Iran said it is reviewing the latest US proposal to end the war as US President Donald Trump warned Tehran could face renewed bombing unless it agrees to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Hope that the two-month conflict could soon end buoyed international markets on Thursday, despite the US military firing on an Iranian oil tanker attempting to breach an American blockade of Iran’s ports Wednesday.
The price of Brent crude oil stabilized at around $100 a barrel as investors waited to see whether the strait would reopen, allowing tankers to deliver oil from the Persian Gulf again.
Trump posted on social media that the two-month war could soon end and that oil and natural gas shipments disrupted by the conflict could restart. But he said that depends on Iran accepting a reported agreement that he did not detail.
“If they don’t agree, the bombing starts,” Trump wrote.
A fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran has largely held since April 8. But in-person talks between the two countries hosted by Pakistan last month failed to reach an agreement. The war began Feb. 28, when the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran.
On Wednesday, a US fighter jet shot out the rudder of an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman as it tried to breach the American blockade, U.S. Central Command said in a social media post.
