# Brent Nears $90 as Iran Restates Its Terms for Reopening the Strait of Hormuz

Tehran wants the American naval blockade lifted, sanctions ended, frozen assets released and war damages paid before the waterway reopens, and United States forces have now stopped a third vessel trying to break the blockade of Iranian ports.

- Published: 2026-08-12T05:04:41.290Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-08-12/brent-nears-90-as-iran-restates-its-terms-for-reopening-the
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: markets
- Sources: [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/8/12/oil-prices-rise-as-attacks-dent-hopes-for-strait-of-hormuz-reopening), [Al Jazeera (Tehran conditions)](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/12/iran-holds-firm-on-hormuz-conditions-as-pakistans-naqvi-visits-tehran), [The Hindu](https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/iran-us-war-live-updates-august-12-2026/article71334841.ece), [NOTUS](https://www.notus.org/foreign-policy/iran-oman-us-reopen-strait-hormuz-deal)

Oil prices rose for a fifth consecutive session. Brent crude gained more than 2 percent overnight and traded close to $90 a barrel, as attacks on shipping reduced the chance that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen soon, [Al Jazeera reported](https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/8/12/oil-prices-rise-as-attacks-dent-hopes-for-strait-of-hormuz-reopening).

Iran stated its conditions more firmly in public. Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said the strait will not reopen until Washington lifts its naval blockade, ends sanctions, releases frozen Iranian assets, stops attacks on Iran's regional allies and pays compensation for war damage, [Al Jazeera reported](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/12/iran-holds-firm-on-hormuz-conditions-as-pakistans-naqvi-visits-tehran), as Pakistan's interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, visited Tehran. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said no direct negotiations are under way and that intermediaries are still trying to restart them, [according to NOTUS](https://www.notus.org/foreign-policy/iran-oman-us-reopen-strait-hormuz-deal), which also reported that Iran and Oman are close to a narrower arrangement covering limited commercial traffic.

Enforcement at sea continued. A United States helicopter fired on a Panama-flagged container ship that tried to break the blockade of Iranian ports, the third vessel American forces have forcibly halted since the blockade was reinstated on 14 July, [The Hindu reported](https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/iran-us-war-live-updates-august-12-2026/article71334841.ece).

The pricing problem is straightforward. Traders are being asked to hold barrels whose delivery depends on a political settlement that neither side has agreed to, and each interdiction raises the cost of moving cargo through the Gulf regardless of how much crude is physically produced.

## What this means

A supply-driven rise in prices is the hardest kind of inflation for central banks to counter, because interest rates cannot increase the physical supply of oil. Oil importers, particularly in South and East Asia, pay it directly through fuel and freight costs, while refiners holding long-term crude contracts benefit. In the United States, higher energy costs arrive while the Federal Reserve is already dealing with inflation that has been slow to ease, which pushes back the likely timing of rate cuts and supports the dollar against the currencies of oil-importing countries.

## What to watch

- Whether the limited Iran-Oman arrangement for commercial traffic is signed and how many vessels actually move under it, which would show whether the strait can reopen in stages without a wider political deal.
- Whether the United States halts more vessels near Iranian ports, because each interdiction pushes insurers to reprice Gulf voyages and raises the delivered cost of crude.
- Freight and tanker charter rates out of Gulf loading points, the most direct measure of whether shippers believe the blockade will last.