The news boosted optimism for a lasting peace between the two nations after more than three months of war that has rattled energy markets and fuelled a fresh spike in inflation.
Crude oil…photo by RadioNow
Oil prices tumbled again Thursday after US President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart signed off on a deal to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The news boosted optimism for a lasting peace between the two nations after more than three months of war that has rattled energy markets and fuelled a fresh spike in inflation.
However, the upbeat mood on trading floors was tempered by expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates before the year’s end, after its new boss held his first policy meeting and acknowledged “persistently high prices are a burden for the American people”.
Trump put his signature to the memorandum of understanding in Versailles after the G7 summit, telling reporters: “Just signed it.”
A file photo of a vessel around the Strait of Hormuz
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, quoted by the state news agency IRNA, said the document “was finalised with the signatures of the presidents”.
All eyes are now on the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil normally passes, and which Tehran effectively closed after the US and Israel launched their war on Iran on February 28.
“As a first step, Islamic Republic of Iran will instantly reopen the Strait of Hormuz and the United States of America will immediately lift the naval blockade,” Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose officials mediated the agreement, said on X.
