WASHINGTON, September 17 — The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has pushed oil above $100 a barrel and driven long-term borrowing costs in the United States and Britain to their highest level in decades, according to a BBC report published on 10 September 2026. The record shows the disruption has blocked supplies of oil and gas from the Gulf from reaching global markets.
Brent crude went back above $100 a barrel on Wednesday and continued to climb, with the price of oil jumping to $105 a barrel amid signs the conflict in the Middle East would not be resolved quickly. The conflict between the United States and Iran in the Gulf has intensified in recent days, and the cost of both crude oil and gas has been rising sharply.
The report, written by business correspondent Theo Leggett and business reporter Francisco Velasquez, was published on the BBC News website on 10 September 2026.
Trump: fighting may not end until after midterms
Speaking at a Republican Party convention in Texas on Wednesday, President Trump said he did not think the fighting would end until after the US mid-term elections in November. Analysts said the combination of rising energy costs and higher borrowing costs was adding pressure on financial markets. Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at trading platform IG, said investors were becoming increasingly concerned about the economic impact of higher oil prices.
“It feels like investors worldwide are now waking up to the crisis in oil markets,” Beauchamp said. He warned that the surge in energy prices could weigh heavily on the global economy if it continues.
Shipping fears widen as Houthis seize Red Sea port
Concerns also grew after Iran-aligned Houthi forces were reported to have seized Yemen’s port of Mokha, a key Red Sea port. The move could elevate fears of further shipping disruptions. The price of natural gas had also been soaring on wholesale markets.
In the UK, it rose above 200p a therm for the first time since the end of 2022. Storage levels in Europe were much lower than normal for the time of year, and the need to fill reserves ahead of the winter helped push up prices.
UK consumers are protected from short-term spikes on the wholesale gas markets by Ofgem’s price cap, but if prices remain high for an extended period, households still face steeper bills. The cap was already due to increase by 3.6% at the start of October, with the next change after that coming in January.
Bond yields surge worldwide
The increase in energy costs in turn raised fears of a spike in inflation, and this also pushed up yields on government bonds around the world. In the UK, yields on 10-year bonds were at their highest since 2007, while those on 20- and 30-year bonds were at levels not seen since 1998. This implies a higher cost of borrowing for the government, at a time when public finances are under pressure.
It could also have a direct impact on households, as it affects the rates paid by consumers for some financial products, such as fixed-rate mortgages. On the timeline, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz remains the central fact driving both the energy and bond markets.
What to watch next is whether the fighting eases before the November mid-terms, and whether the October gas price cap increase feeds through to broader inflation.
