Brent crude dropped below $75 per barrel on Tuesday for the first time since before the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran launched on February 28. The global oil benchmark was trading around $74.80 at midday GMT, capping a roughly 4% single-day decline that pushed prices as low as $73.67.
To put that move in context: Brent peaked near $120 per barrel during the height of the conflict. That means oil has shed roughly 38% from its wartime ceiling.
What’s driving the drop
The proximate cause is geopolitical, not geological. A framework peace agreement between the US and Iran, hammered out in mid-June, opened the door for the resumption of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. That narrow waterway handles a significant share of global oil and gas shipments, and its effective closure during the conflict was the single biggest driver of the price spike.
With vessels moving through the strait again, the supply-crunch premium that had been baked into Brent is unwinding fast.
