Oil prices jump as Trump says Iran deal is over, stocks tumble

In Ankara, President Donald Trump said any agreement with Iran was finished, and oil prices jumped while Wall Street sold off. Speaking during the NATO summit, Trump said, “I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore,” and later suggested the U.S. could strike Iran again that night.

The move came after renewed tit-for-tat attacks in the region and fresh U.S. strikes in response to attacks on three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Central Command hit more than 80 targets in Iran with precision munitions.

Brent crude rose more than 5% in early Wednesday trading to nearly $78 a barrel before pushing above $80. West Texas Intermediate climbed more than 6% to about $75 a barrel. The stock market took the opposite path, with the Dow falling roughly 600 to 722 points, the S&P 500 down about 0.6% to 0.7%, and the Nasdaq off about 0.4%.

Energy shares climbed as traders bet that higher crude would lift producers such as Chevron, Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips. Airline and cruise stocks fell on concern that sustained fuel costs would squeeze margins and, eventually, passenger prices.

The Strait of Hormuz remains the central risk. The waterway carries about 20% of the world’s daily oil supply, and the latest escalation revived memories of earlier spikes that pushed oil as high as $118 before prices eased when commercial shipping resumed under a U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding. That arrangement allowed toll-free shipping through the strait for 60 days.

Daniela Hathorn of Capital.com said the renewed tensions interrupted a complacent market narrative and forced traders to price in that risk again. Aneeka Gupta of WisdomTree said the market had expected oil flow to normalize and inflation pressure to cool, but the removal of the Iranian oil waiver changed that outlook.