Oil extends rally above $97 as US-Iran tensions escalate

Crude prices pushed higher on Monday, extending an upward run, as the confrontation between Washington and Tehran drew in commercial vessels. Worries over a longer supply interruption from the region intensified.

Brent rose 7.8 per cent over the previous week and WTI climbed nearly 10 per cent, according to CNBC, after renewed exchanges of fire sharply reduced traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Before the latest disruption, roughly a fifth of global crude moved through that passage. U.S. Central Command said American forces struck three Iranian tankers on Saturday, one of them near Kharg Island, Iran's main crude export hub.

Mettis Global data showed Brent futures up 0.88 per cent at $97.16 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate stood at $92.37 after a gain of $0.89 at 09:40 am PST. Kpler data showed an average of only about 10 commodity vessels a day passed the strait over the last 10 days, the lowest since May. Iranian state media said Tehran would announce a restricted zone outside the waterway in the coming days. OPEC+ kept its October output policy unchanged at Sunday's meeting, and a return to normal Middle Eastern flows looks unlikely before late Q1 or early Q2 2027.