Oil prices surged Tuesday following U.S. military action against Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz, a retaliatory move after Tehran launched overnight attacks on vessels passing through the waterway.
The November Brent crude contract jumped 3.8% to $94.36 a barrel, a level not seen in nearly two weeks. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, gained 4.3% to $89.46 a barrel for the October delivery contract, a move that would mark its best close in more than a month.
The afternoon rally built on momentum that had already been building since the morning session, with settlement data for both benchmarks sourced from Dow Jones Market Data.
The strikes mark a renewed escalation in the Strait of Hormuz, which has been the site of ongoing conflict. The U.S. and Iran had signed a memorandum of understanding on June 17, but that agreement collapsed almost immediately. Since then, Iran has demanded sanctions relief and an end to the U.S. naval blockade before the waterway can reopen, while Washington has maintained the blockade rather than conducting additional airstrikes — until Tuesday.
The Hormuz disruptions have taken a significant toll on global oil supply. The International Energy Agency cut its 2026 global oil supply forecast to 102 million barrels per day in August, a decline of 4.3 million barrels per day on the year, citing the breakdown of the ceasefire and a renewed closure of the strait. Middle East oil loadings had briefly touched 20 million barrels per day in early July before retreating to roughly 12 million barrels per day as attacks on tankers and energy infrastructure resumed. The IEA projected the global oil market would show a deficit of 1.8 million barrels per day in the third quarter of 2026.
The price spike adds pressure to an administration already struggling with elevated fuel costs. Oil company executives were expected to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday to discuss cutting gasoline prices, which have remained above $4 a gallon for 103 days so far in 2026. The national average for regular unleaded hit a record seasonal high of $4.03 a gallon on August 13, a level that had never been reached after August 12 in any prior year, according to Yahoo Finance.
Trump has pushed the oil industry on pump prices before, directing the Justice Department in June to investigate oil companies for not lowering retail prices alongside falling crude costs and demanding in early August that ExxonMobil and Chevron pass their quarterly profits on to drivers.
