Oil prices dropped by about 10% after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he would postpone military strikes against Iranian power plants for five days. This decision comes ahead of a deadline that threatened further escalation in the four-week-old Middle East war. Brent futures fell by 10.0% to $101.02 a barrel, while U.N. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) lost $9.28, or 9.5%, to $88.95. The crisis in the Middle East is worse than the two oil shocks of the 1970s put together, according to Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA). The war has already damaged major energy facilities in the Gulf and effectively halted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which handles about 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows. The Japanese government is considering intervention in crude oil futures as the crisis drives energy prices sharply.