Oil tops $125 a barrel as ‘Trump plans more Iran strikes’ – Live

US news outlet Axios reported that Donald Trump is considering launching more strikes on Iran to break the peace talks deadlock.

CENTCOM chief Admiral Brad Cooper is set to present a plan for a ‘short and powerful’ wave of strikes against Iran that would likely target key infrastructure.

The aim of this would be to either break the deadlock on peace talks, or deliver a killing blow against Iran.

Trump is also being presented a plan to take over part of the Strait of Hormuz with the US military in order to restore global shipping.

This plan may require US soldiers to be sent to the Middle East.

Another plan that is being discussed is a possible special forces operation to secure Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium.

The price of oil has soared past $125 per barrel – the highest level in four years.

During Asia’s trading hours, Brent crude – the international benchmark – rose nearly 7 per cent to levels not seen since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Analysts said traders were beginning to shift to the view that the crisis will not be as short as initially hoped.

Energy prices have risen as peace talks between the US and Iran appear to have stalled while the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the trade of gas and oil, remains closed.

Donald Trump said a US naval blockade against Iran could last months leading oil prices to spike to their highest level in more than four years.

Trump is expected to receive a briefing later today on new plans for potential military action in Iran from Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, two sources with knowledge told Axios.

With diplomacy between Iran and the United States at a standstill after false starts, Trump spoke by phone Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who warned him of ‘damaging consequences’ if the United States and Israel resume their war on Iran.

Meeting oil executives, Trump contended that the blockade of Iranian ports – which Tehran has demanded must end before any deal – was more effective than bombing.

Speaking after his day with King Charles and Queen Camilla, Trump appeared to take a jab at Sir Keir Starmer.

He described Charles as ‘fantastic’ and a ‘great friend.’

Trump added: ‘I think if he were doing that, if that were up to him, he would have probably helped us with Iran.’

The UK government today said it would introduce new legislation to tackle state-sponsored threats carried out by proxies, after two Jewish men were stabbed in north London in an apparent antisemitic attack on Wednesday.

Security minister Dan Jarvis told Times Radio the government would fast track legislation which would allow the prosecution of people acting as a proxy of a state-sponsored group under Britain’s National Security Act.

The government said the new powers would mean proxies could be dealt with in the same way as foreign intelligence services.

The plans were announced after Wednesday’s stabbings, which follow a spate of recent attacks, many involving arson, on Jewish targets in London. Last October, two people and an attacker were killed after a man drove at a synagogue in the northern English city of Manchester.

Britain’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall, told the BBC the attacks had become ‘the biggest national security emergency’ since 2017, when there were a string of high profile attacks.

The attacks have occurred amid warnings from security officials that Iran has sought to use criminal proxies to carry out hostile activity.

Police said after an arson attack at a synagogue this month that they were investigating possible Iranian links to the incidents. A pro-Iranian government group has said it was responsible.

Jarvis also said on Thursday that there would be an additional £25million to protect the Jewish community, which the government said brings the total funding this year to £58million.

Iran’s consumer prices rose more than 70% between this March and April, compared to last year, Tehran’s government has admitted.

The Statistical Center of Iran reported today that average inflation in the 12 months ending in April rose 53.7% from the same period a year earlier.

Overnight, CENTCOM chief Admiral Brad Cooper said US forces redirected the 42 commercial ship that tried to get though the US blockade of Iranian ships.

He said: ‘Right now there are 41 tankers with 69million barrels of oil that the Iranian regime can’t sell. That’s an estimated $6billion-plus from which Iran’s leadership cannot financially benefit.

‘The blockade is highly effective and US forces remain fully committed to total enforcement.’

Trump has claimed that Iran is greatly suffering as a result of the US’ naval action against Tehran.

Speaking to Axios, he said of Iran: ‘They are choking like a stuffed pig. And it is going to be worse for them.’