Oil prices touched near seven-week highs Monday before easing back, as the U.S. and Iran traded strikes on tankers and naval vessels for a second straight week. Tehran said it would soon declare an "exclusion zone" near the Strait of Hormuz, the route for a fifth of global crude flows, while OPEC+ held output steady and Goldman Sachs floated $120 oil if shipping attacks keep rising.
West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery fell 0.5% to $91.07 a barrel Monday, after briefly touching $93 earlier in the session. Brent's November contract eased to $96.25 after reaching $97.93, putting both benchmarks at their highest levels since July 23.
Iran plans a Hormuz "exclusion zone"
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Sunday that Tehran would unveil an exclusion zone in the days ahead to keep ships out of the Strait of Hormuz. The zone would run from the line of the U.S. naval blockade toward the strait and into the Persian Gulf, with violators facing sanctions.
The strait carries roughly 20% of global crude supplies, and tanker traffic through it has already thinned. Kpler data showed an average of ten commodity ships transited the strait per day over the past ten days, the lowest pace since May.
Strikes on tankers and warships continue
U.S. Central Command said it struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, including one near Kharg Island, the terminal responsible for about 90% of Iran's oil exports. Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said separately that it targeted two U.S. Navy warships with ballistic missiles that day. Tehran also claimed to have hit an unmanned U.S. military vessel in the strait on Sunday, an assertion Centcom spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins dismissed as false.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told state media the U.S. must understand the rules of the game have changed, warning of a faster, heavier, and more painful response to further strikes. The warning followed U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's threat to destroy Iranian oil tankers that target U.S. Navy vessels; Ghalibaf responded that Iran would strike regional energy infrastructure and choke off Hormuz exports if the attacks continue. The U.S. strikes hit three named vessels, the M/T Downy, M/T Stark 1, and M/T Kylo, between September 5 and 6.
OPEC+ holds output as forecasters eye higher prices
OPEC+ members agreed to keep production unchanged in October from September after six straight months of output increases. Goldman Sachs said oil could rally as high as $120 a barrel if attacks on shipping keep rising.
According to Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid: "We remain a distance from a resolution." He said the weekend's escalation centered on tit-for-tat strikes against commercial shipping in and around the Gulf.
Sources: MarketWatch, Investing.com, Crypto Briefing
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