They had everybody panicking like the world was about to run out of gas, but the numbers don't lie. On Thursday, June 25, 2026, Brent crude prices slid all the way down to $72.24 a barrel. That’s wild because it’s actually cheaper than it was right before the U.S. and Israel started dropping missiles on Tehran back on February 28. Prices have plummeted more than 20% just this month, meaning that big bad energy crisis everybody was stressing over is officially packing its bags and moving out.

What changed? It’s all about the hustle in the Strait of Hormuz. The ship traffic in that tight little water lane literally doubled in just 24 hours, hitting the highest numbers we've seen since the war kicked off in February. For months, these massive oil boats had to go "dark"—switching off their satellite tracking like they were trying to dodge the cops—just to avoid getting hit by missiles. But now, they’re cruising through with their signals fully turned on, letting the whole world know they're back in business.

Even when Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards tried to talk tough and threaten the lanes, a Liberian tanker just shrugged them off on Thursday. It took a brand-new route right along the coast of Oman, a route that some UN maritime group set up to keep the money moving. They did their thing and got the bag, completely ignoring the noise.

According to Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a big-time analyst over at Swissquote, this price drop is happening because a bunch of different things hit all at once. Governments started dumping their strategic oil reserves to flood the market, China (which usually buys up everything) saw its demand completely collapse, and all those "dark" tankers that were hiding out in the Persian Gulf finally came out to dump their supply. Now, we’ve got a straight-up oil surplus, and Swissquote thinks prices are going to bounce between $60 and $80 a barrel next week.

On the political side of things, the politicians are doing what they always do—signing papers and hoping for the best. The U.S. and Iran signed a 60-day temporary agreement last week to see if they can negotiate some actual peace. But you already know how this goes. The ink wasn't even dry before things got messy again. On Wednesday, Israel launched an airstrike in southern Lebanon that took out two people. That’s the first strike since a ceasefire went down on Saturday, showing everyone that this 60-day deal is sitting on a very thin piece of ice.

And while the price of gas might be going down, regular folks in Europe are still getting absolutely hammered. Instead of worrying about a war-driven energy crisis, they’re sweating through a record-breaking, brutal summer heatwave. Susannah Streeter from the Wealth Club said that wholesale electricity prices in Europe have hit multi-year highs during peak evening hours.