Oil is soaring on Monday as negotiations between the U.S. and Iran stall and clashes escalate again throughout the Middle East.
Concretely, Brent crude, the international benchmark, climbed 6.80% and clocked in at $97.32 at 10:45 a.m. ET on Monday. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, climbed close to 8% and stood at $94.30 at the same time.
The development comes after Iranian media said on Monday that authorities halted talks with the U.S. over Israel's escalation in Lebanon and would activate its proxies to block the Strait of Hormuz and activate other fronts.
Tasnim news agency said Tehran and the "Resistance Front," including its allies in Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq will also seek to block the Bab El Mandeb Strait to "punish" Israel and its allies.
Bab El Mandeb is located off the coast of Yemen and is another key waterway in the Middle East which controls sea traffic toward the Suez Canal in Egypt.
"The immediate cessation of the Zionist regime's aggressive and brutal army operations in Gaza and Lebanon and the necessity of the regime's complete withdrawal from the occupied areas in Lebanon have been emphasized by Iranian officials and negotiators, and there will be no talks until Iran and the resistance's views on this matter are met," Tasnim said, according to the Times of Israel.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a social media publication that the "ceasefire between Iran and the US is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon."
"Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts. The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation," he added.
The outlet noted that Israel had largely refrained from targeting Beirut, but announced on Monday it would resume escalations as Hezbollah continued launching missiles and drones against northern communities.
"Following the repeated violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon by the Hezbollah terror organization and the attacks against our cities and citizens, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the IDF to strike terror targets in the Dahiyeh quarter of Beirut," the officials said in a statement.
Israeli forces also issued a wide-scale evacuation warning for all of southern Lebanon on Sunday.
Axios cited a U.S. official saying the country's stance against strikes in Beirut could soften as talks stall. "The U.S. does not expect Israel to absorb ongoing attacks on its civilians by a terrorist organization," the official said.
The U.S. and Iran also traded strikes recently. Concretely, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Sunday that it carried out "self-defense strikes on Iranian radar and command control sites for drones in Goruk, Iran and Qeshm Island."
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in turn, said it had targeted the source of what it described as an attack on a telecommunications tower. While it did not clarify where the target was located, the Kuwaiti army said in a social media post on Monday it was " responding to hostile missile and drone threats." It did not disclose the origin of the attack.
