Brent crude has moved above $100 a barrel, extending its recent rally as a fresh wave of attacks involving the United States and Iran puts even more pressure on oil shipments through the Middle East.
The benchmark rose to $100.55 a barrel on September 9, 2026, up 2.69% from the previous day. Brent is now up 14.63% over the past month and 48.99% from the same period last year, according to market data.
What has changed since yesterday is the scale of the latest confrontation at sea.
The United States said it had destroyed five Iranian oil tankers after Iranian forces attempted to strike a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles. Iran responded by saying it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz, including US vessels and oil tankers. Reuters described the exchange as the biggest declared wave of attacks on shipping by the two sides since the conflict began.
That has put the Strait of Hormuz back at the centre of today’s oil-market concerns.
The waterway is critical to global energy trade, and shipping through it has already fallen sharply. Preliminary data from Kpler showed that only six commodity vessels passed through the Strait on Tuesday, down from nine the previous day and well below the 10-day average of about 12. Before the conflict began, the route typically handled around 125 large commercial vessels a day.
For traders, the concern is becoming less about a single attack and more about whether the latest escalation will make it even harder for tankers to move through the region.
That matters because the Middle East remains a major source of crude for the global market. Any prolonged disruption around Hormuz could leave refiners looking further afield for supplies, potentially keeping prices elevated.
The pressure is also spreading beyond the Strait.
Iran-backed Houthi militants have stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia, including strikes on energy infrastructure in the country’s south. The attacks have added another layer of uncertainty around regional oil supplies and shipping routes, particularly the Red Sea.
The combination of these developments has changed the tone of the market from Tuesday. Brent had already been approaching the $100 mark, but the latest attacks have pushed the benchmark through that level for the first time since July 24.
There is still some cushion in the global market. Oil supplies from producers outside the Middle East and alternative shipping arrangements are helping to prevent the disruption from translating immediately into a much larger shortage. That has helped explain why prices have not risen even faster despite the disruption to regional flows.
But the market is clearly becoming more sensitive to each new development.
