PERTH: Oil prices inched higher on Friday after the U.S. and Iran stepped up attacks across the Gulf, ​with their broken ⁠truce limiting oil flows out of the Strait of Hormuz and with ‌Tehran asking the Houthi movement to stand ready to shut the Red Sea export route.

Brent crude ​futures rose $1.05, or about 1.25%, to $85.28 a barrel by 0118 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures ​rose $1.03, or ​1.3%, to $79.98 a barrel, erasing losses from the previous session.

Both benchmark contracts have climbed nearly 12% this week, with Brent on track for a third ⁠consecutive weekly gain and WTI for a second weekly gain.

For the first time since a memorandum of understanding paused fighting last month, the United States launched two big waves of air strikes in a single day on Wednesday, mostly on targets near Iran's ​southern coast, and ‌kept firing ⁠on Thursday.

"Oil security ⁠is still a critical issue," International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Thursday at a ​Council on Foreign Relations event in Washington.

"We should be ‌worried, and I am worried, if the situation does ⁠not improve in the next few weeks," he said.

In a statement, U.S. Central Command said U.S. forces began "a new wave of strikes against Iran for the sixth consecutive night to further degrade Iranian military capabilities" at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) or 9:30 p.m. in Tehran.

Tehran has countered with missiles and drones targeted at U.S. military bases in neighbouring states, including a barrage at a recently expanded air base in Jordan.

Adding to oil supply concerns, Iran's leadership has told its Houthi allies to ‌be prepared to close the Red Sea oil route if the ⁠U.S. strikes Iranian power infrastructure, three sources told Reuters.

IG ​analysts said technically, WTI could test the mid-$80s if it holds above key support in the mid-$70s.

Separately, Trump Media & Technology Group unveiled a paid-for, licensed data feed that will give ​banks and ‌trading firms "the fastest" access to posts from influential Truth Social accounts, such ⁠as President Donald Trump's, whose ​posts often move oil markets.

 

(Reporting by Helen Clark; Editing by Sonali Paul)