Oil prices surged to a six-week high on Monday, driven by a fresh wave of weekend attacks exchanged between the United States and Iran that intensified tensions across the Middle East.
Global benchmark Brent crude futures advanced 1.5% to $97.73 per barrel, touching an intraday high of $97.93—the strongest level since July 23. Meanwhile, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate climbed 1.8% to $93.10, also marking its highest point since late July.
“Strike our assets, and you will be struck,” Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, wrote on a social media platform on Monday. His post responded to earlier remarks by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who stated that Washington would “destroy (and sink)” Iranian tankers if Tehran opened fire on American vessels.
A Saudi Aramco facility came under attack in the latest round of strikes on Monday. The site lies near the Saudi city of Jizan, where a refinery processes roughly 400,000 barrels per day. The extent of the damage is still being assessed, and responsibility for the assault remains unclear.
The attacks have piled additional stress onto an already jittery oil market, which is reeling from an abrupt escalation in weekend hostilities. The US Central Command reported that American forces struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday after Tehran launched ballistic missiles at two US Navy warships. The command described the vessels as part of a “multi-billion-dollar shadow network” funneling revenue to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and its regional proxies.
In a statement released Saturday, Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the attacks on the commercial ships as a “war crime” and an act of “economic warfare.”
The strikes arrive as combat between Washington and Tehran has reignited after roughly a month of relative calm, with the conflict surpassing the six-month mark in August. The climbing oil prices have pushed up costs for gasoline and diesel—both of which hit record highs over the Labor Day weekend.
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