Brent crude prices had surged towards $97 a barrel in early trade on Monday as US-Iran tensions remained heightened in West Asia.
Brent crude had gained 1%to hit a high of $96.9 a barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate also crossed the $90 mark to trade near $92 a barrel.
The United States said that over the weekend, it launched strikes against three Iranian tankers, destroying one, which sank in the Gulf of Oman. This was in retaliation to Iran’s ballistic missiles attack on US’ naval warships.
Iran also declared a new restricted zone outside the Strait of Hormuz, as per a top security official, which is set to be officially announcing in the coming days, as per Press TV reports. The restricted zone is set to begin from the US navy blockade line and extend into areas of the Persian gulf.
Iran too claimed it targeted three tankers. However, there was no independent confirmation regarding the same.
On another note, US President Donald Trump was on a posting spree in the early hours of Monday (US local time), firing off a string of provocative claims with AI-generated videos.While his posts were aimed at New Mexico, Canada’s PM and more, with regards to Iran he posted a series of charts and claimed that Iran’s oil exports were “crashing” and its economy was experiencing hyperinflation and its currency was “destroyed”. He called the Strait of Hormuz the “new US territory” in a series of posts, shared a map labelling the same and shared an image of him smashing Iran’s map with a US flagged-hammer.
With inputs from agencies
