Oil Prices Slide In Volatile Trade

(RTTNews) - Oil prices fell in volatile trade on Thursday after rallying in the previous session on escalating hostilities in the Middle East.

Brent crude futures fell 0.7 percent to $77.47 a barrel while WTI crude futures were down 0.7 percent at $73.01.

Both contracts soared around eight percent in the previous session after the United States and Iran exchanged strikes and U.S. President Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran is over.

Later, Trump said the recent armed clashes would not lead to the end of the ceasefire or the resumption of full-scale war.

Holding a press conference in Ankara, Turkey, Trump harshly criticized the Iranian leadership but assured that everything will be safer, including oil.

Whatever happens, it will end very quickly and cause oil prices to drop further, Trump claimed.

U.S. forces have launched another round of strikes against Iran late Wednesday, with explosions reported in several Iranian locations, including the port city of Bandar Abbas, Sirik, Chabahar Port, Bushehr and Abu Musa Island.

In a social media post, the U.S. Central Command said the additional strikes were launched "to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz."

In an earlier post, CENTCOM said more than 20 U.S. Navy warships were patrolling waters across the Middle East.

U.S. airstrikes hit about 90 targets across Iran over the past two days as Tehran targeted Gulf states. The airstrikes killed at least 14 people and injured 17 others. Iranian military sources said the country's missile and drone forces would soon launch a large-scale response against U.S. military bases in the Middle East.

Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Iran's supreme leader, said in a social media post that "aggressors and their accomplices" would face a severe response.