Oil prices jumped $3 a barrel on Monday as the United States and Iran failed to agree to a peace proposal drafted by Washington while the Strait of Hormuz remained largely closed, keeping global energy supplies tight.
Brent crude futures climbed $3.18 or 3.14% to $104.47 a barrel by 2336 GMT, extending a 1.23% gain on Friday.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate was at $98.51 a barrel, up $3.09, or 3.24%, after settling 0.64% higher in the previous session.
Earlier, the US President, Donald Trump, said that Iran’s response to the US proposal is totally unacceptable.
In his post on Truth Social on May 11, Trump said, “I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called representatives. I don’t like it, totally unacceptable!”
“We can continue attacks on Iran for the next two weeks”, said Donald Trump. Trump added that there are still some targets in the Iranian territory; we might be hitting them next.
“We will maintain full monitoring of the enriched uranium buried under the rubble in Iran. Any Iranian approaching the enriched uranium will be blown up”, threatened the US President.
According to the American newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, Iran has refused to dismantle its nuclear facilities.
However, Iran has agreed to reduce the high level of enriched uranium and is ready to transfer highly enriched uranium to a third country, claimed the journal.
Iran says the US blockade must be lifted to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but the strait cannot be reopened without international guarantees for ending the war. Nuclear issues will be discussed over the next 30 days.
The Iranian ambassador to China, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, in his Tweet said, Any potential agreement must necessarily be accompanied by guarantees from the great powers and raised in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as well.”
He added that China and Russia are two major and influential powers, and given the position that China holds for Iran and other countries in the Persian Gulf region, Beijing can serve as the guarantor for any agreement.
The Iranian authorities sent their response to the US government through Pakistan, as it is acting as a mediator between the two states.
Trump criticised the former president of the US, Barack Obama, by saying that Iran has been playing games with the United States and the rest of the World for 47 years, and then finally hit “pay dirt” when Barack Hussein Obama became President. He was not only good to them, but he was also great, actually going to their side, jettisoning Israel, and all other Allies, and giving Iran a major and very powerful new lease on life.
