Symbolic imageOil posts sharp weekly gain as Hormuz blockade holds
Crude closed Friday with a weekly gain of about 6 percent, with the Strait of Hormuz shut since February. Economists warn Iran's economy is nearing collapse.
Brent settled at $88.52 a barrel on Friday, 14 August, and WTI at $82.40, after US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said a day earlier that the navy could hold the blockade 'indefinitely'. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Newsmax that Washington would apply sanctions next week unlike any in the history of economic isolation. The EIA put flows through the strait at 4.9 million barrels a day in the second quarter, against 21.6 million in late 2025.
Shipping works around the blockade
Bloomberg reports that tankers are going dark for longer to lift Middle East oil and that Indian refiners are buying months ahead.
Tehran's tables shrink
Iranians told Radio Free Europe that bread costs twice what it did a year ago and that fruit has left their tables. London-based analyst Masoumeh Taherkhani expects severe stagflation, possibly hyperinflation, with the economy approaching severe collapse in under a year.
Abu Dhabi reroutes cargo
AD Ports Group said second-quarter net profit rose 86 percent to 596.7 million dirhams ($162.4 million) after shifting services to Fujairah and Khor Fakkan on the Gulf of Oman.
Claim on the waterway
Trump has vowed to declare the Strait of Hormuz US territory.
Other opinions
Breitbart amplifies Trump's claim that Iran is 'shot', while Serbia's Politika leads on his refusal to apologise for US fuel prices.