Name: Oil prices volatile as US President Donald Trump talks up Iran negotiations | BBC News
Uploaded: 2026-03-26T16:28:54.000Z
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We start in the Middle East, where the war there is driving oil prices today amid contradictory messaging from the US and Iran about efforts to end the conflict.

Adverbs of degree

On Wednesday, benchmark Brent crude sank below a hundred dollars a barrel for the first time in almost two weeks after claims by President Trump that talks are underway and reports that Washington has sent a ceasefire proposal to Iran.

Participle clauses

But Iran's foreign minister has poured cold water on that, appearing on state TV, to say there have been no talks and they have no intention of negotiating.

Abbas Araghi also reiterated Iran's authority over the Strait of Hormuz but said it was closed only to the country's enemies.

Well, this image, uh, that we're going to bring you there shows the Strait of Hormuz, uh, what it was this time last year, uh, with more compared to yesterday, with more than a hundred vessels transiting each day.

Compare that with what it looked like yesterday, as you can see, quite a lot of movement and almost none.

Well, despite reports of some ships connected to China and India being allowed through, the strait remains all but closed, stranding hundreds of ships and squeezing global supplies of oil, gas, vital chemicals, and

Well, last night, President Trump addressed a Republican fundraising dinner where he repeated his claims that the Iranians are negotiating.

Nobody's ever seen anything like we're doing in the Middle East with Iran.

And they are negotiating, by the way, and

they're afraid to say it because they figure they'll be killed by their own people.

They're also afraid they'll be killed by us.

Let's hear now from Amina Bakker, head of Middle East Energy and OPEC+ research at Capler, a market intelligence firm.

Amina, uh, let's start with this strait squeeze.

People really wondering about the price of oil now and if this squeeze continues for a few weeks.

Well, I think the squeeze is going to continue as long as the war is, uh, is active, and

there are still no signs that we are going to, uh, get a ceasefire.

In fact, negotiations, as you rightfully said, um, they're not leading, uh, anywhere.

It doesn't seem like Iran is, uh, ready to negotiate.

And with Hormuz still, um, we have limited flows through there, we do expect oil prices to, um, slide upwards from, uh, here.

Yeah, and I guess people worried about that price sliding perhaps exponentially at some point.

There's also global supply chains impacted.

And if we pick one thing, helium, a lot of which comes from Qatar, it's not just for those balloons that we blow up.

It's for medical imagery, space technologies.

Qatar produces 30% of the helium worldwide.

And, uh, uh, yeah, helium has, uh, many industrial uses and for MRI machines, for example, in in the healthcare sector.

But across supply chains, we are going to see an impact worldwide.

And the most vulnerable countries here are developing nations.

And we've already seen a lot of countries, uh, in Asia, but

also in Africa, uh, start to, uh, cut down in terms of, um, their their working days.

Uh, they are, uh, cutting, uh, street lights.

So, uh, this really impacts the whole world.

every moment we're hearing new news, Malaysia's prime minister now saying that, um, Iran is letting its oil tankers through.

I want to show, um, viewers a picture of Khag Island now.

Uh, it's eight it's an eight-square-mile, um, uh, island there in a crucial part just before the Strait of Hormuz.

Most of its oil is loaded onto tankers there.

Um, Amina, what if that is fought over by US Marines?

Well, this is the kind of rumored, uh, target at the moment.

And, uh, we've seen from the Iranian side, they said, "We are aware that the enemy might be targeting our islands." So Khag Island, I mean, 90% of their loadings of, uh, of crude oil, uh, happens through Khag Island.

It is a strategic, uh, island, uh, in in that sense.

at the same time, there are other, uh, outlets for Iran to, uh, um, export its oil.

For example, there's, um, the JASK, uh, terminal, and

they do have also oil on water, which the US removed sanctions off.

So outside of the Persian Gulf, they have around a hundred and, uh, 54 million barrels that they could still, uh, export.

But Khag is, uh, a strategic, uh, target, uh, at this point, and it would hurt Iranian exports.

And, I mean, if we went further and that island was occupied, what would that mean for this conflict and and the associated costs and trade repercussions?

And, uh, already, I mean, there there have been threats from the Iranians saying if Khag is, uh, is attacked or, uh, I mean, in the case where you're saying taken over, uh, there will be a retaliation against Gulf states.

And till this day, I can tell you, being here in Dubai, the attacks continue on Gulf states and not just on energy infrastructure, on civilian, uh, targets, on cities.

Um, so I this would represent a a major escalation in the conflict.

Amina Bakker, head of Middle East Energy and OPEC+ research at Capler, thank you for joining us.