Oil rises as US strikes Iran after helicopter downing

Oil prices rose on Wednesday morning as the US military retaliated with new strikes after Iran downed an attack helicopter.

US crude futures (WTI) increased 0.9 percent to $88.97 a barrel as of 05:00 GMT. Brent futures gained 0.9 percent to $92.29 a barrel.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards carried out attacks against a US base in Jordan and 21 other targets in the Gulf on Wednesday following American strikes.

Brent fell to its lowest level on Tuesday since April 17, while WTI closed down at its weakest since May 29 after Israel and Iran halted retaliatory attacks after a request from US President Donald Trump.

In a social media post on Tuesday, the US Central Command (Centcom) said US forces completed self-defence strikes against Iran following the downing of an Army Apache helicopter.

Forces struck Iranian air defence, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz, the post said.

In an earlier post on TruthSocial, Trump said that the Iranians shot down one of its highly sophisticated Apache helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz.

“There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured. Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”

Further reading:

• The Gulf is taking one for the team in the Hormuz crisis
• Hormuz closure threatens Gulf’s AI goals, warns OECD
• ‘The scars will remain’: Petrochem’s founder counts cost of war

US energy secretary Chris Wright said on Tuesday that ship traffic through Hormuz is rising “very meaningfully,” but would take many months to get back to normal flows of energy once the war is over, Reuters reported.

Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange rose 1.3 percent on Tuesday, supported by a surge of more than 4 percent in Saudi National Bank.

Dubai’s benchmark index gained 0.9 percent, while Abu Dhabi jumped 0.8 percent.