Key Takeaways

• Oil rebounds sharply: Brent rose 1.7% to $93.03 per barrel, while WTI climbed 2.0% to $89.96 — recovering from Tuesday’s 3% slide to seven-week lows.
• Trump loses patience: The president warned Iran has “taken too long” to negotiate and “will have to pay the price.”
• Escalatory rhetoric: Trump declared Iran’s military has been “eradicated” and proclaimed “the Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!!”
• Power plants and bridges next: Fox News reported Trump is close to ordering strikes on Iranian energy and infrastructure targets.
• Iran hits U.S. bases in Jordan and Gulf states: Tehran struck multiple U.S. positions in retaliation for American strikes following the Apache helicopter shoot-down.
• Iran denies helicopter attack: Tehran has not claimed responsibility for the drone strike on the U.S. Apache.
• Ceasefire unraveling: The brief Israel-Iran pause from earlier this week is rapidly falling apart.
• Israel continues Lebanon assault: Israeli forces pressed on against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
• Hormuz still shut: The vital waterway carrying a fifth of global oil remains effectively closed, keeping crude well above pre-war levels.
• API inventory shock: U.S. crude stockpiles fell 9.12 million barrels last week — nearly triple the 3.4 million expected.
• Gasoline draw: Gasoline inventories fell 1.19 million barrels; distillate stocks rose 1.32 million barrels.
• EIA data and CPI ahead: Official inventory figures and key inflation data both due later Wednesday.

Oil prices advanced on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump sounded a note of impatience over negotiations with Iran following fresh strikes on the country.

As of 05:47 ET (09:47 GMT), Brent oil futures expiring in August had risen 1.7% to $93.03 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were higher by 2.0% at $89.96 a barrel. In the previous session, oil prices slipped roughly 3%, sliding to their lowest levels in seven weeks.

Trump Threatens Power Plants and Bridges

Iran has taken too long to negotiate a peace deal and “will have to pay the price,” Trump warned in a social media post. He reiterated that Iran’s military has been eradicated by a joint U.S.-Israeli campaign now in its fourth month, claiming that the “Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!!”

Trump is now close to ordering new strikes against Iranian power plants and bridges, Fox News reported.

Earlier, Iran said it had targeted U.S. bases in Jordan and several Gulf states — in response to U.S. strikes retaliating against the downing of an American Apache helicopter that Washington blamed on an Iranian drone attack. Tehran, for its part, has not claimed responsibility for the strike on the helicopter.

At the same time, Israel carried on its assault on southern Lebanon, where it has been targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.

Ceasefire Unravels

The latest bout of strikes threatened to unravel tentative progress toward de-escalation, after Iran and Israel agreed earlier this week to halt attacks following appeals from Trump.

Hopes have swirled around the potential for the United States and Iran to reach a peace agreement that would end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a vital conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil that has been effectively shuttered for months.

Against this backdrop of squeezed supplies, crude prices have floated well above pre-war levels, fueling worries over an energy-induced spike in inflation that could persuade global central banks to consider interest rate hikes. Key U.S. consumer price index data, due out later today, could provide fresh insight into the impact of the oil surge.

API Inventory Shock

Elsewhere, industry figures showed that U.S. crude inventories fell sharply last week. The American Petroleum Institute reported a 9.12 million-barrel draw in crude stockpiles — much larger than the expected 3.4 million-barrel decline.

Gasoline inventories fell by 1.19 million barrels, while distillate stocks rose by 1.32 million barrels. Investors are now awaiting official U.S. government inventory data from the Energy Information Administration later on Wednesday for confirmation.