Oil prices hiked Wednesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Iran again after declaring the ceasefire with the country over.
West Texas Intermediate futures were 4.9% higher at $73.89 U.S. per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, jumped 5.2% to $78.02 U.S. per barrel. Both were off earlier highs over 6%.
Trump was asked at the NATO alliance summit in Ankara, Turkey whether the ceasefire with Iran was over. The U.S. bombed Iran overnight in retaliation for attacks on three tankers that crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.
“To me, I think it’s over,” Trump said at a joint press conference with NATO chief Mark Rutte. “I don’t want to deal with them anymore … as far as I’m concerned, it’s over.”
Trump added that Washington’s delegation wanted to negotiate a peace deal but that he saw it as “a waste of time dealing with” the Iranian side.
He later threatened to bomb Iran again Wednesday night.
The U.S. bombed more than 80 targets in Iran overnight including its air defense systems, command and control networks, radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities and small boats, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command.
A ceasefire reached between the two sides last month reopened the critical Strait of Hormuz for commercial shipping after months of disruption.
Signaling that things have taken a turn for the worse, the U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday withdrew a waiver that had allowed Iran to sell its oil.
In a statement earlier Wednesday, Iran’s foreign ministry labeled the strikes a “gross violation of the Memorandum of Understanding” Washington and Tehran reached last month to bring their war to an end.
