Oil tops $100 as U.S. plans Iranian port blockade after talks fail

Monday April 13, 2026

A ship at the Strait of Hormuz

Oil markets surged back above $100 a barrel on Monday as trading resumed in Asia, after US-Iran talks collapsed without a fresh agreement and President Donald Trump said he would blockade Iranian ports.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, climbed 7.3% to $102.30 (£76.32), while US West Texas Intermediate rose 8.7% to $104.94.

The breakdown in weekend negotiations has deepened fears that the worldwide energy crunch could worsen.

Crude had fallen sharply below $100 last Wednesday, when Washington and Tehran agreed to a conditional two-week ceasefire that also called for the reopening of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

The waterway, through which about a fifth of the world’s energy shipments flow, has emerged as a central pressure point in the Iran war after Tehran responded to US-Israeli strikes by warning it would target vessels using the route.

Since the conflict began on 28 February, shipping has largely ground to a halt, although some countries, including India and Malaysia, have secured safe passage for their ships.

The disruption has driven energy costs higher across the globe.

Economist Chua Yeow Hwee of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University said the US-Iran negotiations were being closely monitored for any sign that oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz might soon stabilize.

“Oil prices are likely to remain elevated because expectations now depend on whether the blockade is fully implemented, whether shipping disruptions spread, and whether diplomacy resumes,” he said.

Asian equity markets also weakened on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 0.7% and South Korea’s Kospi falling 1%.

Countries across Asia have been hit particularly hard by the fallout from the Iran war because many depend heavily on oil imported from the Middle East.

US stock futures were also pointing to a weaker open on Wall Street.

Stock futures are contracts in which investors agree to buy or sell an asset later at a predetermined price, and they are often used as a guide to where markets may be heading.

Energy and financial markets have been swinging sharply in recent weeks as investors react to new developments in the conflict.

Brent crude had dropped to about $90 a barrel on 8 April after the US and Iran agreed to the conditional two-week ceasefire that included reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Since then, prices have seesawed as confidence in the truce faded and Israeli strikes on Lebanon continued.

Oil prices have now “rewound” to where they stood before the ceasefire was announced and could climb further in the days ahead if tensions intensify, analyst Saul Kavonic of financial services firm MST Marquee told the BBC.

“The truth is, oil prices are not as high as they normally would be” given the extent of supply disruption, because traders still hope shipments will resume soon, Kavonic said.

“But if that doesn’t happen, oil prices will head higher,” he added.

In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump said the US would begin “BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz”.

US Central Command (Centcom) later said the blockade of traffic entering and leaving Iranian ports would take effect at 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT) on Monday.

It would be enforced “impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas,” Centcom said in a social media post.

Centcom also said it “will not impede” ships in the Strait of Hormuz heading “to and from non-Iranian ports”.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the Iranian parliamentary speaker who led Tehran’s negotiations in Pakistan, said the country “will not submit to any threat, in a statement carried by local media.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Naval Forces said any military vessels moving close to the strait would be treated as violating the ceasefire between Washington and Tehran and “dealt with severely”.