Oil prices rise as investors weigh US, Iran threats

Oil prices rose on Monday, March 23, 2026, as investors weighed rising United States and Iranian threats over energy facilities against the release of millions of barrels of seaborne Iranian oil after U.S. temporarily removed sanctions.

Brent crude futures rose 65 cents to $112.84 a barrel by 0446 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate was at $98.75 a barrel, up 84 cents.

Both contracts were down more than $1 earlier in the session.

The spread of more than $13 a barrel between Brent and WTI is the widest in years.

“Oil sentiment may lurch on threats and rhetoric in the near term, but ⁠its more durable direction will continue to be shaped by the state of Middle East oil flows,” said Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights.

On Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if it did not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, barely a day after he talked about “winding down” the war, now in its fourth week.

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Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf wrote on X that critical infrastructure and energy facilities in the Middle East could be “irreversibly destroyed” if Iranian power plants were attacked.

The founder of Energy Aspects, Amrita Sen, said: “It clearly means more escalation, which means higher oil prices. Some are incorrectly thinking, however, that Iran may cave.

“Trump is trying to show he can out-escalate and that way ends in scorched earth for Gulf infrastructure.”

The crisis in the Middle ‌East ⁠is “very severe” and worse than the two oil shocks of the 1970s put together, Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, told Reuters on Monday.

The war has damaged major energy facilities in the Gulf and nearly halted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which handles about 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows.

Analysts estimated a loss of 7 million to 10 million barrels per day of oil production in the Middle East.

The Star