Oil prices rose on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, as doubts about a United States-Iran peace deal and attacks on two ships fuelled concerns about Middle East supply disruptions.
Brent futures gained 72 cents, or 0.81%, to $89.63 a barrel by 0053 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 71 cents, or 0.85%, to $83.91.
Both benchmark contracts settled more than $1 higher on Tuesday, marking their highest closes since July 31 and extending gains after jumping about 5% on Monday as hopes for a peace deal between the United States and Iran began to fade.
The United States and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis reported separate attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday.
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Iran’s top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, said on Tuesday that the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping route would remain closed unless the U.S. accepted Iran’s conditions for ending the war, including the release of frozen Iranian assets and an end to other conflicts across the region.
Shipping data showed that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz dropped to six vessels on Monday, compared with a 10-day average of about 11. Before the war, daily traffic through the waterway averaged 125 to 140 vessels.
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