{"id":245922,"date":"2026-08-12T08:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T08:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/245922\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T08:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T08:59:09","slug":"ftse-100-slips-as-us-iran-tensions-over-strait-of-hormuz-escalate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/245922\/","title":{"rendered":"FTSE 100 slips as US-Iran tensions over Strait of Hormuz escalate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Man<\/a> Man with folded arms over chart of FTSE 100 \u00a9Shutterstock <\/p>\n

UK equities moved slightly lower on Wednesday as worsening tensions between the United States and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz took attention away from closely watched US inflation figures due later in the day. <\/p>\n

The FTSE 100 was 0.08% lower as of 03:25 ET (07:25 GMT). Elsewhere in Europe, Germany’s DAX advanced 0.12%, while France’s CAC 40 declined 0.19%. Sterling was broadly steady against the US dollar, with GBP\/USD edging 0.03% higher to 1.3510. <\/p>\n

Geopolitical concerns intensified early on Wednesday after U.S. Central Command said American forces had disabled the steering system of the Panama-flagged cargo ship M\/V Vela Nova in the Gulf of Oman. According to CENTCOM, the vessel had attempted to breach the US blockade affecting Iran-bound shipping. <\/p>\n

CENTCOM said a US Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles into the ship’s engine room after its crew failed to respond to repeated warnings. It added that, as of August 11, US forces had redirected 55 vessels, disabled three and boarded another two. <\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump reinforced Washington’s position on Tuesday, reiterating that the United States had “total control” of the strategic waterway. Trump said, “We have total control over the Strait of Hormuz right now\u2026 We own it,” while warning that any Iranian retaliation would face a “forceful” response. <\/p>\n

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei disputed Washington’s account of the situation, blaming the closure of the Strait on “US-Israeli military aggression”. He also said negotiations between Tehran and Oman over a new transit route were progressing “smoothly and constructively,” although reopening the waterway would depend on the removal of conditions imposed on Iran. <\/p>\n

In a separate development, Trump confirmed reports that his aircraft was secretly changed during his departure from last month’s NATO summit in Turkiye because of an alleged Iranian assassination threat. <\/p>\n

Jefferies strategist Mohit Kumar cautioned that a lasting resolution could prove difficult. In a note to clients, he said “there is no easy way out of the current situation, with Iran unlikely to give up control over the Strait and US unwilling to accept tolls,” adding that any agreement reached in the near term would probably be “more a fudge\u2026 rather than a long-lasting peaceful solution.” <\/p>\n

Energy prices moved higher as traders continued to assess potential disruption to oil supplies through the Strait. Brent crude gained 0.66% to $89.50, while WTI crude increased 0.77% to $83.83. Gold futures rose 0.41% to $4,459.47, with spot gold advancing 0.73% to $4,399.69. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Man with folded arms over chart of FTSE 100 \u00a9Shutterstock UK equities moved slightly lower on Wednesday as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[141,2272,34,864,101],"class_list":["post-245922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-centcom","tag-ftse-100","tag-iran","tag-president-donald-trump","tag-strait-of-hormuz"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117081719609189526","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}