Oil prices flitted between modest gains and losses on Friday, a spell of relative calm at the end of a turbulent week in which rounds of military strikes around the Persian Gulf threatened to shatter a fragile truce between the United States and Iran.
The burst of back-and-forth retaliations, which appeared to pause on Friday, has derailed a recovery in shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, with the fewest ships in weeks braving the passage. Iran asserts that ships must obtain its permission to navigate the waterway, which normally carries a fifth of the world’s oil, while the United States insists that vessels should be able to pass freely. The latest turmoil, sparked by attacks on three commercial ships in the strait on Tuesday, pushed the price of crude back above prewar levels.
