Oil futures climbed on Wednesday as escalating tensions between the United States and Iran intensified concerns about further disruptions to crude supply from the Middle East.
West Texas Intermediate futures for October delivery jumped 1.75% to $94.66 a barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude rose 1.55% to $99.44 a barrel, according to CNBC.
The move follows the U.S. military’s destruction of five Iranian crude tankers on Tuesday in retaliation for attempted attacks on an American warship. U.S. Central Command said the warship successfully evaded the attack and that no American personnel were harmed.
Seventh month of conflict
The U.S.-Iran conflict is now in its seventh month, and the latest exchange adds to a growing pattern of maritime attacks. The confrontation had briefly paused for about a month as Washington shifted to economic pressure on Tehran, but U.S. strikes resumed toward the end of last month.
With attacks on shipping intensifying and broadening, the risk of oil prices surging above $120 a barrel is rising, according to Daan Struyven, co-head of global commodities research at Goldman Sachs.
Asked on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” whether oil could reach that level, Struyven replied, “It’s definitely plausible.”
Goldman Sachs’s base case remains that Persian Gulf exports will gradually recover as producers adapt to disruptions—using alternative shipping routes and, eventually, additional pipeline capacity. But the recent escalation has increased the odds of a more bearish scenario in which exports fail to recover in the coming months.
“The developments over the last few days do suggest that that alternative upside price scenario, where exports actually stagnate over the coming few months, and where Brent exceeds $120, the probability of that scenario is definitely going up as we’re seeing an intensification and broadening of the shipping attacks,” Struyven said.
Source: www.cnbc.com — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/09/oil-prices-today-wti-brent-us-iran-hormuz-attacks.html
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