Oil prices leap and stocks fall amid US-Iran strikes over Hormuz

Iran is seeking to assert control over the strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping channel. Photograph: Amirhossein Khorgooei/ISNA/AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Iran is seeking to assert control over the strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping channel. Photograph: Amirhossein Khorgooei/ISNA/AFP/Getty Images Oil prices leap and stocks fall amid US-Iran strikes over Hormuz Brent crude jumps nearly 5% and Asian markets drop, with chipmakers including SK Hynix among hardest hit Business live – latest updates Oil prices jumped and stocks fell after the US launched a fresh wave of attacks against Iran amid an escalating standoff over the strait or Hormuz. Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose 4.7% to $79.59 a barrel. Asian stock markets dropped sharply, with South Korea’s Kospi down 8% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 and China’s Shanghai Composite 2% lower. Chip companies were among the hardest hit, with shares in South Korea’s SK Hynix slumping by 15%. Its rival Samsung Electronics sank 10%. Oil price jumps over 4% and gold slides as the US and Iran trade attacks –business live Read more The market swings came after the US military launched more strikes against Iran on Sunday evening, prompting retaliation from Tehran. US Central Command (Centcom) said on X that the strikes were “to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait of Hormuz”. It added that the US president, Donald Trump, “has directed the strikes to hold Iranian forces accountable”. It marks the latest cycle of attacks in the Middle East as Iran seeks to assert control over the strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping channel through which a fifth of the world’s oil supply normally passes. But the escalations have cast further doubt on the fragile interim US-Iranian truce signed last month. Analysts at the bank Goldman Sachs wrote in a note that the “recent attacks highlight how uncertain Gulf exports remain and that a serious re-escalation could re-intensify the short-run upside risk to oil prices.” The number of vessels passing through the strait is already falling, according to the data analyst Kpler. It found that just six vessels crossed the strait on Sunday, the lowest level in five weeks. skip past newsletter promotion after newsletter promotion Tankers that exited the strait included the very large crude carrier Humanity, which carried 2m barrels of Iranian oil and another tanker, Capetan Andreas, carrying about 500,000 barrels of Kuwaiti oil products, Kpler found. Three empty tankers entered the Gulf to load oil, it said. Most tankers switch off their transponders when crossing the strait. Trump said on Sunday that the shipping route is open to commercial traffic, although Iran said earlier that it closed the strait after a vessel travelled on an unapproved route. Iran’s ​Revolutionary Guards said on Monday that its navy stopped two ships in the strait on Sunday by shutting down their systems, although i