WTI Crude Tops $100 as Hormuz Tanker Attacks Escalate

WTI crude pushed past the $100 per barrel mark this week, its highest since July, as the IRGC claimed it damaged eight oil tankers and two U.S. Navy destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz. The move came in retaliation for a U.S. strike that destroyed five IRGC-linked tankers in the Gulf of Oman just a day earlier.

CENTCOM has disputed the extent of the IRGC's claims, but the uncertainty alone has been enough to keep a hard bid under WTI. Traders are pricing in a growing risk premium tied directly to the security of Hormuz transit routes, through which a substantial share of global crude flows daily.

With no confirmed talks between Washington and Tehran, WTI's upside momentum looks tied less to fundamentals and more to headline risk out of the Gulf.