Oil soars above $100 after Iran says Strait of Hormuz will remain shut | CNN Business

Brent crude oil hovered around $100 a barrel Thursday, after Iran’s new leader purportedly said the Strait of Hormuz would remain shut and as further attacks on ships in the Gulf spooked energy traders. In comments delivered by an anchor on Iranian state television, Mojtaba Khamenei warned that the strait would remain closed as a “tool of pressure.” The message attributed to the Islamic republic’s new supreme leader – the son of former leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed by an Israeli strike at the start of the war – also contained a warning of possible further attacks against US military bases in the region. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, climbed 9% to trade just above $100 a barrel. WTI, the US benchmark, rose by a similar margin to trade above $95 a barrel. Oil prices in the $90-100 a barrel range, if sustained, risk driving up inflation and slowing economic growth in major economies, according to Capital Economics. Khamenei’s purported comments came hours after the International Energy Agency warned that oil supply would shrink further if ships didn’t resume transit through the Strait of Hormuz, ordinarily the conduit for around a fifth of daily global o