All posts tagged: BP PLC

Trump-Iran agree to two-week ceasefire, plan to open Strait of Hormuz

Trump-Iran agree to two-week ceasefire, plan to open Strait of Hormuz

Published by Sam Flores

President Donald Trump pauses as he finishes speaking about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. Alex Brandon | Getty Images President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he agreed to suspend planned attacks on Iranian infrastructure for two weeks, backing off his shocking threats to imminently order the destruction of Iran’s “whole civilization.” The move, more than five weeks after the U.S. and Israel launched the war, was “subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz,” he wrote on Truth Social. The decision was “based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan,” Trump wrote. “This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE!” he declared. Oil prices plunged as much as 16% following the announcement, while U.S. stock futures shot up. Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a separate statement that ships will be able to safely pass through the strait for the two-week interval “via …

Iran and Oman drafting protocol to ‘monitor’ Hormuz Strait traffic: IRNA

Iran and Oman drafting protocol to ‘monitor’ Hormuz Strait traffic: IRNA

Published by Sam Flores

Iran and Oman are drafting a protocol to “monitor transit” through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported Thursday morning, citing an official. Tanker traffic through the key oil-shipping route “should be supervised and coordinated” with the two countries, said Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister of legal and international affairs, according to a translation of IRNA’s report. “Of course, these requirements will not mean restrictions, but rather to facilitate and ensure safe passage and provide better services to ships that pass through this route,” Gharibabadi reportedly said. U.S. stock indexes, which were trading sharply lower Thursday morning after President Donald Trump signaled that the Iran war will continue for weeks to come, suddenly turned higher following IRNA’s report. Oil prices, which likewise had surged overnight, eased from their highs of the day on the Oman news, which offered hope that the Strait of Hormuz may be able to reopen in some capacity without requiring military force. The strait, a vital artery for much of the world’s oil transit, has been effectively …

Trump warns US could ‘take the oil in Iran’ as Mideast war escalates

Trump warns US could ‘take the oil in Iran’ as Mideast war escalates

Published by Sam Flores

Smoke rises from the direction of an energy installation in the Gulf emirate of Fujairah on March 14, 2026. Smoke could be seen rising from the direction of a major UAE energy installation on March 14, in what appeared to be the latest strike targeting the Gulf’s petroleum facilities hours after the US struck Iran’s Kharg Island. – | Afp | Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump said he could “take the oil in Iran” and seize Iran’s export hub of Kharg Island, as hostilities in the Middle East continued into its fifth week. Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that his “preference would be to take the oil,” comparing it to the U.S. military operation in Venezuela earlier this year where the U.S. effectively gained control of the Latin American country’s oil industry, following the capture of its leader Nicolas Maduro. The Trump administration has weighed sending ground forces to the Kharg Island, according to Reuters, with one of its sources warning or such an operation being “very risky.” Tehran has the ability …

Trump calls Strait of Hormuz the ‘Strait of Trump’

Trump calls Strait of Hormuz the ‘Strait of Trump’

Published by Sam Flores

President Donald Trump speaks during the Future Investment Initiative Summit in Miami, March 27, 2026. Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images President Donald Trump on Friday winkingly referred to the Strait of Hormuz, the vital oil-shipping route and a key choke point in the Iran war, as the “Strait of Trump.” Iran has to “open up the Strait of Trump — I mean, Hormuz,” the president said in a speech at the Future Investment Initiative in Miami, garnering laughs from the crowd. “Excuse me. I’m so sorry. Such a terrible mistake,” he said, feigning apologetics before clarifying, “The fake news will say, ‘He accidentally said’ — No, there’s no accidents with me, not too many. If there were, we’d have a major story.” The comment came as the strait has emerged as a key source of conflict in the war, which is poised to enter its second month even as the U.S. boasts that it has “obliterated” Iran’s military. Iran’s continued ability to effectively block the strait — blocking the path that normally ferries …

Israel says it has killed Iran navy chief

Israel says it has killed Iran navy chief

Published by Sam Flores

FILE PHOTO: In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Ebrahim Raisi waves as he visits an exhibition of the Revolutionary Guard navy capabilities while accompanied by the guard’s navy commander Alireza Tangsiri, in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran, Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. Iranian Presidency Office | AP Israel’s Defense Forces said Thursday that Iranian naval commander Alireza Tangsiri had been killed in a “precise strike” in the port city of Bandar Abbas, accusing him of being responsible for efforts to close the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. The IDF said in a social media post that Tangsiri “oversaw maritime terrorism carried out against countries in the Middle East, as well as against U.S. and other nations’ energy infrastructure.” U.S. Central Command later confirmed Tangsiri’s death in a post on X. Tangsiri’s death from the Israeli airstrike “makes the region safer,” said the commander of CentCom, Adm. Brad Cooper, adding that strikes on the Iranian navy would continue. Iran has not yet commented on the report. Shipping traffic through the …

