. US forces began “powerful strikes” to impose heavy costs for attacks on shipping, US Central Command said. Explosions were heard on an island close to the strait, Iranian news agency Mehr reported, and Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tehran would respond.
The US Treasury revoked a sanctions waiver that had allowed Tehran to sell oil, reversing course on a key element of the interim peace deal agreed with the Islamic Republic. Three ships were attacked in the waterway, including a gas carrier and a Saudi oil tanker, meaning Tuesday saw the largest volume of incidents since the agreement came into effect last month.
European natural gas futures also jumped, rising as much as 4.9%.Oil’s rebound, after futures had plunged in the second quarter as regional tensions cooled, threatens a new wave of disruption for global energy markets. The attacks — both against commercial vessels and the US reprisals — stand to dissuade shipowners and regional producers from attempting transits of Hormuz, which links Persian Gulf suppliers to global markets.
Ahead of the latest incidents, banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. had warned the crude market risked flipping back to a surplus as regional producers rushed to restore crude output and traffic through the strait picked up. In addition, OPEC+ had pressed on with a rollback of supply curbs.
Control of Hormuz is one of the main points of disagreement between Washington and Tehran. On Tuesday, Iran told the United Nations’ shipping agency that it has authority over parts of the waterway, which in peacetime used to handle about a fifth of the daily global trade in oil.
Brent’s prompt spread shifted back into backwardation, a bullish pattern marked by the near-term prices trading above later-dated ones. The gap was 23 cents a barrel on Wednesday, a reversal from the 25 cents in contango, the opposite structure, seen at the start of the week.
With inputs from Bloomberg
First Published: Jul 8, 2026 6:29 AM IS
