Oil prices surged on Wednesday after U.S. and Iranian forces traded strikes in and around the Persian Gulf and the Trump administration revoked a waiver that allowed the sale of Iranian oil in retaliation for attacks on three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial conduit for the world’s energy flows.
U.S. Central Command said that it hit over 80 targets in Iran in an operation that concluded in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Iran. Among the targets were dozens of small boats used by the Iranian military, “to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international commerce,” according to U.S. forces.
Iran’s military command responded by reiterating its claim to control traffic in the strait and pledging a “crushing response” to the latest U.S. strikes. Iran’s forces said they targeted 85 U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait on Wednesday, prolonging a retaliatory cycle that could derail the nascent recovery in shipping traffic in the region.