Israel says it has killed Iran’s intelligence minister

Israel says it has killed Iran’s intelligence minister

Published by Sam Flores

Iran’s then incumbent Minister of Intelligence Esmail Khatib (C) sits with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian (C-R) before a speech to members of parliament in the capital Tehran, on August 17, 2024, as he defends his cabinet selection. Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty Images Israel’s Defense Forces said Wednesday that Iran’s intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib, had been killed in a “targeted strike” in Tehran, marking the third assassination of a high-ranking official in just two days. “Khatib played a significant role during the recent protests throughout Iran, including the arrest & killing of protestors and led terrorist activities against Israelis & Americans around the world,” the IDF said in a post on social media. “Similarly, he operated against Iranian citizens during the Mahsa Amini protests (2022–2023),” they added. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian confirmed Khatib’s death in a post on X. “The cowardly assassination of my dear colleagues Ismail Khatib, Ali Larijani, and Aziz Nasirzadeh, alongside some of their family members and accompanying team, has left us in deep mourning,” Pezeshkian wrote. It comes after Israel …

UAE’s Fujairah hit, causing a large fire at the key oil trading hub

UAE’s Fujairah hit, causing a large fire at the key oil trading hub

Published by Sam Flores

A family sits against the backdrop of a dockyard off the coastal city of Fujairah, in the Strait of Hormuz in the northern Emirate on Feb. 25, 2026. Giuseppe Cacace | Afp | Getty Images A drone attack at the United Arab Emirates’ key oil trading hub of Fujairah triggered a large fire, authorities said on Monday, with no injuries reported. “Civil Defense teams in the Emirate immediately responded to the incident and are continuing their efforts to control it,” Fujairah Media Office said on social media, according to a Google translation. Oil loading operations at the major oil bunkering hub had been suspended as a result of the drone attack, Reuters reported, citing two unnamed sources. CNBC has contacted the UAE’s ADNOC and is awaiting a response. The attack comes after a separate drone strike and fire at Fujairah on Saturday, underlining the vulnerability of the UAE’s only export route that bypasses the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. Shipping traffic through one of the world’s most important energy choke points has virtually ground to …

‘Don’t need to worry about it’

‘Don’t need to worry about it’

Published by Sam Flores

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday brushed aside concerns that the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz because of the Iran war, which has spiked oil prices, would continue being a problem for the U.S. and the world for much longer. Iran has been “exercising sheer desperation in the Straits of Hormuz,” Hegseth said at a Pentagon press briefing. “We have been dealing with it, and don’t need to worry about it,” he said. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil on Friday morning was around $93 per barrel. A day before the war began on Feb. 28, a barrel of WTI was selling for about $67. Hegseth criticized media reports that claimed that before attacking Iran, the U.S. military lacked a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which is the world’s most critical oil shipping choke point. “Of course, for decades, Iran has threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. This is always what they do, hold the strait hostage,” he said. “We planned for it. We recognize it,” Hegseth told …

U.S. Navy to escort oil tankers through Strait of Hormuz when possible, Bessent says

U.S. Navy to escort oil tankers through Strait of Hormuz when possible, Bessent says

Published by Sam Flores

The U.S. Navy will begin escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz as soon as “militarily possible,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Sky News on Thursday. “That was always in our planning, that there’s the chance that the U.S. Navy or perhaps an international coalition will be escorting oil tankers through,” Bessent said in that interview. “My belief, that as soon as it is militarily possible, the U.S. Navy and perhaps with an international coalition, will be escorting vessels through,” he said. Bessent’s comments came as the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed to shipping because of the war against Iran by the U.S. and Israel that began Feb. 28. The strait is the world’s most sensitive chokepoint for oil tankers, and its closure has caused crude oil prices to spike. The Trump administration, for more than a week, has suggested that U.S. Navy vessels would escort oil tankers through the strait without that happening. Earlier Thursday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC in an interview that the Navy is not ready to escort …