Oil Jumps More Than 5% After Renewed Strikes Between Israel, Iran

Brent crude prices surged more than five per cent Monday after Israel and Iran exchanged strikes, testing a fragile truce and threatening hopes for a deal to end the Middle East crisis.

The contract for August jumped 5.1 per cent to $97.83 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate climbed 4.8 per cent to hit $94.85.

Iranian media on Monday said Israel had struck a petrochemical company in southwestern Iran, as the warring countries traded fire hours after US President Donald Trump called for restraint.

“The Zionist enemy has carried out an air attack on the Karun Petrochemical Company in Mahshahr,” local media posted on Telegram.

It quoted a local law enforcement official as saying that Israeli projectiles struck the facility.

State news agency IRNA reported that the special petrochemical economic zone, which hosts the company, had evacuated “its daytime employees… following an aerial attack by the hostile Zionist enemy”.

Karoon Petrochemical Company was founded in 2002-2003 as the first “knowledge-based” petrochemical company of Iran.

It produces more than 200,000 tonnes of petrochemical products annually, according to the figures published on its website.

Israel and Iran traded fire hours after US President Donald Trump called on Israel to refrain from retaliating against Tehran’s missiles.