Brent Crude Spikes to $76 After US Revokes Iran Oil Export Waiver

Oil prices surged more than 5 percent on Tuesday after the United States revoked Iran’s authorization to sell its crude and IRGC drones struck two commercial tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, sending Brent crude above $76 a barrel in after-hours trading and throwing the month-old ceasefire into fresh doubt.

Brent crude futures settled 3 percent higher at $74.16 per barrel during the regular session, while West Texas Intermediate gained 2.8 percent to $70.44, according to CNBC. After Washington revoked Iran’s oil export license, Brent extended gains, rising 5.6 percent to $76.04 in after-hours trading, with WTI following at $72.25, up 5.4 percent.

Two Tankers Struck, One on Fire

The market shock was triggered by attacks on two vessels transiting the strait on July 7. A Qatari-owned liquefied natural gas carrier, the Al Rekayat, and a Saudi-flagged supertanker, the Wedyan, were struck by projectiles, Al Jazeera reported. The Al Rekayat suffered a fire in its engine room; both ships sustained damage.

The attacks followed a pattern of IRGC pressure on Gulf shipping that had intensified in recent days, as detailed in earlier reporting on the tanker attacks and sanctions revocation. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has described the Strait of Hormuz as a pressure point it retains the right to control.

US Strikes and Sanctions Revocation

Washington responded by conducting strikes on Qeshm Island, Bandar Abbas, and Sirik, which U.S. Central Command described as “a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway,” the Washington Post reported. Details on those strikes appear in earlier coverage of the US operation.

Simultaneously, the Trump administration revoked the waiver that had permitted Iranian crude to flow to Asian buyers, NBC News reported. The revocation removes a supply channel that had kept Iranian oil in global markets since the June ceasefire, tightening the effective supply picture at a moment when Hormuz transit remains fragile.

Trump Declares MoU ‘Over’

Speaking at the NATO summit in Ankara on Tuesday, President Trump said the June 17 memorandum of understanding that had paused hostilities is finished. NPR reported Trump told reporters: “I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore. They’re scum.” A fuller account of the president’s remarks and the diplomatic stakes appears in our ceasefire coverage.

Iran’s IRGC claimed it struck 85 U.S. military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait in retaliation, the Jerusalem Post reported. Air raid sirens activated in both countries; Kuwait’s armed forces said they detected and intercepted ballistic missiles and drones entering Kuwaiti airspace. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry urged residents to seek shelter. Despite the presidential declaration, neither government has formally announced an intention to abandon the 60-day negotiating framework, Al Jazeera reported.

Hormuz Reopening Now at Risk

The strait had been partially reopened following its near-complete closure during the earlier phase of the war. Saudi Aramco had lowered official selling prices for Asian buyers to make Hormuz transits more economically viable, Bloomberg reported. A convoy of at least eight Japan-linked ships had recently completed the passage.

Tuesday’s attacks raised new questions about whether that fragile reopening can hold. The Hormuz strait handles roughly a fifth of global oil trade. Tanker insurance underwriters typically reprice coverage within 24 to 48 hours of confirmed vessel strikes, directly raising costs for Asian refiners dependent on Gulf crude. An earlier China-Iran framework on Hormuz transit fees had been seen as a stabilizing signal; those arrangements now look uncertain.

Nuclear Talks Under Pressure

The MoU’s 60-day clock, which started June 17, still governs parallel negotiations on Iran’s nuclear stockpile, ballistic missiles, and IAEA inspector access. The International Atomic Energy Agency has been blocked from visiting Iranian enrichment sites since the June 2025 Israel-Iran conflict. Tehran has said inspectors will only gain access under a final agreement; the IAEA director general has pushed back, saying inspections “are going to happen,” Al Jazeera reported. The nuclear timeline is examined more closely in coverage of the 60-day deal clock.

Each day of renewed hostilities shortens the available negotiating window. Whether Tuesday’s exchange represents a temporary flare-up or a permanent breakdown in the MoU framework will shape both oil markets and the broader diplomatic effort in the days ahead.