(Sharecast News) - Oil prices rose on Wednesday after the US and Iran exchanged strikes overnight, threatening the fragile ceasefire between the two.
At 0800 BST, Brent crude was up 3.1% at $76.47 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was 3% higher at $72.59.

Prices shot up as the US said on Tuesday that it had launched "a series of powerful" strikes against Iran after three oil tankers were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz.

In a post on X, the US Central Command said: "Strikes are in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire."

Centcom later confirmed that more than 80 targets had been hit during the strikes.

"US forces struck Iranian air defence systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities, and more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats in and near the strait (of Hormuz) to degrade Iran's ability to continue attacking international commerce flowing through the international trade corridor," it said in a statement.

Also in response to the attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, the Trump administration said the US has revoked a waiver that allowed Iran to sell oil. The waiver was issued as part of the interim peace deal between the two.

Rabobank said: "In response to Iranian strikes on ships using the Omani route in Hormuz, the US has struck Iranian air defence, missile, and drone sites in the Strait and suspended its oil sanctions waiver. These are clear breaches of the MoU, and we will now see if Iran escalates - it says it will take 'decisive' action - with the risk of war if the US is also prepared to go that route.

"We suspect the US will try to step back for now. Even so, it should be clear why our base case is that more war is likely after the midterms."

Patrick Munnelly at Tickmill Group said: "The oil market is no longer simply pricing tanker flows or surplus risk. It is pricing the possibility that Middle East disruption returns at the exact point central banks were hoping lower energy would do part of the disinflationary work. The geopolitical backdrop has deteriorated sharply.

"US Central Command reportedly targeted more than 80 sites in Iran, while Tehran warned of retaliation. Reports of drones launched toward Bahrain and missile threats prompting a response from Kuwait only add to the sense that the conflict risk is broadening beyond bilateral US-Iran confrontation. Markets do not need a full regional war to reprice risk; they only need enough uncertainty around energy flows to lift crude, steepen inflation expectations and make central-bank decisions harder."

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