---
title: "Oil Slides to a Three-Month Low as Iran Waiver and Hormuz Calm Ease Supply Fears"
description: "Crude prices fell to their lowest in nearly three months as a U.S. sanctions waiver clears the way for more Iranian barrels and tankers keep moving through the Strait of Hormuz, draining the war-risk premium that had gripped the market."
category: "Markets"
category_url: https://boursel.com/category/markets
author: "Olivia Chen"
published: 2026-06-24T00:16:00.000Z
updated: 2026-06-24T00:16:00.000Z
canonical: https://boursel.com/article/oil-slides-iran-waiver-hormuz-calm
tags: ["oil", "wti", "brent", "iran", "strait-of-hormuz"]
---
# Oil Slides to a Three-Month Low as Iran Waiver and Hormuz Calm Ease Supply Fears

Crude prices fell to their lowest in nearly three months as a U.S. sanctions waiver clears the way for more Iranian barrels and tankers keep moving through the Strait of Hormuz, draining the war-risk premium that had gripped the market.

Crude oil fell again as traders bet that more Middle Eastern supply is on the way and that the worst fears over the Strait of Hormuz have not materialized.

West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, slipped below $74 a barrel — its lowest in nearly three months — while Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded around $77, [according to market data tracked by Trading Economics](https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/crude-oil). WTI and Brent are the two reference prices most of the world's crude is bought and sold against: WTI reflects oil delivered in the United States, while Brent sets the benchmark for much of Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

## A peace framework and a waiver reopen Iranian exports

The selling followed a sharp de-escalation in the confrontation with Iran. The U.S. and Iran [signed a framework to wind down the conflict](https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/6/18/oil-prices-fall-stocks-rally-as-us-iran-sign-framework-to-end-war), and Washington issued a temporary 60-day license authorizing transactions tied to the production, transport and sale of Iranian crude and fuels. The prospect of those barrels re-entering an already well-supplied market has pushed traders to unwind the risk premium built up during the recent fighting. Iran shipped more than 30 million barrels to Asian buyers over the past week, [reporting indicates](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/19/oil-prices-wti-brent-crude-us-iran-deal-strait-hormuz-shipping-recovery.html).

That premium had been anchored to the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which roughly a fifth of the world's seaborne oil flows. Any serious disruption there would strand a large share of global supply, which is why even the threat of closure tends to lift prices. With tankers continuing to transit the strait, that scenario has receded.

## A draw that points the other way

Not every signal pointed lower. The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group whose weekly figures precede official government data, estimated that U.S. crude inventories fell by 765,000 barrels in the week ended June 19. A drawdown normally signals firmer demand or tighter supply, but it was outweighed by the supply-side news from the Middle East.

## The longer game on Hormuz

The episode has revived an old strategic question: how to get Gulf oil to market without passing through Hormuz at all. Patrick Pouyanné, chief executive of French major TotalEnergies, said the company should prioritize pipelines that bypass the strait, via routes through Abu Dhabi and potentially Syria. He called bypass pipelines "an absolute priority" at a Paris energy conference, [according to MarketScreener](https://www.marketscreener.com/news/totalenergies-must-invest-in-gulf-pipelines-to-bypass-hormuz-ceo-says-ce7f5fdad188f724). TotalEnergies has among the highest Middle East exposure of any major.

## A glut, but not a settled one

Underlying the sell-off is a perception of a building supply glut — a market in which available barrels outpace demand, which pulls prices down. Whether that holds is contested. Some analysts argue the market could still tighten over the summer if Gulf producers are slow to restore idled output. The path of prices from here depends heavily on how quickly that supply returns and whether the Iran framework holds — both uncertain. None of this is investment advice.