{"id":462485,"date":"2026-05-01T02:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T02:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/462485\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T02:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T02:28:12","slug":"oil-prices-hit-wartime-high-as-iran-vows-to-keep-control-of-hormuz-strait-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/462485\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil prices hit wartime high as Iran vows to keep control of Hormuz strait \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran\u2019s<\/a> new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei<\/a> has vowed to \u201cprevent the enemy\u2019s abuses\u201d of the Strait of Hormuz and safeguard the country\u2019s nuclear capabilities, after talks with the US<\/a> reached a stalemate.<\/p>\n

Oil<\/a> prices swung wildly on Thursday amid signs that the key waterway could remain closed for an extended period, after US president Donald Trump<\/a> told oil executives that the blockade on the strait could continue for \u201cmonths\u201d. <\/p>\n

Brent crude climbed to its highest level since 2022 \u2013 $126 (\u20ac107) \u2013 before dropping more than $13 as traders fretted they had overreacted to the latest twist in the Iran conflict<\/a>.<\/p>\n

About 20 per cent of the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas usually passes through the strait and the conflict has sent global energy prices<\/a> soaring.<\/p>\n

There were also reports that US commanders would brief Trump on Thursday on a plan for a \u201cshort and powerful\u201d wave of strikes on Iran, in an effort to force Tehran to accelerate peace talks. <\/p>\n

In a written statement, meanwhile, Iran\u2019s leader \u2013 who has not been seen in public since he was appointed to take over from his father, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes in February \u2013 hailed Iran\u2019s \u201cnew management\u201d of the key waterway.<\/p>\n

He said Iranians would defend their nuclear and missile capabilities, along with other technologies, as a \u201cnational asset\u201d just as they would \u201cdefend their water, land and aerial borders\u201d, as the fate of the country\u2019s nuclear programme sits at the heart of the deadlocked talks with the US.<\/p>\n

\"BoatsBoats navigate the sea off Qeshm Island, Iran, in the Strait of Hormuz. Photograph: Asghar Besharati\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

The hawkish message from Khamenei, whose absence from public view has led to speculation he was badly injured in the strikes that killed his father, Ali Khamenei, followed a push by Iran\u2019s most hardline politicians to oppose negotiations with Washington amid a shaky ceasefire in the US-Israeli war against Iran.<\/p>\n

Describing the US as the \u201cgreat satan\u201d, Khamenei said that \u201ca new chapter is being written for the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz\u201d two months after the world\u2019s \u201cbullies\u201d unleashed the war, adding the US had suffered a \u201chumiliating defeat\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0US denies Iran war is a \u2018quagmire\u2019 as costs to hit $25bnOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bright future of the Persian Gulf region will be a future without America, serving the progress, comfort and welfare of its nations,\u201d he said in the message to mark Persian Gulf National Day, which commemorates the expulsion of Portuguese forces from the Strait of Hormuz in 1622.<\/p>\n

\"AA screen tracks marine traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Photograph: Maximilian Mann\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

Outsiders who came from thousands of kilometres away to \u201ccommit mischief\u201d had no place in the region \u201cexcept at the bottom of its waters\u201d, Khamenei said.<\/p>\n

The US launched its own blockade of Iranian ports after Tehran refused to reopen the key waterway and indicated it would seek to impose a toll system on vessels passing through.<\/p>\n

Local media reported last week that Tehran\u2019s central bank had received the first tolls from ships transiting the strait, without specifying any details. The stand-off over the waterway has persisted despite the ceasefire in early April.<\/p>\n

The new leader blamed the US for instability in the region, and said US military bases there were \u201cnot even capable of ensuring their own security, let alone offering security for those in the region who depend on and worship the US\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"AA billboard in Tehran depicts a hand representing Iran holding the Strait of Hormuz. Photograph: Arash Khamooshi\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

Pakistan had acted as a mediator in talks between the US and Iran following the ceasefire, but a second round of negotiations planned for last weekend fell apart after Iran insisted the US lift its blockade of Iranian ports before any talks. <\/p>\n

On Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, Washington has also demanded that Tehran give up its ability to enrich uranium and hand over its stockpile of the metal enriched close to weapons-grade levels. \u2013 Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has vowed to \u201cprevent the enemy\u2019s abuses\u201d of the Strait of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,356,18,35808,13,14,6,19,18929,17,11,12,15,16,175386,5,9951,7,8,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-462485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-energy-costs","13":"tag-featured-news","14":"tag-featurednews","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-iran","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-latest-news","20":"tag-latestnews","21":"tag-main-news","22":"tag-mainnews","23":"tag-mojtaba-khamenei","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-oil","26":"tag-top-stories","27":"tag-topstories","28":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116496964192788464","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}