Middle East escalation triggers oil price surge
The United States launched fresh strikes on Iran July 22 after Tehran-backed Houthi rebels attacked oil tankers in the Red Sea, marking an escalation that pushed crude prices past $100 a barrel.
The U.S. military insisted that the Strait of Hormuz — through which one fifth of the world's oil passed before the war — was "open for transit" after Iran pressed on with attacks on tankers using the route in a bid to strongarm them into paying for safe passage.
But the Houthis opened a new front in the war this week when they attacked vessels in the Red Sea, intensifying fears over world crude supplies.
The international oil benchmark Brent crude surged past $100 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since May, up eight percent, as world leaders expressed alarm over the rebels' attacks.
