{"id":127301,"date":"2026-05-18T14:47:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T10:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/?p=127301"},"modified":"2026-05-18T14:47:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T10:47:06","slug":"oil-soars-2-as-uae-nuclear-strike-rattles-markets-trumps-iran-threats-meet-russia-sanctions-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/oil-soars-2-as-uae-nuclear-strike-rattles-markets-trumps-iran-threats-meet-russia-sanctions-storm\/05\/18\/market-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil Soars 2% as UAE Nuclear Strike Rattles Markets: Trump&#8217;s Iran Threats Meet Russia Sanctions Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Takeaways<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Crude surges:<\/strong> Brent oil futures rose 2% to a two-week high of $111.45 per barrel, while WTI gained 2.2% to $103.26.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>UAE nuclear plant attacked:<\/strong> Drone strikes near the Barakah plant caused a fire, though no direct damage to the main facility.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>UAE blames Iran:<\/strong> Officials called the attack a &#8220;dangerous escalation,&#8221; pointing at Tehran or its proxies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Trump&#8217;s ultimatum:<\/strong> &#8220;Clock is ticking&#8221; for Iran to accept a deal, with renewed strikes actively being discussed with Israel.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>&#8220;Massive life support&#8221;:<\/strong> The ceasefire warning continues to dominate sentiment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hormuz still shuttered:<\/strong> The strait has remained closed since late February, with shipping at a fraction of pre-war levels.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>20% of global oil blocked:<\/strong> Disruptions through Hormuz continue to underpin crude prices.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Trump-Xi summit limits:<\/strong> Last week&#8217;s meeting yielded few clear deals on Iran.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>U.S. oil deal questioned:<\/strong> Trump claimed China agreed to buy American oil, but no formal agreement appears signed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Russia sanctions waiver lapses:<\/strong> The U.S. let the waiver allowing Russian seaborne oil purchases expire.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>India impacted:<\/strong> Major importers must now scramble for new crude sources.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Russia-Ukraine intensifies:<\/strong> Ukrainian drones battered Russia, with Moscow retaliating Monday and striking a vessel headed for a Ukrainian port.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Russian oil infrastructure under attack:<\/strong> Ukraine continues targeting Russia&#8217;s energy facilities to choke off overseas revenue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Oil prices rose sharply on Monday as tensions between the United States and Iran remained high, especially after a drone strike targeted a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>U.S. President Donald Trump warned that the &#8220;clock is ticking&#8221; for Iran to accept a deal, as reports showed Washington and Israel actively discussing additional military operations against Tehran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brent oil futures for July rose 2% to a two-week high of $111.45 a barrel by 02:31 ET (06:31 GMT), while West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 2.2% to $103.26 per barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">UAE Nuclear Plant Hit with Drone Attacks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On Sunday, drone strikes caused a fire near the Barakah nuclear plant in the UAE, although no direct damage was done to the main facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The UAE blamed Iran or one of its proxies for the attack, calling it a &#8220;dangerous escalation.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iran was seen launching drone and missile strikes on the UAE earlier this month, as military tensions flared across the Middle East \u2014 particularly over the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump had warned last week that a U.S.-Iran ceasefire was on &#8220;massive life support,&#8221; as attempts at negotiating a peace deal largely fell flat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Strait of Hormuz remained closed after Iran effectively blocked the waterway in late February. This kept oil shipments to Asia largely disrupted, underpinning crude prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A U.S.-China summit held last week yielded few new developments on Iran. Trump claimed that China had agreed to buy American oil, but it remained unclear whether a formal agreement had been signed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fears of oil supply disruptions remained a major concern, as Hormuz&#8217;s closure affected roughly 20% of the world&#8217;s oil supply. Shipping data showed traffic through the strait remained at a fraction of pre-war levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Adding to concerns over tighter oil markets, the U.S. let a sanctions waiver on Russian oil lapse over the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The waiver had previously allowed countries to buy Russian seaborne oil, but will now force major oil importers \u2014 especially India \u2014 to seek new sources of crude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Russia-Ukraine War Adds to Oil Uncertainty<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Separately, the Russia-Ukraine war raged on, also adding to concerns over disruptions in oil supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ukrainian drone strikes battered Russia over the weekend, with Moscow seen retaliating with its own drone attacks early Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reuters reported Russia had struck a vessel headed for loading in a Ukrainian port.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ukraine was seen repeatedly targeting Russian energy and oil infrastructure in recent months \u2014 a trend that could greatly disrupt Moscow&#8217;s oil production, as Kyiv seeks to shut off the country&#8217;s main source of overseas revenue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Crude surges: Brent oil futures rose 2% to a two-week high of $111.45 per barrel, while WTI gained 2.2% to $103.26. UAE nuclear plant attacked: Drone strikes near the Barakah plant caused a fire, though no direct damage to the main facility. UAE blames Iran: Officials called the attack a &#8220;dangerous escalation,&#8221; pointing &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":60920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,6827,49,37,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-commodities-news","category-daily-economic-reports","category-economic-reports","category-forex-markets","category-market-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127302,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127301\/revisions\/127302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}