Oil prices soar as Trump signals growing frustration with Iran

Oil prices gained more than 1% on Friday, May 15, 2026, after United States President Donald Trump said he would not be ‌much more patient with Iran.

This was just as concerns persisted over ship attacks and seizures despite Iran saying about 30 vessels had passed through the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude oil futures rose $1.32, or 1.25%, to $107.04 a barrel by 0425 GMT, while U.S. ​West Texas Intermediate futures were up $1.33, or 1.31%, to $102.50.

For the week, Brent has climbed nearly ​6%, while WTI has jumped more than 7%, on uncertainty over the shaky ceasefire ⁠in the Iran conflict.

“I am not going to be much more patient. They should make a deal,” Trump said in an interview aired ​on Thursday night on Fox News.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Friday morning ​that China was being very pragmatic about involvement with Iran, and it was important to China to have the Strait of Hormuz open.

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Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping are set to meet on Friday to wrap up a ​two-day state visit that has featured pomp and business deals.

“With the Beijing summit not delivering any breakthrough on ​Iran, market focus is back on the deadlock and a blockaded Strait, with a tail risk of renewed military escalation,” the founder of oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights, ⁠Vandana Hari, told Reuters.

Among deals the market was looking out for from the summit, Trump said China wants to buy oil from the United States.

In incidents around the Strait of Hormuz, a ship was reported seized by Iranian personnel off the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and headed for Iranian waters on ​Thursday, and an Indian cargo ​vessel carrying livestock from ⁠Africa to the UAE was sunk on Wednesday in waters off the coast of Oman.

The White House said Trump and Xi had agreed on the need to ​keep the shipping lane open.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said 30 vessels had crossed the Strait ​of Hormuz since ⁠Wednesday evening, still far short of 140 that were typical daily before the war, but a substantial increase if confirmed.