Ship operators report extreme GPS jamming continues in and around the Gulf, but the tentative truce reached between the US, Israel and Iran is holding, something that has been reflected in declining oil prices and tanker spot rates and stock prices over the past 24 hours.
“A whirlwind two weeks has seen crude oil prices spike then fall to below levels seen before the Israel-Iran hostilities. Spot tanker rates surged as well, reaching 12-month highs, though are easing from their recent peak,” observed a shipping markets report from Jefferies, an investment bank, predicting that volatility will continue.
Yesterday, US president Donald Trump appeared to undermine years of US sanctions on Iran, giving its biggest customer, China, the green light to carry on buying oil after saying, “China can continue to purchase Oil from Iran,” in a post on Truth Social. The announcement could undermine a central element of Washington’s longstanding Iran policy: restricting the regime’s primary revenue source by limiting oil exports. The Treasury Department handling Iranian oil sanctions said they will continue to strictly enforce related sanctions.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, there is no end in sight to the 18-month Red Sea shipping crisis with BIMCO, the world’s largest shipping organisation, today warning it does not foresee a return to normal Red Sea and Suez Canal routings for the remainder of 2025 and throughout 2026.
