Oil prices rose on Tuesday after a senior Iranian official said the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until Washington meets Tehran’s conditions. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 1.4% to $83.25 a barrel at 1:23 p.m. ET. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 1.2% to $88.75 per barrel. The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, demanded that the United States unfreeze Iranian funds held abroad as a condition for the opening of Hormuz, according to Reuters. The oil market on Tuesday weighed conflicting signals about whether the United States and Iran will reach a deal to increase traffic through Hormuz. President Donald Trump has stepped up his rhetoric this week, demanding that Iran pay reparations to the USB, but Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told Bloomberg News on Tuesday that “things are shaping up again in favor of a peace deal or an agreement.” Pakistan mediated the US-Iran interim deal in June, which collapsed and sparked new fighting in Hormuz. Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that a deal on Hormuz could be reached soon, but that it has not yet materialized. Ship traffic through Hormuz remained very low on Monday, with only eight ships crossing the strait, according to data from trade intelligence firm Kpler. More than 130 ships crossed Hormuz before the United States and Israel attacked on February 28. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Tuesday that oil exports through Hormuz have reached a seven-day moving average of 9 million barrels per day thanks to the U.S. military. Total oil flows from the Gulf region average about 15 million bpd when pipeline exports are included, Wright said. Meanwhile, Trump on Monday extended the suspension of a shipping law that restricts the transportation of goods between U.S. ports to U.S. ships, while narrowing the exemption only to vessels carrying certain energy resources. The move came after data showed the US government’s crude oil reserves have fallen to their lowest level in more than four decades.
