Oil prices climbed on Tuesday, hitting their highest levels in a month amid escalating strikes between the United States and Iran, before pulling back after President Trump announced changes to a plan to charge fees on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, had breached $87 per barrel Tuesday morning. The price surged on Monday after Mr. Trump said that the United States would reinstate a naval blockade of Iran’s ports, while also charging a 20 percent levy on cargo shipped through the strait as a reimbursement for military protection.
On Tuesday, the president said in a social media post that he would replace the fees with “Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.” His post left many issues unresolved, including which countries had agreed to invest in the United States in exchange for free passage through the strait and whether the offer applied to countries outside the Persian Gulf.
