Marketplace · Wednesday, July 8, 2026
Economist Robin Brooks stated that escalating tensions with Iran, including potential "hot war" scenarios and rocket attacks on oil tankers, could push oil prices back towards $125 per barrel. He suggested that current market pricing may not fully account for these geopolitical risks.
“So I think we are on the verge of going back to a hot war. And that obviously will push oil prices up.”
“if you think back to the worst moments that we've had, oil basically topped out around 120 5 126 dollars a barrel. I think that's the top that we'll see now too if we really go back to a bad conflict again.”
“So the big issue is that we don't really know when we are negotiating with Iran who we are negotiating with. And the big problem is that there are hardliners in Iran who think that they can extort more from the United States.”