Oil prices globally – and fuel prices for UK motorists – have risen again as the world awaits the outcome of Donald Trump’s latest apocalyptic warning to Iran
Global oil prices rose ahead of Donald Trump’s doom-laden deadline to Iran.
The US President, writing on the Truth Social platform, warned “a whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again”, unless Tehran lifted the threat of attacks on ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
His deadline of 8pm Eastern time would be around 1am on Wednesday morning UK time. It came as US forces struck military targets on Iran’s oil export hub of Kharg Island. Trump ultimatum centred on Iran’s power plants and other infrastructure.
Brent crude rose to $110 a barrel by mid-afternoon on Tuesday. Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate crude was close to a four-week high at $115.3 a barrel.
Stock markets were also jittery while investors waited to see what happened, and if Trump would extend his self-imposed cut-off time. By late in the day, the UK’s FTSE 100 had tumbled more than 80 points, wiping £19billion off the value of the companies listed on it.
The Strait, through which about a fifth of global oil supply is normally shipped, has effectively been shut since US and Israeli attacks began on February 28.
Strikes on Iran intensified on Tuesday, including attacks on railway and road bridges, an airport and a petrochemical plant, and power lines, according to Iranian media.
Axel Rudolph, Chief Technical Analyst at investing and trading platform IG, said: “Markets remained on edge as the clock ticked down to President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to reach an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for global oil flows.”
Meanwhile, the energy shock triggered by the Iran war is worse than all other previous oil crisis combined, a top official has warned.
Fatih Borel, head of the International Energy Agency, said: “The world has never experienced a disruption to energy supply of such magnitude.”
He warned the impact on oil and gas supplies by Iran’s near blockade of the Strait of Hormuz was “more serious than the ones in 1973, 1979 and 2002 together”.
The Arab oil embargo of 1973 saw the blocking of shipments to a number of countries in response to their support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War, the 1979 crisis followed the Iranian revolution, and in 2002 China’s rapid economic growth saw demand for oil surge.
UK households continue to feel the impact most keenly at the pump, with fuel prices rising over the Easter weekend.
According to the AA, the nationwide for average for unleaded now stands at 157.2p a litre, and 189.2p for diesel. Last Tuesday, they stood at 152.1p and 180.9p a litre respectively.
They are still some way off the record pump prices at the beginning of July 2022 when petrol averaged 191.53p a litre and diesel reached 199.07p.
The AA also said the gap between cheaper supermarket pump prices and elsewhere was narrowing. The difference has been reduced on a litre of petrol from 7.55p two weeks ago to 5.45p last week.
Luke Bosdet, the AA’s spokesman on pump prices, said: “It was inevitable that supermarket pump prices were eventually going to start to catch up with their rivals.
“The worst part is that this then spurs other fuel stations who set their prices by what their local supermarkets charge to increase theirs.”
“The pump-price postcode lottery remains the bane of UK drivers’ lives. Chances are basic products on each supermarket’s shelves are the same price wherever you go, but road fuel is not.”
