Washington official says US not behind the latest strikes and that technical talks with Iran continue.
Last month, the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) fell to its lowest level since 1983 as renewed tensions between the US and Iran raised concerns about the stability of global oil supplies and prices.
US President Donald Trump acknowledged to reporters on Wednesday that anytime the US strikes Iran, oil prices jump.
And they did. Brent futures topped their highest level since June 19 on Wednesday. Brent futures settled at $78.02 a barrel, up 5.2 percent from the day before.
Meanwhile, the SPR fell by 6.2 million barrels in the week ending July 3 to 319.5 million barrels, according to data from the Department of Energy, marking its lowest level since the Reagan administration. It has a storage capacity of 713.5 million barrels.
That serves as a red flag for the US — and the global oil economy.
The US has been releasing oil from the reserve during the war on Iran to ensure that the global economy does not suffer from crippling crude shortages, and to ensure prices don’t leap to catastrophic levels. But ensuring that the strategic reserve has enough in it is also critical — that helps signal to financial markets that the US has tools at its disposal to keep the global oil economy in check.
That’s why the US cannot allow the strategic reserve to be depleted to levels that are much lower than at present — which in turn could limit President Trump’s war options.
Despite a week of attacks between the US and Iran, the US sought to de-escalate the situation on Thursday, US officials told news outlet Axios.
The Trump administration is “still committed to finding a resolution, and technical-level talks continue” to reach a nuclear deal, Axios reported.
Qatari, Pakistani and other regional mediators conducted multiple phone calls between Iran and the US on Wednesday, trying to bring both parties back to the negotiating table.
“There are extensive diplomatic efforts to first agree with both sides on de-escalation and then set a date for another round of negotiations between the technical teams,” one regional source involved in the mediation told Axios.
Reporting from the White House on Thursday, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett said there is still a commitment from US officials to the technical talks between the two countries.
Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip have killed at least six Palestinians.
Two people were killed and several others injured when an Israeli drone struck central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp on Thursday, according to Gaza’s civil defence. Four others were killed in attacks elsewhere in the Strip.
One attack hit a car in a densely populated area of Gaza City, killing at least one person.
“This street is considered one of the most busiest streets in Gaza City, as it was full of commercial stores and supermarkets,” Al Jazeera’s Moath al-Kahlout reported from the scene. “It is also full of displaced Palestinians.”
Earlier on Thursday, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said at least eight people had been killed in 24 hours, with 17 others injured. It did not provide additional information on the circumstances of the casualties.
The continued killings come despite Israel and Hamas agreeing to a ceasefire on October 10, 2025.
“The Israeli army continues to breach the ceasefire agreement since day one of the ceasefire,” al-Kahlout reported. “We are talking about more than 3,000 breaches to the ceasefire.”
Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was laid to rest, concluding a seven-day funeral procession that drew more than 15 million people across two countries. But the events were held under the shadow of further US strikes, which have reportedly killed 14 people since they resumed on Tuesday.
Al Jazeera’s Marah Rayan has the latest in our video below:
Reporting from Washington, DC, United States
What we know is that, in the midst of all this, there has been the question about whether or not the US is still committed to diplomacy and the MoU, given the fact that the US president said on Wednesday in Ankara that he felt that it was dead.
We do know, according to a US official, that the US is still committed to finding a resolution with Iran, not only to bring about the end of the conflict, but … [also] to limit Iran’s nuclear programme and ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
In other words, we know there have been talks at the technical level in order to advance this agenda, with US officials reportedly saying that there is still an ongoing commitment to those technical talks and they do continue.
Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of the United States and Israel’s war on Iran, as well as Israel’s attacks on Gaza and Lebanon.
Stay with us for the latest news and analyses related to these conflicts.
You can find our updates from Thursday, July 9 here.
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