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FTSE 100 Live: Iran war ‘certainly not good’ for UK economy, says Rachel Reeves

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Rachel Reeves delivering Spring Statement 2026 at UK Parliament, addressing economic policies and fiscal strategies.
The government is ramping up efforts to stop prices rising

Welcome back to the CityAM liveblog for continued coverage of a frenzied week in global markets.

The Chancellor has told the Treasury select committee that the ongoing fallout from the Middle east is “certainly not good for the British economy”.

Following the “most intense” day of fighting in the region – and just a week after the Chancellor’s relatively rosy Spring Statement speech – Rachel Reeves insisted that it would be “unwise to speculate” about the full economic impacts of the conflict.

Reeves did say that the Treasury is considering “a number of scenarios”, amidst severe restrictions to shipping via the Strait of Hormuz.

The price of oil was easing on Wednesday morning after over a week of volatility and surging prices.

US crude tumbled to $76 per barrel yesterday, reversing all gains made in Asian trading, whilst Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil – held steady at $88.

It came as the International Energy Agency (IEA) floated releasing strategic reserves. Whilst the exact amount has not been disclosed, signs point towards it being more than the 182 million barrels released after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and between 300 to 400 million.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said that amount “remains meagre” compared with the near 45 million barrels IEA countries consume everyday.

“It would be a temporary fix,” she added.

“The duration of the conflict will determine whether the spike in oil prices is over, or whether there is more to come.”

Whilst markets rallied on Tuesday, with the FTSE 100 climbing over 1.5 per cent, analysts were quick to warn the economic impact of the Iran war is still a point of concern as the Trump administration doubles down on the conflict.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said “we will not relent” whilst Trump’s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the war would not end until Iran’s “complete and unconditional surrender, whether they say it or not”.

She added Trump would be the one to determine when Iran does not pose a direct threat.

And as tensions remained heightened as Iran vowed to not allow “one litre of oil” to be exported from the region as long as the strikes continue, the world’s top exporter of the commodity sounded the alarm.

Saudi Aramco – the state-owned national oil company of Saudi Arabia which controls over 270 billion barrels of reserves – warned of “catastrophic consequences” for the global market after Iran threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz.

We’ll be continuing to bring you all the top market updates.

Here’s a few of our top headlines from yesterday: