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Oil Price Today (August 3): Crude oil crashes 5% below $84 as Trump delays attack on Iran. What are experts saying?
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SynopsisBrent crude futures fell $4.37, or 5%, to $83.56 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude declined $4.63, or 5.5%, to $80 a barrel.ETMarkets.comOil prices dropped by more than $4 a barrel on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump refrained from launching a fresh attack on Iran and instead signalled a willingness to pursue a quick agreement aimed at ending Tehran's nuclear ambitions and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.Crude oil price on August 3Brent crude futures fell $4.37, or 5%, to $83.56 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude declined $4.63, or 5.5%, to $80 a barrel.The sharp decline followed a strong rally last month, when both contracts had gained more than 20% after fighting between the U.S. and Iran resumed. Concerns over attacks on several tankers near Oman also heightened security risks, discouraging shippers from entering the Gulf to load crude.Also read: Trump's closest Gulf allies are frustrated with his Iran war strategy: ReportIn a possible sign of easing tensions, Trump said late on Saturday on his Truth Social platform that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had sought time to finalise an agreement that would result in "the Immediate, Complete and Total" reopening of the crucial waterway and bring "an end to Iran's nuclear threat". Trump added that he had agreed to cancel the attack to allow for a rapid agreement, and said Israel had also committed to the effort. On Sunday, OPEC+ approved an increase of around 188,000 barrels per day in its oil production quota for September, marking the completion of the rollback of one tranche of its voluntary output cuts.However, the additional supply has had little effect on the market so far. Export disruptions from the Gulf, along with supply issues involving Russia and Kazakhstan amid the Iran and Ukraine wars, have meant that the group's successive monthly production hikes for most of this year have largely remained on paper.Analysts hopeful?The trajectory of oil prices will largely depend on the duration of the supply disruption. JPMorgan estimates that every additional month of disruption could lift Brent prices by about $7 to $8 a barrel. If the disruption extends for three months, the bank expects the monthly average Brent price to reach around $114 a barrel.Goldman Sachs has also warned that Brent could rise to $120 a barrel if shipping disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil transit route, continue. However, its base case remains that tensions in the Middle East will eventually ease.Read more: Oil prices surge 20% in July as US-Iran war heightens Strait of Hormuz tensionsBased on that assumption, Goldman Sachs expects Brent to average $80 a barrel in the fourth quarter and $75 a barrel next year. Even so, the bank said the risks to its forecasts remain "tilted to the upside", citing the possibility that shipping disruptions could continue in both the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea."The direction of our outlook is unchanged; the path and the timeline have shifted. We still expect oil to cool as we move into 2027, for three reasons: supply outside the conflict zone is expanding, with OPEC+ raising production targets, the UAE at record output and non-OPEC barrels responding to price, said Anindya Bannerjee, Head of Commodity Research at Kotak Securities.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)Read More News on(What's moving Sensex and Nifty Track latest market news, stock tips, Budget 2025, Share Market on Budget 2025 and expert advice, on ETMarkets. Also, ETMarkets.com is now on Telegram. For fastest news alerts on financial markets, investment strategies and stocks alerts, subscribe to our Telegram feeds .) Subscribe to ET Prime and read the Economic Times ePaper Online.and Sensex Today. Top Trending Stocks: SBI Share Price, Axis Bank Share Price, HDFC Bank Share Price, Infosys Share Pri
US President Donald Trump has appealed a federal judge's ruling that questioned the legality of his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), according to court filings reported by NBC News.The notice of appeal, filed on Friday in the US District Court in Miami, challenges a July 13 order by US District Judge Kathleen Williams, who said the lawsuit had been filed for an "improper purpose" and was aimed at providing judicial legitimacy to a settlement that lacked a legal basis.The lawsuit, brought by Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, the Trump Organization and their attorneys, stemmed from the leak of Trump's tax records by a former IRS contractor. The contractor pleaded guilty in 2023 to stealing and leaking Trump's tax records and those of thousands of other taxpayers in 2019 and 2020. He is currently serving a five-year prison sentence, according to NBC News.Why did Trump sue the IRS?Trump sued the IRS and the US Treasury Department in January, alleging the agency was responsible for the unauthorised disclosure of his tax records, which were later cited in a New York Times report stating that he paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017.A spokesperson for Trump's legal team said on Friday that the IRS had "wrongly allowed a rogue, politically-motivated employee to leak private and confidential information" about Trump, his family and the Trump Organization, according to NBC News.Following Friday's appeal, the spokesperson reiterated that "President Trump continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable," CNBC reported.Why did the judge criticise the lawsuit?In her July 13 ruling, Judge Williams concluded that the lawsuit was not filed to "vindicate rights" but rather to “manipulate the judicial process”.According to CNBC, Williams wrote that the case was used to obtain "judicial legitimacy" for a settlement that granted