Middle East unrest resurfaces after three days of calm

Brent crude’s price has moved higher amid renewed hostilities in the Middle East.

IMAGE: Getty Images

Iranian military has launched multiple ballistic missiles “in an attempted surprise attack on U.S. forces based in the Middle East,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported yesterday.

The CENTCOM and Saudi Arabian forces responded by carrying out joint strikes in Iraq, targeting multiple Iran-linked “terrorist logistics and weapons sites” across eastern Iraq, it said.

As of yesterday, the US CENTCOM has redirected 18 commercial vessels, disabled two and boarded two to prevent ships from entering or departing Iranian ports, it said on social media platform X.

This fresh outbreak of fighting abruptly ended a short-lived pause in hostilities, which had previously pulled Brent crude tumbling down to around $85/bbl.

Market turbulence has been the only constant since the onset of the Middle East war, and the volatile swings in oil prices show no signs of abating, according to analysts.

“Oil prices are trading higher this morning following strikes on US troops and Saudi energy infrastructure, highlighting the challenges of getting a US and Iran deal back on track,” two analysts from ING Bank noted.

Saudi Arabia caught in the crossfire

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militants have carried out another strike on a Saudi Arabia-linked oil tanker, NCC Ghazal, the group’s spokesperson Yahya Sare’e said on X.

The Houthis struck the vessel for allegedly violating their maritime embargo on all Saudi Arabian oil exports via the Bab al-Mandeb Strait into the Red Sea.

Meanwhile, the OPEC+ de-facto leader’s state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco has shut its 400,000 b/d Jizan refinery following an attack by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militants, Al Jazeera reported.

Sare’e also said the group has struck Saudi Aramco facilities in Yanbu. Riyadh is highly dependent on its 1,200 km East-West Pipeline, funnelling about 70% of its crude exports through the Red Sea terminal at Yanbu, to circumvent the Strait of Hormuz.

The latest development has shattered the recent market calm—fuelled by the end of 13 consecutive days of US strikes on Friday—and reignited concerns over oil supplies, even as both sides continue to hold out hope for a diplomatic breakthrough.

“With Saudi oil infrastructure increasingly targeted, the risk of more prolonged supply disruptions grows,” ING Bank’s analysts added.

By Aparupa Mazumder

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