Oil Prices Surge Amid Middle East Tensions
Oil prices rose in early Asian trading on Wednesday due to concerns about energy supplies from the Middle East after new attacks on merchant ships in the region. Brent crude futures increased by 72 cents, or 0.81 percent, to $89.63 a barrel.
The US military reported that it had opened fire on a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship that tried to reach an Iranian port in violation of a Washington-imposed blockade. The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, stated that the critically important sea route through the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed unless the US accepted Iran's conditions for ending the war.
According to shipping tracking platforms, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz decreased to six ships on Monday, compared to approximately 11 vessels in the previous 10 days. Before the conflict began in late February, daily traffic on the route was between 125 and 140 ships.