Meanwhile, suspected insider trading is netting huge profits off the back of the hostilities: File Image/Pixabay

Iran firing on two ships in the Strait of Hormuz after U.S. president Donald Trump extended the ceasefire between his country and the Islamic republic predictably elevated oil prices on Wednesday, with Brent breaching to $100 mark.

Brent settled up 3 percent to $101.47 and West Texas Intermediate also rose 3 percent to settle at $92.96 per barrel.

According to maritime authorities, a Liberia-flagged container vessel was fired on by a gunboat linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; separately, another two outbound cargo ships were  targeted.

In extending his ceasefire, Trump warned that restrictions would stay in place until negotiations concluded; but Iran said it wouldn’t reopen the Strait while the U.S. blockade of its ports continued.

Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy, downplayed the impact of Iran’s leadership being fractured: “They are ready to eat grass for six months to keep their chokehold on this jugular to wait for those oil prices to go even higher and eventually equities to go lower.

“They think they are going to end up surviving this conflict having taught a lesson and maybe even with some control over the Strait of Hormuz.”

Meanwhile, in a move that compounds suspicions of inside trading, media reported that unidentified traders enacted a $430 million bearish bet on crude oil futures 15 minutes before Trump announced the ceasefire extension.

This came on the heels of a series of suspicious wagers that have earned hundreds of millions of dollars in profits within minutes, including a $760 million bet on falling oil prices just 20 minutes before Iran announced the reopening of the Strait last week.

In other oil news related to the U.S./Iran standoff, Brazil posted a record trade surplus of $14.2 billion in Q1 2026 thanks largely to high oil prices; this was a 47.6 percent increase compared to the same period in 2025.

Also on Wednesday, Japan Petroleum Exploration (Japex) disclosed plans to invest 1.16 trillion yen ($7.3 billion) in exploration and production in order to quadruple oil and gas output over the next decade, mainly in the U.S.

In the UK, a two-day conference involving military planners from more than 30 countries got underway with the objective of re-opening the Strait of Hormuz; the UK government said in a statement, “The sessions will advance military plans to reopen the Strait, as soon as conditions permit, following a sustainable ceasefire agreement.”

For his part, Trump professed not to be overly concerned by the situation and told reporters with regards to his blockade of Iranian ports that it “scares them even more than the bombing….once those wells go down, sometimes they are down for good.”