Both Brent and WTI crude settle at highest levels since mid-June
Global oil prices on Monday book their biggest daily percentage jump in six years Monday as President Donald Trump's renewed naval blockade on Iranian ports threatens to escalate Middle East tensions.
Oil prices surged on Monday, with the global benchmark topping $83 a barrel and booking its largest daily jump since 2020 after President Donald Trump reimposed the naval blockade on Iranian ports around the Strait of Hormuz in response to the renewed strikes between the U.S. and Iran over the weekend.
The president also claimed the U.S. would be "reimbursed" a 20% fee on the value of all cargo transported through the waterway in exchange for safe passage. The details of the initiative were not immediately clear.
Brent crude for September delivery (BRNU26) (BRN00), the global benchmark, was up 9.6% to settle at $83.30 a barrel. It was the highest settlement value since June 12 and the largest one-day percentage gain since May 5, 2020, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery (CLQ26) (CL.1) was up 9.4%, to $78.14 a barrel. The U.S. oil benchmark logged its biggest daily jump since April, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Trump's renewed naval blockade on Monday threatens to escalate Middle East tensions, and comes as traffic in the Strait of Hormuz dwindled and Iran declared the waterway closed over the weekend.
However, market analysts think the broader financial market has good reason to take Trump's latest announcement with a grain of salt.
"Only last month U.S. authorities said that it was illegal for countries to charge tolls on international waterways, so this threat may disintegrate when it hits reality," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.
But the heightened tensions in the Middle East still mean that those hoping for a quiet July are in for a shock, she added.
"The recent rally in crude oil is being driven by a recognition that the road to reopening Hormuz is going to be longer and bumpier than thought," said Colin Cieszynski, portfolio manager and chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management. "This situation is clearly not all sunshine and rainbows, it's cold and foggy."
But despite "all of the saber-rattling," U.S. oil prices are still "closer to their trough than their peak" for the year. "So on a certain level, markets also appear to be taking the ongoing rhetoric in stride," he told MarketWatch on Monday.
On Sunday, the U.S. launched strikes on multiple Iranian military targets after Iran fired at commercial vessels trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran, which objects to shipping lanes running through Oman's territorial waters, also claimed the waterway was closed to shipping traffic.
Kpler's MarineTraffic data service reported Monday that commercial crossings through the strait fell by around 52% over the weekend compared with earlier this month, with just 12 sanctioned crossings observed on Sunday.
The U.S.-Iran conflict has squeezed shipping traffic to a trickle. Before the war began in late February, more than 100 ships crossed the critical waterway each day.
"The recent flare-up in attacks on shipping by Iran has interrupted and postponed the potential 'return to normal' on shipments out of the Persian Gulf," said Gary Cunningham, director of market research at energy-consulting firm Tradition Energy. "It has also exposed some new facilities that Iran is using to stage the attacks, so the U.S. is now targeting those facilities to limit Iran's ability to continue to threaten shipping in international waters."
In the view of Patrick Munnelly, a strategist at Tickmill Group, Brent crude is still well below the $95-a-barrel level seen since the conflict started at the end of February, and levels that reached $100 a barrel at the end of May.
"That matters for the bond-market interpretation," he said. "If 10-year Treasury yields just north of 4.5% were consistent with oil above $100, they are not obviously too low with oil near $79, especially with some firmer U.S. employment signals still in the mix," Munnelly added.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note BX:TMUBMUSD10Y was up 5 basis points to trade at 4.616% on Monday afternoon, according to FactSet data.
The sharp move higher in oil prices on Monday has U.S. traders recalibrating their interest-rate outlook for the rest of 2026. Fed funds futures were pointing to a 41.2% chance of an interest-rate hike from the Federal Reserve at this month's policy meeting, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
"Likewise, higher oil prices means greater inflation risks and the BOE and the ECB are also likely to be watching out for any second round inflation effects from the latest bout of tension in the Middle East," Brooks told MarketWatch on Monday.
Barbara Kollmeyer and Mike Murphy contributed
-Isabel Wang -Myra P. Saefong
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July 13, 2026 15:43 ET (19:43 GMT)
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