Drone view of oil tanker HELGA berthed at one of Iraq’s southern offshore oil terminals near Basra as it prepares to load crude oil, becoming the second vessel to arrive since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, April 24, 2026.
Mohammed Aty | Reuters
Oil prices fell Monday as investors awaited details of what Washington has billed as its toughest-ever sanctions campaign against Iran, while Tehran dismissed the threat of intensified economic pressure.
West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. benchmark, declined about 1.62% to $85.65 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, lost 1.38% to $93.09 a barrel.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is set to unveil a new package of sanctions against Iran later Monday.
“At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against an adversary,” Bessent said in a post on X.
Bessent told CNBC last week that Washington intends to “collapse” the Islamic Republic with the “toughest sanctions in history,” as the Trump administration pushes U.S. allies and other countries to cut economic ties with Tehran.
The announcement follows President Donald Trump’s threat last week to launch the “most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country” against Iran. Trump also warned of steep financial penalties for countries that help Tehran evade sanctions, calling the effort “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale.”
Iran has pushed back against the threats. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Tehran has ways “to counter the adverse effects of the enemy’s war” and can “easily establish economic relations with countries,” according to Iranian state media.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia expects oil prices to remain volatile in the second half of the year as markets weigh whether Washington’s push to economically isolate Iran will succeed and how Tehran could respond.
“It is unclear whether U.S. policy to economically isolate Iran will prove effective. But if the US measures do work as intended, Iran’s ability to respond via increased violence becomes a growing risk for energy markets to consider,” CBA wrote in a note on Monday.
CBA also expects Brent crude to trade between $70 and $100 a barrel in the second half of 2026. The bank said prices could fall toward the bottom of that range if oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz recover even modestly, estimating that just 50% to 60% of pre-war quantities would be enough to revive expectations of an oversupplied global market.
—CNBC’s Ashley Capoot contributed to this report.
