Brent Crude Surges Past $100 as Iran’s Shipping Attacks Trigger Global Supply Fears

Brent Crude Surges Past $100 as Iran’s Shipping Attacks Trigger Global Supply Fears

AP

Bangkok : The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, topped $100 a barrel early on Thursday, just days after it spiked near $120 in the latest jolts to financial markets and the global economy as a whole.

Oil prices shot more than 9% higher as supply concerns worsened with Iranian attacks on commercial shipping around the Strait of Hormuz.

US benchmark crude oil jumped to about $94 a barrel.

Iran has escalated its attacks aimed at generating enough global economic pain to pressure the United States and Israel to end the war that started 12 days ago. But there were no signs that the conflict was subsiding.

Iran has targeted oil fields and refineries in Gulf Arab nations and effectively stopped cargo traffic through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all traded oil passes. AP

Indian national killed in attack by Iran against US-owned oil tanker Safesea Vishnu in Iraqi waters

March 12, 2026 9:28 am

New York: An Indian national has reportedly been killed in an attack carried out by Iran using a “suicide” boat against a US-owned oil tanker near Iraq. US-owned and Marshal Island-flagged oil tanker Safesea Vishnu was attacked off Khor Al Zubair port inside Iraq’s territorial waters by an Iranian “suicide” boat, sources told PTI. An Indian national, whose name is being withheld at the moment, has reportedly been killed in the attack while the remaining 27 crew and personnel on the oil tanker have been rescued and taken to Basra, the sources said. PTI

Brent crude oil tops USD 100 a barrel

March 12, 2026 9:09 am

Bangkok: The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, topped USD 100 a barrel early Thursday, just days after it spiked near USD 120. US benchmark crude oil jumped to about USD 95 a barrel. AP

US pledges to keep strait open

March 12, 2026 9:09 am

Dubai: The United States has pledged to keep the strait open and has led intense airstrikes targeting Iran’s navy and the port city of Bandar Abbas. The US military said Tuesday it destroyed 16 Iranian minelayers near the strait. At least 12 incidents involving vessels around the strait have been confirmed since fighting began, according to two global trackers, and at least seven mariners have been killed. A projectile hit a Thai cargo ship off the coast of Oman in the strait, setting it ablaze. Authorities are searching for three missing crew members from the Mayuree Naree after 20 were rescued by the Omani navy, according to Thailand’s Marine Department. AP

Explosions rock Jerusalem while Lebanon hit by Israeli strikes

March 12, 2026 9:09 am

Dubai: On Thursday, sirens wailed and loud explosions were heard shortly after midnight in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel. The Israeli military said it was responding with another “wide-scale wave of strikes” in Tehran. The fallout across the Middle East widened as Israel also struck what it said were targets connected to Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. An Israeli strike hit a car Thursday in Ramlet al-Bayda, a major seaside tourist area on the eastern side of Beirut where dozens of displaced people have been sheltering. Seven people were killed and 21 others were wounded, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for information. AP

UN body demands Iran stop 'egregious attacks’ on Gulf nations

March 12, 2026 9:09 am

Dubai: The UN Security Council voted Wednesday to approve a resolution demanding a halt to Iran’s “egregious attacks” on its Gulf neighbours. Among the most recent attacks, four people were wounded after two Iranian drones hit near Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates, though flights continued, the Dubai Media Office said. Firefighters extinguished a blaze early Thursday at a luxury apartment tower in Dubai Creek Harbor after an Iranian drone strike. Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior said Iranian-linked attacks targeted fuel tanks at a facility in Muharraq Governorate, northeast of the country’s capital, Manama, while crews at Oman’s Port of Salalah battled a blaze at fuel storage tanks there, according to the Oman News Agency. AP