Global oil prices surged to their highest level on Thursday since the start of the U.S.-Iran war, prompting a top Iranian leader to mock the Trump administration’s strategy of blockading the country’s ports near the Strait of Hormuz and suggesting that prices could climb even higher.
The Strait of Hormuz remains blockaded as oil prices surged to their highest level in four years.
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The global benchmark Brent Crude futures surged to $126 per barrel on Thursday morning, the highest level it has hit since 2022, before paring the gains and settling below $120 per barrel.
The U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate briefly breached the $110 per barrel mark before settling at just under $108 per barrel.
The surge in oil prices followed an Axios report that Trump is scheduled to receive a briefing on new plans for potential military action against Iran on Thursday.
Earlier on Wednesday, Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf, one of the country’s senior-most leaders, addressed the rising oil prices on X by taking several jibes at the White House, saying the “junk advice” the U.S. administration has relied on has “cranked oil up to $120+.”
Without specifying what his country plans to do, Ghalibaf warned of a further increase saying, “Next stop:140.”
Ghalibaf’s post specifically called out the U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said last week the U.S. Navy’s blockade of Iranian oil tankers would cause Kharg Island’s storage to get full and the “fragile Iranian oil wells” would be forced to shut “in a matter of days.” The Iranian leader wrote: “3 days in, no well exploded. We could extend to 30 and livestream the well here.”
Earlier this month, Ghalibaf mocked oil traders and U.S. bond market traders, accusing them of engaging in “vibe-trading” after oil prices dropped below $100 per barrel. “Vibe-trading digital oil is like vibe-hedging in treasuries during Hormuz risk-off. Both share one house of cards that works on paper,” he wrote at the time. Since the start of the war, Ghalibaf has repeatedly accused President Donald Trump and his administration of using news of the conflict to manipulate the market. In an X post last month, he mocked the president’s early morning Truth Social posts, saying: “Pre-market so-called ‘news’ or ‘Truth’ is often just a setup for profit-taking. Basically, it’s a reverse indicator.” He chimed in again on April 1, tweeting: “Out-of-context quotes + manufactured FOMO = War profiteering 101.”
$4.30 per gallon. That is the national average price of gasoline according to AAA’s fuel prices tracker, the highest level it has been since 2022. After briefly declining last week, gas prices have continued to move sharply upwards. The average gas price rose by 6 cents on Tuesday, five cents on Wednesday and a further eight cents on Thursday. Gas prices have risen more than 44% since the start of the war.
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