Oil prices are rising again on Friday as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and a top Iranian official said the country "cannot trust the Americans at all."
Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose by 2.78% and clocked in at $108.65 at 10:30 a.m. ET, while West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, did so by 3.07% and stood at $104,29 at the same time.
The most recent developments regarding energy prices involve Iranian and U.S. officials. In the case of the former, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the country is "trying to maintain" the ceasefire to "give diplomacy a chance."
Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi during the ongoing BRICS summit, Araghchi went on to say that the country's lack of trust in the U.S. is the "main obstacle to any diplomatic effort."
"Every day brings a different message, sometimes even two different messages in a single day, which deepens mistrust," the official added.
Araghchi also said in a video message that Iran "was the victor in this war" as the country is now seen as capable of "confronting the world's greatest powers."
"Iran was able to prevent its enemies from achieving their objectives and succeeded in imposing its will," he added. "From now on, Iran must be viewed differently."
President Donald Trump, in turn, said the U.S. controls the Strait of Hormuz because the country "wiped out their armed forces, essentially."
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on his return from China, Trump said "we had a little month-long ceasefire, I guess you'd call it, but we have a blockade that's so effective, that's why we did the ceasefire."
Trump also said in China that Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping offered him help to strike a deal with Iran and would "like to see the Hormuz Strait open" as the stalemate between the two countries continues.
"President Xi would like to see a deal made. He would, he would like to see a deal made. And he did offer. He said, 'If I can be of any help at all, I would like to be of help,'" Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity in a taped interview on Thursday.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said that Beijing will work "behind the scenes" to get the waterway reopened. "It's very much in their interest to get the strait reopened," he told CNBC's Joe Kernen. "I think they will be working behind the scenes to the extent anyone has any say over the Iranian leadership."
10% of China's imports came from Iran in 2024, the outlet added based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration. "China has a much bigger interest in reopening the strait than the U.S. does," Bessent said.
