Brent crude jumped toward $100 a barrel on Wednesday after the US military struck five Iranian oil tankers near the Kharg Island export hub.

US Central Command said the tankers were destroyed in retaliation for repeated attempts by Iran to strike a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles.

Iran hit back by firing ballistic missiles at Jordan. Iranian state TV, citing the Revolutionary Guard Corps, told tanker crews near Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports to abandon their vessels right away.

This wasn’t an isolated flashpoint. Iran-backed Houthi militants had already struck energy facilities in southern Saudi Arabia days earlier, knocking some sites offline.

The region has been escalating for roughly a week now, and whatever calm existed in oil markets before that is gone.

Brent is sitting at its highest level in seven weeks, up more than 60% year to date. WTI has tracked it higher too, holding near $95 a barrel.

Here’s why this particular flashpoint matters so much. Around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas normally moves through the Strait of Hormuz.

Some crude is still getting through, but a growing share is on tankers running with their transponders switched off to dodge attacks. China is adding pressure from a different angle.

A pickup in its buying has tightened the market further and lifted prices on select crude grades, a shift from recent months when refiners simply drew down inventories instead of importing more.

India is feeling this harder than most. It leans heavily on Hormuz-linked oil, and its crude basket has already pushed past $106 a barrel, well above where Brent sits.

Other regional grades show the same strain: Murban near $111, Mars above $112, Dubai spot around $105.

As of the latest check, Brent was at $99.70 a barrel and WTI at $94.63, both sharply higher as the US and Iran keep trading strikes with no sign of easing.

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