Oil prices surged on Wednesday after U.S. and Iranian forces traded strikes in the Persian Gulf and the Trump administration revoked a waiver that allowed Iran to sell oil in retaliation for attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial conduit for the world’s energy.
U.S. Central Command said that it hit over 80 targets in Iran in an operation that concluded in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Iran. Among the targets were dozens of small boats used by the Iranian military, “to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international commerce,” according to U.S. forces.
Iran’s military command responded by targeting 85 U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait on Wednesday and reiterating its claim to control traffic in the strait, prolonging a retaliatory cycle that could derail the nascent recovery in shipping traffic in the region.
