Oil prices jump 3% following Iranian attack on US base

Oil prices jumped by more than 3% on Thursday after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reported that they had struck a U.S. airbase in response to a U.S. attack near Bandar Abbas airport, UNN reports, citing Reuters.

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Brent crude futures rose by $3.51, or 3.72%, to $97.8 per barrel by 03:44 GMT (06:44 Kyiv time), while the more active August contract rose by $3.35, or 3.63%, to $95.6. The July contract expires on Friday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose by $3.31, or 3.73%, to $91.99.

Both benchmarks had fallen by more than 5%, reaching their lowest levels in a month during the previous session amid the possibility of a deal between the U.S. and Iran to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said on Thursday it had struck a U.S. airbase following what it called a morning U.S. attack near Bandar Abbas airport, according to the Tasnim news agency.

Kuwait, which hosts a large U.S. base, said it was responding to missile and drone attacks without specifying exactly where they were launched from. Israel, which is fighting Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, also reported sirens sounding due to hostile aircraft activity in northern Israel.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard warned that any repetition of what they called aggression would trigger "more decisive action." Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, stated that Trump's "rhetoric" would not force Iran to abandon its demands regarding uranium enrichment, control over the strait, and the lifting of sanctions against it. "It is clear that Trump, seeking a way out of this strategic deadlock, alternately expresses threats and calls for a deal," Azizi said in a post on X.

Iran announced a strike on a US airbase following a US attack28.05.26, 07:28 • 3020 views

The U.S. military launched new strikes on Iran, targeting a military facility that officials believed posed a threat to U.S. forces and commercial shipping in the strait, a U.S. official told Reuters.

"Oil supplies remain tight, and key points of contention have not yet been resolved," ANZ commodity strategist Daniel Hynes said in a note.

According to the American Petroleum Institute, U.S. crude inventories fell by 2.8 million barrels last week, marking the sixth consecutive week of declines.