finance
Oil Prices Rise and Stocks Fall After U.S. and Iran Exchange Strikes
Brent crude climbed 4.7 percent to $79.59 a barrel and U.S. crude futures gained 3.4 percent after the latest round of strikes. European equities declined while Asian indexes also fell.
Jul 12, 6:24 PM·2m read7 sources
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Los Angeles TimesAudio version
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Oil prices rose and European stocks declined after the U.S. and Iran exchanged fresh strikes overnight. Brent crude rose 4.7 percent to $79.59 a barrel. U.S. crude oil futures gained 3.4 percent to $73.87 per barrel by 6:03 p.m.
ET on Sunday. U.S. Central Command said the strikes were intended to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The command stated that President Trump directed the strikes to hold Iranian forces accountable.
The weekend strikes marked the fourth round in the past week. Iranian state media reported that the Revolutionary Guard closed the Strait of Hormuz until further notice. U.S. Central Command stated the strait remained open to all vessels seeking lawful transit and that Iran does not control the strait and traffic is flowing.
President Trump said in an NBC News interview aired Sunday that the strait was open. Kpler data showed six vessels crossed the strait on Sunday, the fewest in five weeks. Windward tracked nine ships that transited the strait on Saturday.
Three empty tankers entered the Gulf to load oil on Sunday, according to Kpler. The very large crude carrier Humanity carried 2 million barrels of Iranian oil through the strait. The tanker Capetan Andreas carried about 500,000 barrels of Kuwaiti oil products.
Iran struck U.S. military facilities in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman on Sunday, Tasnim reported. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stated its navy stopped two ships in the strait on Sunday by shutting down their systems.
The U.S. military hit 140 targets in Iran the day before Sunday’s strikes. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had attacked a container ship in the strait, prompting the U.S. response. The U.S. and Iran signed an interim peace deal on June 17.
About 20 percent of the world’s oil supplies transited the strait before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran began attacking ships in early March. Gold fell 1.5 percent to $4,060.36 per ounce on Monday.
