Oil prices have whipsawed violently through the US-Iran war and its ceasefires — bad for drivers, airlines, and stock investors, and a fresh headache for governments trying to hold down power bills.

• US strikes on Iran and Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz pushed crude past $100 a barrel at the peak, with Brent posting its biggest one-day jump since 2020.
• Every ceasefire rumor sent prices tumbling back toward $70, then renewed fighting sent them straight back up — a market with no stable footing.
• Stocks moved in lockstep the other way: the Dow dropped hundreds of points on the spikes and bounced back on truce headlines.
• Even with the strait reopened, shipping is recovering slowly, and traders now assume Hormuz will never fully return to its pre-war normal.
• Gulf producers are studying new pipelines to bypass the strait, while Taiwan is pumping budget money into CPC and Taipower to keep fuel and electricity prices down.

Outlook: Expect more sharp swings between $70 and $100 as talks stall and restart, with steady pressure on electricity and plastics costs even if a lasting truce holds.