{"id":638794,"date":"2026-04-08T06:52:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T04:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=638794"},"modified":"2026-04-08T08:13:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T06:13:41","slug":"big-swing-for-petrol-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/motoring\/638794-big-swing-for-petrol-prices.html","title":{"rendered":"Big swing for petrol prices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire expected to halt the American-Israeli military campaign, in exchange for Tehran reopening the Strait of Hormuz, portending a temporary de-escalation while broader tensions may remain unresolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump announced the agreement Tuesday on social media hours after Pakistan, a mediator in talks, implored the US leader to back off his deadline to unleash massive devastation on Iran if it did not meet his demands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal buys time for the two sides to reach a longer agreement to end the six-week-old war, which has killed thousands of people and sparked a global energy crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump said he had agreed \u201cto suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks\u201d as long as Iran agrees to \u201cthe COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a statement<\/a> that \u201cfor a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran\u2019s Armed Forces\u201d and that if attacks against Iran are halted, \u201cour Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel has also agreed to the ceasefire, according to a White House official. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Arab states in the Persian Gulf reported continued attacks by Iran in the immediate aftermath of Trump\u2019s announcement, leaving uncertainty over when the truce would begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oil fell the most in almost six years after Trump announced his decision, which came roughly 90 minutes before his 20:00 deadline for Iran to reopen the strait or face a massive military bombardment.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global benchmark Brent crude slid as much as 16% to $91.70 a barrel. The oil price is the biggest factor in the determination of petrol and diesel prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MSCI\u2019s Asia Pacific Index jumped 4.1% to a three-week high and equity-index futures for Wall Street gauges rose more than 2% and European stock futures surged 5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Permanent resolution still far off<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Oil facility on Iranian coast. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Both the US and Iran are portraying the ceasefire as a \u201cvictory,\u201d but significant differences remain between their demands to bring the war to a complete end, according to Mona Yacoubian, a senior adviser with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIran says it will allow free passage for the next two weeks through the Strait of Hormuz but in coordination with Iran\u2019s armed forces. If the US agrees to that, that is a huge concession to Iran,\u201d she said on Bloomberg TV after the announcement of the truce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s choice represents a dramatic climb-down from a bellicose social media post earlier Tuesday, in which he warned \u201ca whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again\u201d if Iran didn\u2019t give in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His threats to attack Iran\u2019s civilian infrastructure, including power plants, may have amounted to war crimes if they were carried out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While markets breathed a sigh of relief, the ceasefire addressed a crisis Trump helped create when the US and Israel launched the war in late February. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It didn\u2019t address his demands for limits on Iran\u2019s nuclear, missile or drone programs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there was no indication the US was prepared to meet Iran\u2019s desire for a permanent agreement and the lifting of sanctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt gives essentially a bit of a reprieve from the path of escalation they were on, but clearly we\u2019re still far away from any kind of resolution to the conflict \u2014 much less the issues underlying the conflict,\u201d said\u00a0Michael Singh<\/a>, a former senior director for the Middle East at the National Security Council under George W. Bush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Trump\u2019s initial post, it was unclear whether a path toward de-escalation could be established immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a key mediator, said Tehran, Washington and their allies had agreed to a complete ceasefire that would include Lebanon, where Israel is waging a parallel conflict against the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disputed that, saying the temporary deal doesn\u2019t extend the ceasefire to Lebanon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Israel, reported missile and drone attacks by Iran in the immediate aftermath of Trump\u2019s announcement, leaving uncertainty over when the ceasefire would take effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US expected orders to stand down from strikes would take time to reach Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Axios reported. Such lags are typical in conflicts, with hostilities often continuing before gradually tapering off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US forces in the early hours of Tuesday hit military targets on Iran\u2019s major oil export hub of Kharg Island. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump sets off rushed negotiations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s social-media post had earlier set off an 11th-hour rush by mediators to resume the indirect negotiations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharif, Pakistan\u2019s prime minister, earlier posted on social media that talks were \u201cprogressing steadily, strongly and powerfully\u201d and that his country had asked Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz \u201cfor a corresponding period of two weeks as a goodwill gesture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later Tuesday, Sharif invited all sides to Islamabad to continue negotiations. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said discussions about the next phase of talks were ongoing but \u201cnothing is final.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of Trump\u2019s biggest backers \u2014 and strongest proponents of the attacks \u2014 expressed caution about the agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe must remember that the Strait of Hormuz was attacked by Iran after the start of the war, destroying freedom of navigation,\u201d Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican, said on X. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGoing forward, it is imperative Iran is not rewarded for this hostile act against the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complete terms of a possible pact weren\u2019t disclosed. Trump only said the US had received a 10-point proposal from Iran, describing it as \u201ca workable basis on which to negotiate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlmost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two-week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump later told AFP he believed China had encouraged Iran to negotiate and that Iran\u2019s uranium stockpile would be \u201cperfectly taken care of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s demands include its continued control of the Strait of Hormuz, acceptance of its nuclear enrichment activities, the lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions, and a withdrawal of US combat forces from the region, according to a statement by its Supreme National Security Council carried by state media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much remains unclear about the ceasefire agreement and whether it will hold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two-week period can be extended by mutual agreement, though Iran will enter talks with \u201ccomplete distrust,\u201d its state media said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the decision to stand down \u2014 at least for now \u2014 marked the latest case of the president backing off a threat to broaden the list of military targets in Iran to include civilian infrastructure such as power plants and desalination facilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March, he had given Iran five days to reopen the strait or face such attacks, and then extended the deadline another 10 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pattern has become so well-known that it even has its own acronym \u2014 TACO, or Trump Always Chickens Out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ship movements key<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Focus will now return to Hormuz and whether ships can pass safely through the vital waterway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some vessels have made it through the strait in recent weeks, they\u2019ve generally not been from countries Iran views as hostile or having at least tacitly supported the US and Israeli strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is the real litmus test \u2014 whether operators in the field \u2014 ship owners, ship operators \u2014 change their behaviours, following the announcement of the ceasefire and maybe some type of reassurance that ships beyond just the already flagged Iraqis are safe,\u201d said Clayton Seigle, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two-week ceasefire plan includes allowing both Iran and Oman to charge fees on ships transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, the Associated Press reported, citing a regional official who had been directly involved in negotiations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran would use the money it raised for reconstruction, according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before Trump\u2019s post, dated Brent crude, the price valuing most of the world\u2019s real-world oil transactions, had shattered all previous records, hitting $144.42 per barrel, while Brent futures, an international benchmark, traded near $109.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A two-week deadline delay is likely to reset oil prices down to about $100 per barrel. That\u2019s emerged as something of a new baseline during the conflict. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat delay by itself would be enough probably to take us down to our new resting level, which is not all the way back by any means,\u201d said Kevin Book, managing director of Washington-based ClearView Energy Partners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oil prices fell the most in almost six years after the US and Iran announced a two-week ceasefire with one condition including the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341034,"featured_media":638795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29366],"tags":[104335,12685,91413,1962,103697,8257,90018,5188,103678,58662,104334,15499,103752],"class_list":["post-638794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-abbas-araghchi","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-brent-crude-oil","tag-iran","tag-iran-conflict","tag-israel","tag-oil-prices","tag-pakistan","tag-persian-gulf","tag-president-donald-trump","tag-tehran","tag-us","tag-us-iran-conflict"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638794"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":638798,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638794\/revisions\/638798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}