HOUSTON, July 16 (Reuters) - Grades were broadly unchanged on Thursday, dealers said, even amid fears that Yemen-backed Houthis could close the Red Sea oil route if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure, further tightening supply.
Iran and the United States exchanged intensifying fire on Thursday in a week-long escalation that has largely unraveled last month's truce, while Tehran disputed President Donald Trump's claim that a U.S. citizen had been released.
Iran has asked Yemen’s Houthi movement to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure, three sources told Reuters on Thursday, posing a potent new threat to global energy supplies.
Fewer vessels travelled through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the first day after the U.S. reimposed its naval blockade on Iranian ports with both countries escalating strikes across the Gulf, shipping data showed.
Iraq briefly suspended oil loadings on Thursday after a drone hit an oil tanker at its Basra terminal, four Iraqi oil and security sources told Reuters, before later resuming them.
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