Brent crude closes above $100 a barrel, a first since 2022

Washington - Oil prices jumped Thursday with Brent crude settling above $100 per barrel for the first time since August 2022, as Iran vowed to make the United States regret launching its war against the Islamic Republic.
The price of Brent crude surged 9.2 percent to $100.46 per barrel, while its US equivalent, the West Texas Intermediate, climbed 9.7 percent to $95.73 a barrel.
Iran said it would keep up a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz that has sent oil prices soaring. The International Energy Agency warned the Middle East war could lead to “the largest supply disruption” in oil industry history, but US President Donald Trump wrote on social media that defeating Iran’s “evil empire” was more important than crude prices.

Trump has faced intense political pressure as the global economic fallout of the crisis has mounted, and he has given repeated mixed messages as to when the US campaign might end.
“While starting a war is easy, it cannot be won with a few tweets. We will not relent until making you sorry for this grave miscalculation,” Iranian security chief Ali Larijani said on Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly also wounded, has yet to appear publicly since his nomination, and his message calling for revenge was read by an anchor on state television.

“The lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must definitely be used,” Khamenei said of the waterway through which a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade usually transits.The strait, which also normally accounts for a fifth of the world's liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies, lies off Iran and is just 54 kilometers (34 miles) wide at its narrowest point.