Oil Prices Jump After Renewed Strikes In Gulf Put Shipping Recovery At Risk

July 8, 2026

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Oil prices surged on Wednesday after U.S. and Iranian forces traded strikes in the Persian Gulf and the Trump administration revoked a waiver that allowed Iran to sell oil in retaliation for attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial conduit for the world’s energy.

U.S. Central Command said that it hit over 80 targets in Iran in an operation that concluded in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Iran. Among the targets were dozens of small boats used by the Iranian military, “to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international commerce,” according to U.S. forces.

Iran’s military command responded by targeting 85 U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait on Wednesday and reiterating its claim to control traffic in the strait, prolonging a retaliatory cycle that could derail the nascent recovery in shipping traffic in the region.

Oil prices rise sharply, breaking relative period of calm.

Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, rose 6 percent, to above $76 a barrel, its highest level in two weeks. Although down significantly from its peak during the worst of the fighting, the recent jump pushed oil back above its prewar price of around $72 a barrel, where it had hovered for several days.
West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, also jumped, to nearly $73 a barrel. This grade of crude traded at $67 per barrel before the war.
Gasoline prices don’t move in lock step with crude. The U.S. national average price of gas was $3.79 a gallon on Tuesday, according to the AAA motor club. That price at the pump remains more than 27 percent higher than it was at the eve of the war in late February, amid signs that gas stations are maintaining wider profit margins amid the volatility.NYTimes