israel war on Iran. Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz peaked then fell after vessel attacks, while suppliers shifted to pipelines and governments promoted renewables.
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Oil prices have returned to levels near those before the US-Israel war on Iran began in late February 2026, after swinging higher than at any point since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. More than four months later, the conflict has already prompted shifts in shipping routes and accelerated moves toward renewable energy, according to @AJEnglish reported.
The Strait of Hormuz carried about one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies in peacetime and handled roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day before the war.
Iran agreed in a June 17 memorandum of understanding with the United States to make its “best efforts” to ensure safe vessel passage. Traffic reached a post-war peak of more than 70 transits on June 24 before dropping sharply after attacks on two commercial ships over the following weekend.
Energy suppliers increased use of Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline, the United Arab Emirates’ Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline, and the Iraq-Turkiye Crude Oil Pipeline.
The al-Yarmouk oil tanker sailed in Gulf waters off Kuwait City on June 27. Global renewable energy capacity reached a record high in 2025, with non-fossil projects accounting for 86 percent of added power capacity that year. Adi Imsirovic, a veteran oil trader who lectures at the University of Oxford, said the oil market will never be the same.
“New pipelines will urgently be built. New security arrangements will be put into place, and the buyers of oil from the region will look elsewhere for diversification,” he told @AJEnglish. Dan Marks, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said long-term concern over transits will persist while the current Iranian regime remains in place.
