More strikes are planned against Iran, and Tehran has declared the Hormuz to be closed: File Image/Pixabay

What many war strategists thought was inevitable – U.S. president Donald Trump on Wednesday declaring an end to the 60-day ceasefire between his country and Iran – sent markets into a panic, with oil incurring another 5 percent rise as of 0636 GMT despite the brash billionaire saying he would allow peace negotiations to continue.

Specifically, Brent climbed 5.8 percent to $78.43 after Trump said, when asked about the ceasefire status, “For me, I think it’s over,” and while he added that U.S. representatives can continue negotiations, “I think they’re wasting their time.”

Trump later remarked that Washington was preparing for another night of strikes against the Islamic republic (including more attacks on oil stronghold Kharg Island), and that NATO countries would deploy minesweepers to the Strait of Hormuz in the likelihood Iran would again attempt to sabotage the waterway.

For its part, the Khatam al-Anbiya central headquarters in Tehran announced the formal closure of the Hormuz, warning all international commercial shipping that any further attempts to transit the waterway would face direct military intervention.

Aneeka Gupta, director of macroeconomic research at Wisdomtree, said of oil’s dramatic Wednesday rise and corresponding plummet of inflation-sensitive assets such as bonds and gold, "It's a big wake-up call for markets" considering the expectation had been "that we were likely to ‌start to see the flow of oil coming back into the markets, and we saw inflation expectations being dialled down."

In other war-related oil news on Wednesday, Tsvetana Paraskova, energy and commodities analyst for Oilprice.com, wrote that Washington’s termination of the waiver on Iran’s oil sales along with sudden reluctance of buyers such as those in India to deal with the Islamic republic has resulted in Iran “left with millions of barrels of crude oil on tankers moving or idling in a large area from the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Malacca.”

Based on Vortexa data, as many as 63 million barrels of Iranian oil are either in transit or idling in tankers.