Hormuz oil prices jumped more than 3% on Monday after weekend strikes raised new fears over energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude futures and US West Texas Intermediate crude both gained more than 3%. Reuters said Iran widened strikes on Gulf states after US attacks. Tehran extended strikes to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, while the United States launched more strikes on Iran.
President Trump said on Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz stayed open to commercial traffic. However, Iran said it had closed the waterway after striking a vessel that had used an unapproved route. As a result, traders faced a sharply mixed picture on whether shipments were still moving normally.
Hormuz Oil Prices Track Conflicting Transit Data
Kpler shiptracking data showed only six vessels crossed the strait on Sunday. That was the lowest count in five weeks. However, a US official told Axios that about 20 commercial vessels moved through the strait with US military coordination over the prior 24 hours, and several others crossed without that support.
Separately, the Joint Maritime Information Centre said ships could still use a route along the Omani coastline. Meanwhile, a Chinese tanker reportedly crossed on a route set by Iran. Therefore, the market had to weigh signs of disruption against reports that some traffic still passed through.
Analysts Split on the Interim Truce
The latest strikes also raised fresh doubts about an interim US-Iranian agreement signed last month. That deal aimed to reopen the strait and end the war after a further 60 days of talks. However, the new flare-up left analysts divided on whether a quick resolution was still likely.
One analyst said the weekend escalation may have weakened hopes for a fast end to the skirmishes. Another said the limited size of Monday’s move suggested traders still saw this as an escalation inside a fragile truce, not a full ceasefire collapse. Even so, that view remained unsettled.
The International Energy Agency said in its monthly report on Friday that global oil supply rose by 4.1 million barrels per day in June. Output still stood 9.4 million bpd below pre-war levels, which kept the market sensitive to any sign of lasting disruption.
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