Oil prices neared $92 per barrel in early trade on Wednesday as tensions continued to flare up in the Middle East, with US President Donald Trump asserting that the US is engaged in no talks with Iran, further stoking supply worries even as he insisted that the Strait of Hormuz was open for traffic.
Brent crude futures rose 57 cents, or 0.6 per cent, to $91.59, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures jumped 62 cents to $85.56 a barrel, extending gains. Both benchmarks gained more than 5 per cent last week after attacks on tankers operated by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the Strait of Hormuz and an attack on a Saudi Aramco refinery.
A temporary ceasefire agreement between Iran and the US expired on Monday. A senior Iranian official meanwhile told Reuters that the country was moving to a "fully offensive" military posture due to the diplomatic stalemate, though there were no reports of fresh strikes by either side on Tuesday.
As Trump continued to assert his control over the Strait of Hormuz through an AI-generated image depicting the strategic waterway as "NEW US Territory", Iran hit back at the US President, warning that his claims would be "corrected", while labelling his claims as delusions.
Iran calls Trump delusional
Describing Trump as a “deluded man”, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Tuesday that while Trump had correctly referred to the "eternal Persian Gulf", his claims over the Strait of Hormuz would soon be corrected, either by circumstances or by Iran itself.
"Just as Trump correctly wrote the name of the eternal Persian Gulf, soon his delusion regarding the Strait of Hormuz will either be corrected or we will correct the delusions of this deluded man," Gharibabadi said in a post on X.
