TeleTrade: Oil Could Reach $250 If Iran Blocks Strait of Hormuz

Tehran is threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial artery for oil shipments from the Middle East should Iranian exports be hampered. This will result in a huge loss of global crude supply and soaring prices.

Artem Avinov, leading analyst with TeleTrade, an online broker licensed in Cyprus and Russia that provides trading services in financial instruments, predicts that oil prices could jump to $250 per barrel if the Strait of Hormuz is blocked by Iran, RT reported.

“I am skeptical about the possibility of Iran to cut off oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz for several days or weeks. Even if Iran really acts, we are likely to see a quick economic or military retaliation, which will lead to the lifting of restrictions,” he told RT.

Another RT guest, Mikhail Mashchenko, who is an analyst at eToro, a social trading and multi asset brokerage company, does not believe crude will skyrocket even if a blockade takes place since Brent never topped $150 per barrel.

He adds that US President Donald Trump’s rhetoric is propping up oil prices despite his wish to lower them.

“If Trump did not try to isolate Tehran so actively, investors would not have been buying oil so massively because of fears of a deficit. The fate of the oil market depends on the further actions of the top producers: How much the export from the US will decrease, and how much Saudi Arabia and Russia, which have a lot of unused capacities, will increase production,” he said.