Oil prices steadied on Wednesday morning after the US and Iran exchanged another round of strikes, lengthening the first return to direct conflict between the two nations in roughly a month.
Futures on Brent crude (BZ=F), the international benchmark, ticked down by roughly 0.4% to hold above $94 per barrel, while those on US benchmark WTI crude (CL=F) steadied just below $90. The two benchmarks ticked up to their highest prices in more than a month earlier in the session, reaching $97.04 on Brent and $92.29 on WTI contracts.
The US military late Tuesday night launched a new round of strikes targeting “air defense sites, radar systems, maritime assets and facilities, mine laying capabilities, and communications sites” inside Iran, per US Central Command.
US military leadership said the strikes were in retaliation for attempts by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps to threaten through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran quickly thereafter claimed it had begun a “decisive operation” against US military sites in Jordan and Bahrain, per the state-affiliated Tasnim news agency.
The renewal of conflict between the US and Iran, now roughly four days deep after a month of quiet, has brought the specter of energy-driven inflation back to the forefront, with a critical Fed decision only weeks away.
The resumption of violence also comes only two months out from the US midterm elections, with the White House under increasing pressure to find a way to end the war. President Trump said late Tuesday night that he is “not trying to force Iran to the negotiating table.”
“I couldn’t care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement,” the president wrote. “I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing. They are just playing out the inevitable. When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?”