Brent Crude Breaches $100 a Barrel as US Strikes Iranian Tankers and Iran Retaliates Against US Bases

Brent crude crossed $100 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since July, rising as much as 2.57% to $100.44, as the US-Iran conflict entered a sharp new phase of escalation. The US military said it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in the Persian Gulf in response to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeting an American warship, while Iran retaliated by striking US bases in Jordan, deepening fears over prolonged disruptions to Middle East energy supplies.

The immediate trigger for the spike was a surge in tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint through which a large share of global oil exports flows. Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen had also launched fresh strikes on Saudi oil facilities the previous day, prompting Saudi retaliation in what analysts described as the worst such exchange since a truce between the two sides four years ago.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures jumped 2.03% to $94.92 a barrel. Goldman Sachs, which raised its Brent and WTI forecasts by $5 earlier in the week to $85 and $80 per barrel respectively for December 2026, warned that Brent could exceed $120 in 2027 if Gulf crude output remains 4 million barrels per day below prewar levels, though that is not its base-case scenario. The surge in oil prices pushed bond yields higher and lifted US gasoline prices to their highest level since early June.