Oil prices leap and stocks fall as Trump reinstates Hormuz blockade on Iranian shipping

Oil prices jumped roughly five percent on Monday after President Donald Trump reinstated a US blockade of Iranian shipping in the Gulf and moved to charge other countries to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global oil trade. The Guardian reports that the escalation came as the United States and Iran exchanged strikes over the vital route, pushing the price of Brent crude to seventy-nine dollars and thirty-seven cents a barrel. Stock markets fell on the news.

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