Rubio's blunt Iran threat sparks chaos in global oil market
By ROSS IBBETSON, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Published: 08:14 EDT, 22 July 2026 \| Updated: 08:21 EDT, 22 July 2026
Oil prices have rocketed to their highest level in more than a month after Marco Rubio warned the US would keep striking Iran for as long as it throttles the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude surged almost 4 percent to nearly $95 per barrel on Wednesday as US forces pounded Iran for the eleventh straight night and traders braced for a drawn-out war.
The Secretary of State delivered the blunt threat to reporters at the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Manila, insisting Washington would keep its warships in the fight even as he left the door open to a deal.
'We're going to continue to protect shipping, we think other countries should join us in that endeavor,' Rubio said.
He accused Tehran of shredding a ceasefire deal to reopen the Strait 'within two weeks' of its agreement.
'When those commitments are not kept, which is what's happened in this particular case, then there will be consequences,' Rubio said.
Energy markets were being squeezed on three fronts as chaos hit the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea and the Black Sea.
At least two oil tankers bound for the Bab al-Mandeb chokepoint in the Red Sea turned back overnight after Iran-backed Houthi rebels threatened to blockade Saudi Arabia, choking a route that handled 12 percent of global oil flows before the war.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a press conference on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Pasay, Philippines on July 22
Protesters who support Yemen's Houthi group brandish weapons and shout slogans as they celebrate the ban decision imposed against the maritime shipping of Saudi Arabia on July 20, 2026 in Sana'a, Yemen
Ukrainian attacks on Russian shipping have meanwhile disrupted a third artery, with a key Black Sea terminal halting deliveries of Kazakh oil after strikes on tankers.
The pain is already bleeding into wallets, with pump prices topping $4 per gallon, crude clawing back toward $100 and money markets now pricing a 24 percent chance of a Fed rate hike this month.
Rubio insisted the US still wanted peace, telling reporters Washington 'would love to reach an agreement if it were possible with Iran' provided Tehran abandoned terrorism and its nuclear ambitions.
But he made clear Trump was prepared to escalate, warning: 'The President has many options available to him, if they continue to insist on not being cooperative ... I think Iran knows we have many options.'
Iranian officials had reached out to try to defuse the fighting, Rubio revealed, but US negotiators remained deeply skeptical.
'The problem we're having right now is that they're not serious about talks,' he said.
'If they're serious, we're serious. If they're not, then we will do what is necessary to protect that, our interests, and also the interests of our allies.'
The warning landed a day after Trump claimed that Iran 'desperately' wanted to meet but that Washington had no interest, boasting: 'If we left right now, it would take Iran 20, 25 years to rebuild. And we're not finished at all... we're not leaving right now.'
The President has also doubled down on his threat to bomb a suspected Iranian nuclear site known as Pickaxe Mountain 'pretty soon, and very heavily', taunting: 'There's not a thing they can do about it.'