Oil Prices Climb as U.S.-Iran Conflict Shows No Signs of Slowing

Crude oil prices advanced in early Asian trading on Wednesday as escalating hostilities between the United States and Iran showed no indication of easing, pushing both major benchmarks to five-week highs.

Brent crude was trading around $92.44 a barrel, up roughly 1.57% on the session, while West Texas Intermediate stood near $85.51, gaining about 1.39%. Both grades have risen steadily since dipping to lows around the July 4th holiday weekend.

The upward pressure followed a further round of American military strikes on Iranian targets, described by US Central Command as the eleventh consecutive night of operations. CENTCOM said its forces hit military command centres, maritime assets, aircraft hangars, drone storage sites and logistics infrastructure, with the stated aim of weakening Iran's capacity to threaten commercial shipping.

According to CENTCOM, Iran has struck more than 30 commercial vessels over the past three months, though it maintains that the Strait of Hormuz remains open to traffic. For markets and shipping insurers, however, assurances that the waterway is open carry less weight than any commitment from Tehran to halt its attacks on vessels. The latest US action came after Kuwait intercepted Iranian drones, part of a wider pattern of strikes against American allies in the region.

Attention is now turning to the Red Sea, where Yemen's Houthi movement has threatened tankers carrying Saudi crude through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Riyadh has leaned more heavily on Red Sea export routes as Hormuz traffic became riskier, and three Saudi tankers reportedly reversed course on Tuesday after the Houthis declared a blockade. With President Trump signalling intensified operations and no appetite for negotiations, the report warns that price risks are skewed to the upside.

On physical markets, the American Petroleum Institute reported builds in US crude and distillate stocks alongside a decline in gasoline inventories, with official EIA data awaited.

For Malaysian and Southeast Asian maritime and oil and gas operators, the developments reinforce elevated exposure to freight, insurance and bunker costs, as well as volatile crude pricing that feeds into regional import bills and trading margins. Heightened threats around two critical chokepoints underline the strategic value of Southeast Asian shipping lanes and the need for robust risk planning across the sector.