Revolutionary Guards claim four Hormuz ships struck; Iran threatens Gulf sites if a US-Israeli attack

State Department orders some diplomats and employee families to leave Saudi Arabia

Regional tensions rose during the week as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps claimed on Wednesday that it had struck four commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran separately said it would strike oil facilities, undersea cables, datacentres and AI facilities in the Gulf region if a new U.S.-Israeli attack was launched against Iran. The conditional warning placed energy and technology infrastructure among the potential targets.

The U.S. State Department ordered some diplomats and the families of U.S. government employees to leave Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has faced continued attacks from Houthi rebels in Yemen, and the order came as regional tensions continued to rise during the week.

Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, rose 1% on Friday morning to $114.72 a barrel. That was its highest level since May and the highest in more than five months. The increase came after Tehran’s warning, as fears of fresh escalation in the Middle East conflict gripped energy markets.

Oil had traded at about $72 a barrel in February before the Iran war began, then soared to $126 by the end of April. The Friday morning price remained below that April peak but well above the pre-war February level.

“Widespread reports that the US is considering renewed military strikes on Iran after the midterm elections rather than pursuing a diplomatic route was enough for the price to pop, after what many had considered would be a brief conflict is now in its eighth month,” Richard Hunter at the broker Interactive Investor said.

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at the broker Wealth Club, said fears were rising that American and Israeli forces would be ordered to launch strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure after the U.S. elections on 3 November. Streeter also said: “At the same time, the attacks on Saudi Arabia’s facilities by Houthi rebels have intensified this week, and for ships attempting to cross the strait of Hormuz, it’s still a dangerous journey, with projectiles still being fired.”

Streeter said Ukraine’s bombardment of Russian diesel refineries was also adding to supply concerns. Those risks rested on separate developments: projectiles still being fired as ships attempted to cross the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s conditional warning aimed at Gulf oil and technology infrastructure, and Ukraine’s attacks on Russian diesel refineries.

MSI previously reported that Brent crude stood at $91.26 as Iranian missile fire, a bulk-carrier strike and stalled talks kept supply risk elevated. Since then, Brent has reached $114.72, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has claimed it struck four commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran has said it would strike Gulf infrastructure if a new U.S.-Israeli attack is launched.