The oil price rose dramatically following the US President Donald Trump’s announcement to hold Iran responsible for any further attack on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and on Israel.
Crude oil prices extended gains on Tuesday as the US crude futures West Texas Intermediate for April 2025 rose 0.28% to $67.77 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent crude futures for May 2025 increased 0.28% to $71.27 a barrel. Both benchmarks gained about 0.6% on Monday.
This threat is in response to the alliance that Iran has with Houthis, a militant group in Yemen that started targeting commercial shipping traversing the Red Sea in late 2023. Their missile strikes forced many ships to reroute their travel path.
Houthis’s action meant to assist Hamas, the Palestinian group that also allied with Iran and responsible to the attack at southern Israel. Hamas’ action, however, led to Israel’s military response on ground and air above Gaza.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social, stating Iran will hold responsible to every shot Houthis made from now on. He also stated that Iran will suffer the consequences and those consequences will be dire.
Moreover, Trump also reimposed a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran to reduce its oil exports. The US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, confirmed that Trump and his administration now aim to collapse Iran’s economy.
As for the response to the Houthis attacking on the commercial ship, Trump launched an airstrike against the militant group over the weekend, leading to the death of 53 people, according to a spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry.
US Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, stated that the US will stop the attack when Houthi halts theirs.
