By JBizNews Desk
New York, Thursday, May 21, 2026

Oil prices spiked and U.S. stocks turned lower in midday trading Thursday after Reuters reported that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei issued a directive ordering that the country’s stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium cannot be shipped outside Iran, a hard line that directly contradicts the central American demand for ending the war.

Two senior Iranian sources confirmed the directive to Reuters. The White House has repeatedly told mediators that the removal of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile is a non-negotiable condition for any peace deal, and President Donald Trump has personally assured Israeli officials that any agreement would include the transfer of the material out of Iranian hands.

West Texas Intermediate crude jumped as much as 4% in early trading, crossing $102 per barrel before pulling back to roughly $101.04, up about 2.9% on the day. Brent crude rose as much as 3.5% to $108.50 before settling near $107.36, a gain of 2.3%. The S&P 500 fell 0.45%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.48%, and the Nasdaq slid 0.50%. The Russell 2000 was the only major U.S. equity index in positive territory, up 2.56%, as small-cap energy names rallied on the crude move.

Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday that he was prepared to resume military action against Iran if the regime did not provide “100 percent good answers” in the current round of talks, but said he was willing to give diplomacy “a couple more days.”

“We’re all ready to go,” Trump said, referring to U.S. military assets in the region.

Earlier in the week, Trump said he called off an imminent strike package against Iranian targets at the request of Gulf Arab allies.

The market reaction was sharpened by a parallel warning from the International Energy Agency. Executive director Fatih Birol told reporters Thursday that the global oil market will enter a “red zone” this summer if the Strait of Hormuz does not reopen, with global crude inventories set to deplete as travel and air-conditioning demand picks up.

Iran has held the strait closed since early March, cutting traffic by more than 95% and pushing global oil supply chains into the worst disruption on record.

“Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz remains shut, another 14 million barrels of oil has failed to make it to market, and the first two months on the Brent curve are trading over $100,” said Robert Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho.

The combination of physical supply loss, a hawkish nuclear posture from Tehran and the IEA warning is rebuilding the geopolitical risk premium in crude that had been quietly fading over the past two weeks amid tentative ceasefire optimism.

Also weighing on equities was a 1.6% drop in shares of Nvidia, despite the chipmaker’s blockbuster earnings report Wednesday evening. Nvidia forecast second-quarter revenue of $91 billion and announced an $80 billion share repurchase authorization, but investors used the post-earnings strength to take profits. Treasury yields also rose across the curve, with the 10-year yield climbing on inflation concerns tied to higher oil prices.

For consumers, the math is straightforward and unwelcome. Every dollar increase in WTI crude typically translates to roughly 2.5 cents at the gas pump within two to three weeks. The move from $97 to $102 in a single session could add another 12 to 13 cents per gallon to gasoline prices by early June.

Airlines, trucking companies and food distributors that hedged jet fuel and diesel at lower levels in April are now watching those hedges expire into a higher-cost environment, with the pass-through to summer airfares and grocery prices already becoming visible.

Iranian officials are reportedly preparing a response to the latest American proposal, which Tehran’s ILNA news agency described as having “narrowed the gaps to some extent.” Whether that response includes any flexibility on the uranium question — the core issue in the negotiations — will determine whether markets are pricing in a genuine ceasefire path or a longer summer of $100-plus oil and renewed inflation pressure.

JBizNews Desk

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