Ammon News - Oil prices rose on Thursday as Iran stepped up attacks on oil and transport facilities across ‌the Middle East, raising fears of a prolonged conflict and oil-flow disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent futures were up $4.47, or 4.86%, to $96.45 a barrel at 0733 GMT, having hit $100 per barrel in earlier trading, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude climbed $4.05, or ​4.64%, to $91.30.

Brent hit $119.50 a barrel on Monday, its highest since mid-2022, then dropped after U.S. President Donald Trump ​said the Iran war could be over soon.

"Get ready for oil to be $200 a barrel, ⁠because the oil price depends on regional security, which you have destabilised," a spokesperson for Iran's military command ​said on Wednesday in remarks directed at the United States.

The International Energy Agency has agreed to release a record 400 million barrels of oil to help rein in prices that have spiked after the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran broke out. ​The U.S. is contributing the ​bulk of that release - 172 ⁠million barrels - from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The US will release 172 million barrels of oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a bid to reduce prices that have soared due to the war in Iran.

Reuters