The Brent oil barrel, a reference in Europe, is trading around 96.3 dollars after having approached 97 dollars, in a session dominated by the attacks claimed by Iran against U.S. bases in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in response to the recent U.S. bombings on the Asian country that caused about 18 dead and 150 injured.
Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, a reference in the United States, is around 92 dollars per barrel, after having surpassed the threshold of 93 dollars during the day.
The Brent thus registers its highest levels since July 24 and is approaching the mark of 100 dollars in a context of strong escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, with cross attacks and with the Strait of Hormuz still far from consolidating as a safe maritime route.
The Iranian Army has claimed this Thursday new attacks against "U.S. bases" in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that have hit "satellite communication systems," "equipment storage," and "fighter nests" at the Ahmed al Jaber base in Kuwait.
The authorities of Kuwait have initially reported an Iranian attack and have indicated that their air defense systems were intercepting missiles and drones coming from Iran, while the UAE government has not yet issued any official statement, just like the United States.
The series of Iranian attacks against several countries in the Middle East is framed as retaliation for the recent U.S. bombings against Iranian territory, which left at least 18 dead and around 150 injured, characterized by U.S. President Donald Trump as a "hard" and "intense" strike, while he has assured that he is prepared to launch another "whenever we want."
Trump has reiterated that his priority is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon "as soon as this is over," referring to the war. "Which I don't think will take much longer. I don't know how much longer they can hold out, but whatever it is, it doesn't matter," he has pointed out about the timeline of his offensive in Iran.
At the same time, the Iranian Armed Forces have claimed to have placed "more mines" in the so-called southern corridor of the Strait of Hormuz. "During an operation last night, more naval mines were placed on illicit routes in the southern area of the Strait of Hormuz," stated the spokesman for the Iranian Army.
Tehran has questioned on numerous occasions the viability of maritime traffic through this southern corridor. In fact, when announcing last week a preliminary agreement with Oman for the management of transit through this strategic passage, Iranian authorities stated that the understanding includes the closure of this route, which the United States claims to monitor alongside its regional partners.
For its part, the head of the White House declared on August 25 that the Strait of Hormuz is free of mines and warned Iran that it "will destroy any vessel that tries to place them back in the strategic passage." Following this, two people died on Monday due to an "incident" in the area as a Saudi-flagged vessel passed by, while two other ships were damaged after colliding with mines on Wednesday.
Despite the tension, the U.S. Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, noted this Wednesday that up to 17 million barrels of crude passed through the Strait of Hormuz during Monday, which would represent a maximum since the beginning of Washington's offensive against Iran at the end of February.