Oil prices jumped and global stocks mostly retreated in July 13 trading after the United States and Iran exchanged fire in the Middle East and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vowed to block vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz until what it called U.S. “interference” in the waterway ends.
In early U.S. trading, the price of Brent crude, the international standard, gained 3.9 percent to $78.96 per barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude oil added 4 percent to $74.26 per barrel.
Prices for both types of crude had recently fallen back to around pre-war levels after Washington and Tehran in mid-June signed a memorandum of understanding that paused the conflict and—at least on paper—fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz for shipments of oil and other key commodities….