US crude benchmark opens over $113, Brent above $110
TOKYO, Japan — Crude oil prices opened higher on Monday, with US benchmark West Texas Intermediate up 1.86% to $113.62 a barrel, as the war in the Middle East continues to squeeze global energy supplies.
North Sea Brent crude was also higher at the week's market opening, climbing 1.16% to $110.30 a barrel.
President Donald Trump has set a Tuesday deadline for Iran to end the war and reopen shipping in the critical Strait of Hormuz waterway, threatening in an expletive-laden social media post Sunday to strike the country's power plants and bridges if it did not comply.
"Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, before later telling Fox News he thought there was a "good chance" Iran would agree to a deal on Monday.
The war, entering its sixth week since the US and Israel first attacked Iran on February 28, has engulfed the Middle East in conflict and upended the global economy.
Iran has virtually blocked the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world's oil and gas transits, sending petroleum prices skyrocketing.
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