US President Donald Trump has announced that he has postponed the planned strikes on Iranian energy facilities by five days. He also claims that the US and Iran are negotiating a “comprehensive solution” to the conflict in the Middle East.
Whilst Donald Trump justifies the postponement of announced attacks on Iranian energy facilities by citing ongoing negotiations with the Iranians, the Iranian government rejects this claim, according to the New York Times. On Saturday, the US president threatened to bomb Iran’s power stations within 48 hours unless Iran agreed to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
İlginizi çekebilir:
Iran threatens to close the Strait of Hormuz indefinitely
This caused oil prices to rise further
However, before Trump’s deadline, he himself chose to extend the deadline by five days, citing “negotiations”.
However, according to the New York Times, Iran denies that there has been any progress in the negotiations and maintains that there is no direct dialogue with the US. According to Iranian authorities, the statements from Washington are rather an attempt to influence energy prices and buy time for military preparations. And the price of oil did indeed fall immediately when Trump made his new announcement.
The conflict between the US, Israel and Iran is now in its fourth week and has already had significant consequences for the global energy supply, because the Strait of Hormuz – through which around 20 per cent of the world’s oil normally passes – is de facto closed to virtually all traffic. However, there are examples of Indian and Chinese tankers being allowed to pass.
Iran’s blockade of the strait to Western and Arab oil tankers has sent oil and gas prices soaring. Since the end of February, prices have risen by over 50 per cent. The announcement of possible negotiations – albeit not confirmed by Iran – did, however, cause the price of oil to fall on Monday from around 114 to approximately 100 dollars per barrel of Brent.
