Oil prices climbed on Wednesday after the United States military confirmed it had completed strikes against Iranian military targets near the Strait of Hormuz, in what America described as a measured defensive response to Iran shooting down a US Army Apache helicopter — as energy analysts warned the conflict has already created the most severe oil supply disruption in modern history.
Brent crude futures rose 0.82 per cent to $92.20 per barrel, while US crude futures for July delivery added 0.74 per cent to $88.89, according to CNBC, paring earlier gains of more than one per cent as markets absorbed the news that the initial strikes had been completed. US Central Command said its forces had struck Iranian air defence installations, ground control stations and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz using precision munitions from Air Force and Navy fighter jets, describing the operation as a proportional and defensive response to what it characterised as Iranian aggression.
President Donald Trump had signalled the strikes were coming after confirming on Truth Social that Iran had shot down an American helicopter conducting patrols near the strait. “The two pilots involved in the attack are safe and uninjured,” he wrote. “Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”
The broader energy picture against which these strikes are taking place is already alarming. Energy consultancy Rystad Energy told CNBC that the shutdown of 11.8 million barrels per day of production across six Gulf producers has created the most severe oil supply disruption in modern history. Cumulative production losses have already reached one billion barrels, Rystad estimated, and each additional month of conflict could erase a further 350 million barrels of output — a figure that underlines just how structurally the Iran conflict has reshaped global energy markets since hostilities began.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately 20 per cent of the world’s oil trade passes, has been the central flashpoint of the conflict. Any sustained threat to shipping through the waterway — or further military exchanges between US and Iranian forces in the region — risks pushing prices significantly higher from their current levels, with analysts watching closely for signs of further escalation following Iran’s announcement that it had launched retaliatory drone strikes on the US Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain.
