What to know
- Oil prices spiked above $115 a barrel this morning before easing to below $90 a barrel later in the day. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz —a vital passageway for the global oil supply —has all but stopped, deepening anxiety about the world’s energy costs. In the U.S., prices at the pump have jumped to an average of $3.48 per gallon, according to AAA, a nearly 17% increase since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran a week ago.
- The Pentagon released the names of two more American service members who have died since the war with Iran began, bringing the U.S. military death toll to eight. Six of the service members were killed in attacks in Kuwait and one in Saudi Arabia. Another service member died in a non-combat emergency situation in Kuwait.
- President Donald Trump told a news outlet Monday that he is “not happy” with the Iranian regime’s decision to appoint Mojtaba Khamenei as its supreme leader. Mojtaba Khamenei will succeed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an airstrike at the start of the war. Mojtaba Khamenei is considered more hard-line than his father.
