President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the United States would escalate its military actions against Iran for two more weeks while reiterating that other countries — not the U.S. — should work to open the Strait of Hormuz, sending crude oil prices climbing.
The message Trump delivered was essentially the worst of both worlds for the oil industry, indicating that hostilities in the region home to much of the world’s energy and chemical production would continue and that the United States was all but abdicating the responsibility to protect the Strait of Hormuz, a major conduit for the flow of oil, gas, fertilizer and other commodities.
U.S. crude oil prices, which had retreated modestly ahead of the speech, jumped about $5 while Trump was speaking to reach $103 a barrel.
“We are going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast,” Trump said of U.S. military strikes in Iran, adding it could take up to three weeks. “We’re getting very close.”
