Iran war: Crude oil in triple-digit territory

Oil has traded above the $100/bbl mark after US forces struck five Iranian oil tankers in the Persian Gulf yesterday.

IMAGE: Getty Images

The US Central Command’s (CENTCOM) actions come in response to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeting a US warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days, it said on social media platform X.

CENTCOM said it destroyed the crude oil carriers M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1, and M/T Riesco in the Gulf of Oman, and M/T Derya near Iran’s Kharg Island.

“The U.S. warship successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and continued to patrol regional waters,” CENTCOM said.

The latest round of strikes come shortly after CENTCOM disabled three Iran-linked tankers and sunk one over the weekend.

M/T Riesco sank in the Gulf of Oman yesterday, CENTCOM claimed, sharing a video footage of the sinking vessel.

“This [US strikes] resulted in Iran firing ballistic missiles towards Jordan, while also warning that vessels in the Persian Gulf could be targeted,” two analysts from ING Bank noted.

As of Monday, US forces have redirected 94 commercial vessels, disabled three, and boarded two to prevent ships from entering or departing Iranian ports, CENTCOM said earlier.

Vessel movement via the Strait of Hormuz continues to remain well below pre-war levels, amid the latest escalation.

Only 15 vessels attempted to transit the strait on Monday - six inbound, nine outbound, market intelligence provider Windward reported. Of this, three vessels moved in dark mode, the data also showed.

By Aparupa Mazumder

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