Trump’s Iran War Speech Sends Brent Crude Surging 6%

As volatile trade continued, oil prices went up after U.S. President Donald Trump warned of more military action against Iran in the next two to three weeks. This dashed hopes that the conflict would soon calm down.

Brent oil futures for May in the U.S. were up 5.9% to $106.02 a barrel at 3:11 a.m. ET. The price of Brent oil futures for June went up 6.5% to $107.78 a barrel.

"Deranged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers and neighboring countries that have nothing to do with the conflict," Trump said in his speech as to why oil prices were going up.

He told the country on Wednesday that the U.S. would "hit" Iran "extremely hard" over the next two to three weeks. However, he also said that the war would not last long and that talks with Tehran were "ongoing," which meant that a peaceful solution was still possible.

He said, "We're going to finish the job, and we're going to finish it very quickly."

George Efstathopoulos, portfolio manager at Fidelity International, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" that the markets were ready for a "binary outcome," meaning that they thought the president would either announce his plans to end the war or make things worse and cause more uncertainty. He said, "Clearly we seem to be on the latter path right now."

As investors wait for uncertainty to lessen, Efstathopoulos anticipates that the speech would increase the risk-off mentality.

Since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran started on February 28, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, which formerly saw a fifth of the world's oil and gas flows through, has essentially stopped, sending energy prices skyrocketing in one of the most catastrophic energy crises in history.

Oil tanker travel through the Strait of Hormuz was unlikely to restart soon, said Oxford Analytica political risk specialist Giles Alston.

It's becoming evident that Washington has mostly stopped caring about how to get oil across the Straits of Hormuz. On Thursday, he told CNBC that oil transporters crossing the Strait must handle this.

In a post on Truth Social earlier on Wednesday, Trump said that Iran had asked for a ceasefire. This gave people a short hope that more oil tankers would be able to use the waterway, which caused oil prices to drop.

The "New Regime President" of Iran has asked the U.S. for a halt, but Trump said that the request will only be looked at if the Strait of Hormuz is "open, free, and clear." "Until then, we're going to attack Iran until it goes away, or as the saying goes, back to the Stone Ages!!!"

They said that Trump's claims are false and that the waterway will not be reopened based on his "absurd displays." They also said that the key transit route remains "decisively and dominantly under the control of the IRGC Navy."

Since the war began, both sides have often said things that were different from what the other said about peace talks. Trump has also sent mixed messages. He is said to have said that talks were almost over and a peace deal was on the way, but the U.S. was also ready to send thousands of troops to the area to make things worse.

After Trump stated on Tuesday night that he anticipated the U.S. military to conclude operations against Iran in "two or three weeks" and seemed to be declaring success even in the absence of a negotiated agreement with Iran, Brent oil fell below $100 per barrel for the first time in a week. He declared, "We'll be leaving very soon."