Oil prices climbed to a five-month high last week as the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz showed no sign of ending. Brent crude settled at $116.72 a barrel on Friday, October 23, after briefly topping $117, market reports showed.
A contested peace offer
On Saturday, October 24, Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, said Tehran had offered to restore shipping through the strait if Washington ended its naval blockade of Iranian ports, and accused President Donald Trump of rejecting the offer. Hours later, Iran’s Tasnim news agency denied that a new offer had been passed through Pakistani intermediaries. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said earlier in October that Tehran’s seven-day reopening proposal still stood, conditional on lifting the blockade and restrictions on Iranian oil exports.
How we got here
- February 28: US and Israeli strikes on Iran start the war.
- April 11-12: US and Iranian delegations meet in Islamabad in talks mediated by Pakistan, without a final deal.
- June 17: the 14-point “Islamabad Memorandum” reopens the strait for 60 days and lifts the US blockade.
- July 8: the truce collapses after attacks on commercial ships. The US reinstates its blockade on July 14, and the IRGC declares the strait closed.
Since July, dozens of vessels have been struck. The UK’s maritime trade agency has counted 79 projectile strike incidents since July 6, Fox News reported.
Escalating rhetoric
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the US and Israel must topple the Iranian government, while Trump warned of further action if no deal is reached. Iranian officials told Reuters that Tehran has prepared plans to target undersea cables. Pakistan, Qatar, Oman and Egypt are among the countries supporting negotiations, and the IAEA says it is ready to resume monitoring if there is a deal.
Why it matters for Pakistan
Before the war, roughly a fifth of global petroleum consumption moved through Hormuz, and the route is vital for Qatari LNG. For an energy importer like Pakistan, higher crude prices feed straight into fuel prices and the import bill. Read our explainer on how the oil shock reaches Pakistani pumps and our Opinion section on Pakistan’s mediation role.
Analysts note that even a diplomatic announcement would not restore normal trade at once: shippers will want credible security guarantees and functioning ports first.
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