RoydadNaft –  Brent crude futures fell by 90 cents, or 1.0%, to $91.27 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures also declined by 76 cents, or 0.9%, to $84.25 per barrel.

Global oil prices fell for a second consecutive session on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, after declining by more than 2% in the previous session, as investors largely shrugged off the impact of the latest U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Brent crude futures fell 90 cents, or 1.0%, to $91.27 a barrel by 0630 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 76 cents, or 0.9%, at $84.25 a barrel.

Both oil contracts settled lower on Monday, with U.S. crude falling to a one-week low as traders took profits following a rally over the previous two weeks.

“The market seems largely unfazed by Washington’s push for tighter economic pressure on Iran, with traders treating the U.S. effort to nudge partners away from Iranian trade as marginal rather than market-moving,” ING commodity strategists said in a note on Tuesday.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday announced an expansion of sanctions aimed at cutting off Iran’s economic lifeline and forcing an end to the war. He said countries would need to sever their business ties with Iran or risk being excluded from the dollar-based financial system.

However, Bessent declined to identify the countries that would be targeted or say when the penalties would take effect, saying they would instead be given time to comply with the new directive.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday that Washington would not rule out the use of military force against Iran. However, the United States is increasingly turning toward economic pressure, which analysts said had eased concerns about threats to Middle Eastern oil supplies arising from the war.

“Markets appear to be pricing economic pressure as a lower-risk path for physical supply than kinetic action, which is why the initial reaction was for oil to move lower rather than spike higher,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM.

However, Waterer warned that “Iran still retains the ability to respond by disrupting shipping, which continues to keep a residual premium in the oil price.”

Highlighting those risks, an oil tanker was struck by an unidentified projectile on Tuesday and disabled about 9 nautical miles (16.7 km) northeast of Ash Shishah, Oman, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations.

Iran continues to maintain that it should control the Strait of Hormuz. Before the war began in February, the strategic waterway typically carried cargoes equivalent to around 20% of global oil consumption.

On Monday, Iran named 45 tankers that it said had violated its rules governing passage through the strait and threatened action against them, including the confiscation of their cargoes.

Supply disruptions resulting from the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which began on February 28, have prompted countries to draw down their commercial and strategic oil reserves.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Energy reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell by about 3.7 million barrels last week to 289.7 million barrels, their lowest level since November 1982.