Oil Faces Strait Risk After Iran Funeral Call for Trump

A performer at the funeral for Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for the death of President Donald Trump before a crowd of hundreds of thousands Sunday in Tehran, according to the Associated Press.

The funeral, delayed by the war that began with a Feb. 28 airstrike that killed Khamenei, drew a larger crowd than the previous day. Mourners dressed in black carried banners and flags honoring Khamenei and calling for Trump's killing as he spoke in Washington for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. founding.

Poet Mohammad Rasouli asked the crowd, “Why is the most bastard man in the world still alive?” drawing chants of “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

The event could boost the country's theocracy and its new supreme leader, Khamenei's son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. Iran has tried to leverage its control of the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations with the U.S. over a permanent end to the war, the AP reported. Concerns linger that Israel could attack again.

Talks are on hold until the war ends. For oil traders, the funeral is a reminder that a resolution remains distant. The Strait of Hormuz is the chokepoint for about 20% of global oil supply. A prolonged conflict keeps a risk premium in crude prices, with Brent and WTI exposed to disruption if shipping through the strait is blocked or mined.

The next concrete catalyst for oil markets is the status of Hormuz shipping flows. Tanker tracking data and insurance rates will be the first signal of whether the funeral's rhetoric translates into operational risk. For now, the premium stays.