Iran’s new leader vows to keep up oil blockade

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Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has vowed to maintain the oil blockade in the Strait of Hormuz as a “tool to pressure the enemy”. In his first public comments as supreme leader, read out by a newsreader, he also urged other Middle Eastern countries to close American bases and said these sites will be attacked. The news caused oil prices to increase once again. The International Energy Agency has described the fallout from the Iran conflict as “the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market”. JP Morgan has advised investors to hold onto energy stocks, noting that geopolitical shocks are usually short-lived. But if the oil price remains at current levels, or continues to go up, it may revisit this guidance.