Oil Prices Hormuz War Risk Fuels Weekly Gain

Hormuz  – (Special Correspondent/Web Desk) – Oil prices Hormuz war fears pushed crude higher on Friday, putting both major benchmarks on track for strong weekly gains. Traders remain worried that fresh fighting between the US and Iran could choke off supply from one of the world’s busiest oil routes.

Brent crude edged up 19 cents, or 0.25%, to trade at $76.49 a barrel early Friday. US West Texas Intermediate also rose 19 cents, or 0.26%, reaching $72.27. For the week, Brent is up close to 6%, while WTI has climbed about 5%.

The Brent crude Iran war story is simple but tense. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has slowed to a crawl this week after fresh strikes rattled the region. This narrow waterway normally carries about one-fifth of the world’s daily oil and gas supply, so any slowdown there quickly shakes global markets.

Vandana Hari, who runs the oil market research firm Vanda Insights, said prices have cooled off from their mid-week peak. Still, she noted that a large risk premium remains built into prices, since there’s no clear timeline for shipping to return to normal through Hormuz.

She also pointed out that markets are holding back from bigger price jumps because traders still expect the US and Iran to eventually return to the negotiating table.

This latest round of fighting began after Iranian forces struck US military sites across several Gulf states on Thursday. That came right after the US carried out fresh strikes on Iran’s southern coast and eastern regions. The exchange has put real strain on a ceasefire that was only three weeks old.

Iranian media also reported explosions in parts of southern Iran, including near Bushehr, home to one of the country’s nuclear facilities.

The timing carries extra weight. This new wave of attacks happened on the same day Iran completed funeral rites for its late supreme leader, following a week of large public mourning across the country.

Ship-tracking data shows tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has nearly stopped. Vessel owners are staying cautious after Iran targeted a Qatari LNG carrier that was leaving the strait near Oman’s coast.

Despite the tension, US President Donald Trump downplayed fears of a full return to war. He said he doesn’t expect the conflict to escalate further and predicted that any new fighting would end quickly.

Daniel Hynes, a senior commodity strategist at ANZ Bank, said markets found some comfort in one key detail. Even as the US expanded its strikes, it has so far avoided hitting Iran’s energy infrastructure directly. That restraint, paired with Trump’s comments ruling out a full-scale war, has helped keep oil prices from spiking even higher.

For now, traders are watching two things closely: whether shipping through Hormuz picks back up, and whether diplomacy can hold the fragile ceasefire together. Both will decide where oil prices head next week.