While Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Thursday that the United States had suffered a “shameful defeat” against his country, oil prices briefly jumped to $126 per barrel, a level not seen since 2022.

Published on: 04/30/2026 - 22:52

The Islamic Republic has once again challenged its enemy. Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said on Thursday April 30 that the United States had suffered a "shameful defeat" against his country. As tensions rise in the Middle East, oil prices briefly jumped to $126 per barrel, a level not seen since 2022.

Although a ceasefire has been in force since April 8, the United States is imposing a blockade of Iranian ships in retaliation for Tehran's blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the hydrocarbons consumed in the world passed before the conflict.

A senior American official spoke of a possible extension of this measure “for months”.

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“Two months after the largest military deployment and aggression carried out by the tyrants of this world in the region, and after the shameful defeat of the United States, a new chapter opens” for the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, launched the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in a written message. According to members of his entourage, he was seriously injured during Israeli-American strikes. He has not been seen in public since his appointment on March 8.

“A little more effective than bombing”

Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian denounced the American blockade as a “prolongation of military operations”.

On the American side, the army nevertheless prides itself on the success of this operation, with dozens of tankers prevented, according to it, from leaving Iran.

Donald Trump judged the blockade "a little more effective than the bombings", in an interview with the American site Axios. But according to the same media, the American president was to be briefed Thursday by the army on possible new military actions.

Israel, which attacked Iran with the United States on February 28, warned that it might "have to act again", so that Tehran does not "become a threat again", according to Defense Minister Israel Katz.

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The commander of the Aerospace Force of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's ideological army, Majid Mousavi, for his part warned on state television that even a "brief" enemy operation would result in "painful, prolonged and widespread strikes".

The war has left thousands dead, mainly in Iran and Lebanon. Despite the truce and the first discussions on April 11 in Islamabad, diplomacy has not regained its rights.

Creeping shortages

Faced with the prospect of a stagnation in the conflict, Brent, the global benchmark for crude oil, briefly exceeded $126 on Thursday, a peak since early 2022 during Russia's invasion of Ukraine. After this heatwave, the barrel fell back to around 114 dollars shortly before 4:30 p.m. GMT.

In Iran, if life has returned to normal, between crowded cafes and walkers enjoying the spring weather, residents oscillate between distress and fatalism, against a backdrop of deterioration of the economic situation and weakening of the currency.

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“It’s so demoralizing,” says Morteza, a Tehranese computer scientist contacted by an AFP journalist in Paris: “The Islamic Republic is still in place, innocent people have seen their lives destroyed during this war,” he says as the threat of a resumption of hostilities looms.

"The United States is probably looking for decisive military action that would force Iran to capitulate. That won't work," Danny Citrinowicz, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, warned on X. “What 40 days of sustained strikes failed to achieve will not suddenly be achieved” by new attacks.

While the negotiations stall, the repercussions of the Hormuz blockage are being felt more and more every day for the global economy, between rampant shortages, surges in inflation and downward revisions to growth.

“The world is facing the most serious energy crisis in its history,” said the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol.

“Persistent violations”

The Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, was also alarmed by the “strangulation” of the global economy due to the paralysis of the strait.

And the European Central Bank (ECB) has warned of “intensifying” risks to inflation and growth in the euro zone.

On the Lebanese front, 15 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the south of the country, according to authorities, while President Joseph Aoun condemned Israel's "persistent violations" of the truce, which came into force on April 17.

Operations carried out in Lebanon by Israel, which is fighting the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement, have left more than 2,500 dead and more than a million displaced since the beginning of March, according to the authorities.

The Israeli army announced the death “in combat” of one of its soldiers in southern Lebanon.

With AFP

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