US-Iran Strikes Lift Oil Prices Amid Hormuz Shipping Risks

Oil prices rose sharply after the first direct US-Iran military exchanges in more than a month, as traders weighed threats to tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude climbed above $92 a barrel on Tuesday, extending gains from the prior session when it closed just over $88. West Texas Intermediate futures also advanced. The moves followed a US strike on Iranian rocket launchers at Larak Island on Sunday and Iranian missile attacks on two US bases in Jordan on Monday. A tanker in the southern shipping lane near Oman was struck by three projectiles on Monday evening, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency; no casualties were reported. Two additional supertankers carrying Saudi crude were hit by unknown projectiles minutes apart in the same area, shipping intelligence firms Marisks and Kpler stated. US President Donald Trump told Fox News that Washington would respond forcefully to the Jordan attacks. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit that Tehran would reciprocate if Washington returned to commitments under a June interim memorandum. Traffic through the strait, which normally handles roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies, has remained constrained since the 60-day ceasefire expired in mid-August. Analysts at MST Financial and IG Markets noted that prices could ease if dark-ship movements resume but face upward pressure in the short term from the risk of further exchanges. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent linked the Iranian actions to new secondary sanctions targeting buyers of Iranian crude. Neither side has signaled intent to resume full-scale war, yet both have pledged responses to additional attacks.