benefits with “no viable basis in law or fact”.The judge also noted that Trump, as president, exercises authority over the Justice Department, Treasury Department and the IRS, raising concerns about the circumstances surrounding the settlement.What was in the settlement?The lawsuit was withdrawn after the Justice Department agreed to create a $1.776 billion (or roughly $1.8 billion) "anti-weaponization" or "lawfare" fund, intended to compensate people claiming they had been victims of government abuse.The settlement also reportedly included an agreement preventing the government from pursuing pending tax claims against Trump, his family members and related companies. It barred IRS enforcement actions involving past federal tax returns of Trump, his family and associated entities.Judge Williams ruled that the Justice Department could not portray the agreement as a judicially approved settlement.Sanctions and political falloutWilliams imposed several non-monetary sanctions.NBC News reported that the judge sanctioned acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, while asking the Florida Bar to consider disciplinary action against Trump's attorney Alejandro Brito.Williams also referred Brito to the Florida Bar, barred attorney Daniel Epstein from appearing in the Southern District of Florida federal court for one year and prohibited Trump and the other parties from describing the agreement as evidence of a court-approved settlement.The controversy has also affected Blanche's nomination for US attorney general.According to reports, Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina have withheld support for Blanche's confirmation unless the Justice Department permanently shuts down the "anti-weaponization" fund and narrows the tax-related protections contained in the agreement.Trump says fund is deadSpeaking at Camp David on Friday, Trump acknowledged that the fund would not go ahead."The fund is dead, but, you know, I wish it weren't," he said, according to CNBC, arguing that people
Live UpdatesIran war LIVE Updates: The Wall Street Journal claimed that President Donald Trump has ordered preparations for a renewed military campaign intended to pressure Tehran into surrendering, with potential operations launching as early as this weekend.Iran war LIVE Updates: Trump considering new strikes within days, says ‘we just want to win’(REUTERS)Iran war LIVE Updates: US President Donald Trump is considering launching air strikes against Iran's energy infrastructure within days, according to a report by Axios. It claimed that Israel could join the operation, marking its first direct participation in strikes on Iran in several weeks. The report noted that such joint action could trigger renewed Iranian missile attacks against Israel.The development comes as the US pressures Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and reach a ceasefire deal. There were no US strikes on Iran overnight, but Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it had struck another two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, and Kuwait said it intercepted drones.“Iran will continue to pay until they come to the table in, what President Trump deems, a meaningful way," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday. She issued the fresh warning after Trump earlier on Friday told reporters that “we just want to win” in Iran and signaled that he expected US military action to continue for some time.Stay tuned to this LIVE blog for all the latest updates on the US-Iran war.01 Aug 2026, 05:56 AM IST01 Aug 2026, 05:53 AM IST01 Aug 2026, 05:50 AM IST01 Aug 2026, 05:43 AM IST01 Aug 2026, 05:43 AM ISTFollow updates here:1 Aug 2026, 05:56:21 AM ISTIran war LIVE Updates: Trump says ‘we just want to win’Asked about reviving the previous U.S.-Iran ceasefire framework, Trump said: “We just want to win,” offering no clear timeline for ending the conflict.1 Aug 2026, 05:53:38 AM ISTIran war LIVE Updates: Trump accuses Tehran of ‘breaking their word so often’Trump said on Friday, "They [Iran] always want to talk but they break their word so often... We have great people talking... but, they'll make a deal—as an example, we'll talk about nuclear, and we'll be in there talking about nuclear for seven hours... and they'll go out, and they'll say, 'We never discussed nuclear.'"1 Aug 2026, 05:50:17 AM ISTIran war LIVE Updates: Trump's strategy in US-Iran warPresident Donald Trump appeared to suggest that ongoing US strikes on Iran were unlikely to end anytime soon, telegraphing a strategy to continue attacks until Iran returns to the negotiating table.“We’ll be hitting them very hard and, you know, at some point, they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore,’” Trump said during a Cabinet meetin1 Aug 2026, 05:43:53 AM ISTIran war LIVE Updates: US, Israel planning to bombard energy-related targets in Iran, says reportA report by The Wall Street Journal stated that President Trump has ordered preparations for a renewed military campaign intended to pressure Tehran into surrendering, with potential operations launching as early as this weekend.Separately, CBS News reported that the US and Israel are co-ordinating potential joint air strikes against energy-related targets, including petroleum refineries and power plants. Later, Axios reported that US President Donald Trump is considering launching air strikes on Iran's energy infrastructure within days to compel Tehran into accepting ceasefire terms.1 Aug 2026, 05:43:53 AM ISTIran war LIVE Updates: ‘US plans fresh strikes on Iran as soon as this weekend’The United States is planning a wave of new strikes on Iran as soon as this weekend, officials were quoted by CNN as saying. The precise scope of the strikes and potential targets were not clear. Both US officials cautioned that until the strikes begin, they could be called off.About the AuthorAkriti AnandAkriti Anand is a Deputy Chief Content Producer at LiveMint. She is a digital journalist with more than six years in the news industry. In her current r
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