Oil prices jump as Trump signals no rush to end Iran war in Oil & Companies News 24/04/2026 Oil prices gained on Friday as fears of a prolonged U.S.-Iran conflict grew after President Donald Trump said he was in no rush to end the war. Brent oil futures, the global benchmark, rose 1.7% to $106.88 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures added 1.4% to $97.21 a barrel by 04:47 ET (08:47 GMT). Brent and WTI were both on track for what would be their biggest weekly increase since early-March. Underpinning the uptick has been the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital conduit off of Iran’s southern coast through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes. Although major Middle Eastern producers, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have been reportedly exploring shipping routes that bypass the strait, it has stayed all but shuttered for tanker traffic for weeks, driving oil prices well above pre-war levels. Recent developments also pointed to a prolonged standoff in the strait despite the indefinite extension to a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran earlier this week. Iran has seized ships attempting to cross the strait this week, while the U.S. said it had captured Iranian vessels attempting to run an American blockade of Iranian ports. Uncertainty has surrounded any future peace talks as well. Trump told reporters on Thursday that he did not want to “rush” into a permanent deal with Iran, claiming that the U.S. had crippled Tehran’s military capabilities and that the country was in disarray. The president said he had ordered the U.S. Navy to “shoot and kill” any Iranian vessels attempting to mine the Strait of Hormuz. This was after Iran released videos of its commandos storming a ship, while touting its fast-boat capabilities in carrying out attacks in the strait. Trump separately announced that Israel and Lebanon agreed to a three-week extension in their ceasefire after talks in Washington, although the move provided little relief to markets. Source: Investing.com 2026-04-24 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share