Oil prices jumped and stocks slid after the US and Iran traded strikes that President Donald Trump said marked the end of the countries’ fragile ceasefire.
The renewed conflict has once again brought traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to a halt, with Iran’s top negotiator saying it would only reopen under Tehran’s orders: “Let me be clear: Strike, and you will pay the price.”
The fighting pushed up US diesel futures at the quickest pace in four years, compounding the political toll for Trump ahead of November’s midterm elections. However he has left himself with few good options to bring the conflict to an end. “Trump has put himself in a box,” an expert told Reuters.