Brent Crude Tops $110 as Iran Claims Tanker Strikes Near Hormuz

Oil climbed to its highest settlement since April after Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it hit seven vessels, a claim President Trump called fake, while indirect talks continued through Pakistan and Qatar.

By Richthrax · Oct. 25, 2026

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, pushed past $110 a barrel last week after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had struck tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, and it kept climbing into the weekend.

Early Thursday, Oct. 22, the Revolutionary Guard said it struck four vessels that were transferring oil ship-to-ship in the Persian Gulf after they used a route Iran rejects, CBS News reported. The Guard said three other ships "suffered accidents and caught fire after striking mines west of the Strait of Hormuz."

Brent gained 3.2% to $112.27 a barrel Thursday morning after Iranian state television reported seven tankers hit, according to CBS News, a level it had not reached since May. CBS News noted that if the claim of seven damaged ships is verified, it would be the most vessels damaged in the Gulf in a single day since the war began Feb. 28. The claims had not been independently verified.

Trump disputes the claims

President Donald Trump rejected the Iranian account. "They are even making up fake hits, mines, and everything else," he wrote Thursday on Truth Social, according to CBS News.

Trump also wrote that "Iran is doing everything they can to drive up the price of Oil prior to the U.S. Midterm Election," and said more oil was moving through the strait than before the conflict began, CBS News reported.

On Friday, Oct. 23, Brent settled at $116.72, up $3.55, its highest close since April 29, Reuters reported. Brent rose 6% for the week. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate settled at $103.27, up $3.80.

Reuters attributed Friday's gain largely to reported attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Saudi targets, including energy infrastructure, along with an oil spill from an unidentified tanker off the United Arab Emirates. "The market is concerned about these continued Iranian attacks on tankers," Andrew Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates told Reuters.

Reuters also reported that the United States authorized a 400,000-barrel emergency release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is at its lowest level since 1982. Trump said Friday that Washington could end the Iran conflict quickly, but also suggested letting it gradually fade out, according to Reuters.

Talks through mediators

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday, Oct. 21, that Iran and the United States remained in indirect talks over a seven-day ceasefire proposal Iran put forward in September, with Pakistan and Qatar among the facilitators, CBS News reported. The proposal calls for ending the U.S. naval blockade, lifting oil sanctions, reopening the strait and releasing frozen Iranian assets.

"The negotiating table remains in place," Araghchi said, according to CBS News.

He also said the strait would stay closed to general traffic until a deal is reached. "Until an agreement or understanding is reached regarding this strait, it will not be open to everyone," he said in an interview aired on Iraqi state television, The National reported. Pakistani Field Marshal Asim Munir traveled to Tehran on Oct. 20 with a delegation to mediate, according to The National, and Qatar said communication between Washington and Tehran had "not stopped."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday thanked Qatar's leaders for their "continued mediation efforts," CBS News reported. The State Department did not describe the progress of the talks.

Iranian officials told Reuters they saw little chance of a diplomatic breakthrough before the U.S. elections Nov. 3, The National reported.