Weekly Market Updates

Strikes resume over the weekend. In retaliation for Iranian ballistic missile attacks on US Navy warships in the Persian Gulf, the US said on Saturday that it had launched strikes against three Iranian oil tankers, destroying one, including a vessel off the coast of Kharg Island, near Iran’s key oil export hub, raising fresh fears of further escalation. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Saturday that its reasoning for targeting the three oil tankers was that they were travelling through unauthorised routes in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as targeting three additional US vessels in other areas. Following this, Iran stated that it would announce a new restricted zone in the Gulf in the coming days, along with maps of a new shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz. Few details have been revealed, but the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said that any ship entering the new zone would be added to a sanctions list. The new restricted zone will begin where the US blockade of Iran starts and extend into areas of the Gulf.