Oil Back Above $90 as U.S.–Iran Tensions Flare Again

On August 30 local time, U.S. forces struck two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military facilities on Iran's Larak Island — the first U.S. use of force against Iran in over a month. Iran responded quickly: the IRGC said in the early hours of August 31 that missiles had been fired at U.S. bases, and issued a statement vowing retaliation for the Larak strike. The market reaction has been concentrated in energy, with Brent crude briefly clearing $90 per barrel. Larak Island sits near the Strait of Hormuz, a channel that handles a substantial share of the world's seaborne crude — which is why military activity in this specific area moves oil more than incidents elsewhere in the region. Judging by previous rounds of Middle East friction, whether an oil spike holds usually comes down to two things: whether the conflict escalates into sustained confrontation, and whether shipping lanes are materially disrupted. So far both sides have limited themselves to targeted strikes, with no sign of a blockade. Do you see this as a short-lived spike or the start of a broader escalation? And could $90 oil feed through to inflation and U.S. equities? Flexibly allocate across core U.S. tech equities and diversified RWA portfolios on Bitget — achieve efficient cross-asset allocation and precision risk hedging: https://www.bitget.com/promotion/futures-rwa