US-Iran Conflict Escalates: Strikes, Missile Attacks and Oil Price Surge

Beginning around July 23, 2026, a military conflict between the United States and Iran escalated sharply across the Middle East. Iran's Revolutionary Guard threatened to 'punish the aggressor' after the US launched what was described as a 'heavy wave of strikes' on Tehran, an action framed by US officials as retaliation for missile attacks on American forces stationed in the region. Iran separately released video it said showed ballistic missiles targeting US forces in Jordan, at the same base where three American service members had been killed roughly two weeks earlier, prompting President Trump to say the US would respond militarily. The escalation coincided with attacks attributed to Yemen's Houthi movement, which claimed strikes on oil tankers in the Red Sea and had announced a 'maritime embargo' against Saudi Arabia; these were reported as the first such Houthi attacks in the Red Sea since that announcement. As tensions intensified, global oil prices rose sharply, climbing from about $95 a barrel to above $100 for the first time in two months, reaching levels not seen since early June. The price surge was attributed to fears that Houthi action could disrupt Saudi oil exports through the Red Sea and that US-Iran hostilities could threaten the Strait of Hormuz, a corridor through which roughly 15 million barrels of Persian Gulf oil are shipped daily. In response to the threat to Hormuz shipping, Middle East oil producers reportedly accelerated plans to develop alternative export routes bypassing the strait, though details of these plans were not specified. Iran's Revolutionary Guard extended its threat of retaliation to Gulf nations it accused of assisting US operations. The scope and timing of any further US or Iranian military action remained unresolved, as did the extent of damage from the strikes on Tehran and the Jordan missile attack. It is also unclear how significantly Houthi tanker attacks or Gulf state alternative-route plans have affected actual oil supply at this stage.