1247 GMT - Oil futures start the week higher after the U.S. and Iran increased their strikes at the weekend, reducing vessel passage through the Strait of Hormuz. WTI is up 4% at $74.27 a barrel and Brent is up 4.1% at $79.10. "What the market is pricing is not the strikes themselves but the damage to diplomacy," Anindya Banerjee of Kotak Neo says in a note. While every fresh exchange delays normalization of tanker traffic through the strait, both the U.S. and Iran have incentives to contain the situation, he says. "Washington wants oil cheap ahead of its midterm elections and Tehran wants sanctions relief, and Qatari mediation remains active--so our base case is a contained conflict rather than a full re-closure." (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 13, 2026 08:47 ET (12:47 GMT)
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