Oil prices pulled back on Tuesday after a sharp increase a day earlier.
They had surged on Monday as the fragile truce in the Middle East appeared to be in jeopardy. The United Arab Emirates said it had been attacked by Iran, while the U.S. military said Iran had fired at the ships and commercial vessels that the Navy was guiding through the Strait of Hormuz, the vital trading route for oil and gas.
It remained unclear whether the attacks on Monday meant that the cease-fire had collapsed and the war had resumed.
At the same time, the United States was pushing China to help pressure Iran to reopen the strait, through which tankers carry as much as one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. Investors and analysts are focused on the continued disruption to shipping in the strait.
