{"id":31689,"date":"2026-04-13T13:24:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T11:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=31689"},"modified":"2026-04-13T13:28:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T11:28:37","slug":"rand-weakens-as-us-iran-blockade-threat-drives-oil-above-100","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/rand-weakens-as-us-iran-blockade-threat-drives-oil-above-100\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand weakens as US, Iran blockade threat drives oil above $100"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>South Africa&#8217;s (SA) Rand weakened on Monday as investors reacted to a United States (US) and Iran standoff that threatened \u200boil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, pushing \u200ccrude prices back above $100 a barrel and lifting the Dollar.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Rand traded at 16.5650 against the Dollar, about \u200b0.8% down from its Friday close.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The US announced over the weekend that it would \u2060enforce a naval blockade on all shipping entering or \u200bleaving Iranian ports and coastal waters in the Arabian \u200bGulf and Gulf of Oman from Monday, following the collapse of direct talks in Islamabad.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Global oil prices surged back above $100 a \u200bbarrel, and the US Dollar strengthened against a basket \u200bof currencies.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>ETM Analytics said that, for SA, already grappling with \u200chigh \u2060fuel costs and energy security concerns, the crisis threatens to raise import costs, disrupt tanker routes previously protected by its friendly status, and intensify domestic inflationary pressures.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;The \u200bRand will \u200bcome under pressure, \u2060and SA&#8217;s alignment with Iran appears increasingly unhelpful.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>One could extend this \u200bargument to the broader Brazil, Russia, India, China, and SA bloc, which \u200bhas offered \u2060limited support to Iran and is unlikely to provide meaningful backing to SA,&#8221; ETM Analytics said in \u2060a \u200bresearch note.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>SA&#8217;s benchmark 2035 government \u200bbond weakened in early deals, as the yield rose 11.5 basis \u200bpoints to 8.515%<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14374,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-31689","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"SA Rand weakened on Monday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31692,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31689\/revisions\/31692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=31689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}