Oil prices rise after US and Iran exchange strikes: As it happened
Tehran has launched missile and drone strikes on US military positions in Jordan after Washington attacked Iran’s Larak Island, reigniting direct hostilities following a month-long lull.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its retaliatory operation targeted the King Hussein and Al-Azraq air bases, claiming to have inflicted “significant damage” on technical and maintenance infrastructure and positions where fighter jets were stationed.
Jordanian air defenses intercepted eight missiles that entered the kingdom’s airspace early Monday, the country’s armed forces confirmed. A US source separately told Fox News that no significant impacts had been reported.
The exchange began on Sunday when US forces struck Larak Island, near the narrowest point of the Strait of Hormuz, killing and injuring several Iranian soldiers and civilians.
US Central Command said it targeted two Iranian launchers after IRGC forces were allegedly observed preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM later characterized the attack as “limited” and “precise,” saying it had acted against an “imminent threat.” It has not publicly provided visual evidence supporting the minelaying allegation.
The IRGC vowed that the “aggressors will face definite punishment” and warned that “every attack will be met with even more devastating responses.”
Following the strikes, oil prices went up in early trading in Asia, with West Texas Intermediate futures growing by 2.47% to $85.46 per barrel and Brent futures climbing by 2.71% to $90.49 per barrel.
The renewed fighting marks the first direct US military action against Iran since late July. It comes less than a week after Washington said it had finished clearing sea mines from international shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, where maritime traffic has remained heavily disrupted.
Last week, Washington announced what it called an “economic onslaught” against Iran, as US President Donald Trump’s administration shifted its emphasis from large-scale military action toward economic pressure.
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31 August 2026
09:36 GMTThe new American attack on Iran “will receive an appropriate response,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi has said, as cited by the Mehr news agency.
“The foothold of foreigners must be cut off from the region, and they must learn serious lessons so they do not repeat their aggressions,” Gharibabadi said.
- 09:01 GMT
The UAE’s Defense Ministry has said that media reports of a missile attack on the country’s Al Minhad airbase, hosting US forces, “are false.”
Ministry of Defence Denies Reports of Attack on Al Menhad Air Base
— وزارة الدفاع |MOD UAE (@modgovae) August 31, 2026
The Ministry of Defence has denied media reports claiming that Al Menhad Air Base was targeted by missiles, confirming that such reports are false.
The Ministry affirmed that the Armed Forces remain on a high… pic.twitter.com/qVdCiYbNq2 - 08:31 GMT
The UAE’s presidential adviser, Anwar Gargash, has called for de-escalation in the Strait of Hormuz, insisting that the crisis needs a “realistic and sustainable political solution.”
“The state of neither war nor peace cannot be a sustainable solution, just as the policy of targeting the Arab Gulf states and Jordan has proven to be a failure,” he said in a post on X.
The path towards settling the conflict must begin with the sides “overcoming the escalation and returning navigation in the Strait of Hormuz to its normal state,” Gargash argued.
- 07:43 GMT
The head of the National Iranian Oil Company has ridiculed Donald Trump for posting AI-generated videos depicting a missile strike on Kharg Island.
“Trump’s tweets are laughable and conditions in Kharg are calm and appropriate,” Hamid Bovard said, as cited by Nournews.
Operations at the key oil hub, which accounts for 90% of Iran’s crude trade, are continuing without interruption, Bovard insisted.
According to Reuters, there is no evidence that the island has come under attack.
- 07:17 GMT
The UAE’s air force has engaged a drone approaching from Iran over its territorial waters, the Gulf nation’s Defense Ministry has said.
UAE Air Force Responds to UAV over Territorial Waters Approaching from Iran
— وزارة الدفاع |MOD UAE (@modgovae) August 31, 2026
The Ministry of Defence announced that the UAE Air Force responded to a UAV detected over the country’s territorial waters, approaching from Iran.
The Ministry affirmed that the Armed Forces remain on a… pic.twitter.com/cCSJSRX4HW - 06:50 GMT
Several top US military commanders have warned Secretary of War Pete Hegseth against continuing large-scale operations against Iran, the Washington Post has reported.
The heads of the army, navy, air force and the chiefs of the US contingents in Europe, Asia and Latin America expressed a belief that American forces are spread too thin due to the conflict with Tehran, the paper said.
Some 50,000 American troops are currently on high alert in case US President Trump orders renewed military action in the Middle East.
The commanders said in a classified report that they disagree with the deployment orders, but will still carry them out, according to WaPo.
- 06:08 GMT
Oil prices rose in early trading in Asia following the exchange of strikes between US and Iranian forces. WTI futures grew by 2.47% to $85.46 per barrel, with Brent futures climbing by 2.71% to $90.49 per barrel.
- 05:55 GMT
Iran’s IRGC has said a supertanker which tried to traverse the Strait of Hormuz via the southern route, designated by the US, has “caught fire” after being hit by two naval mines.
Passage through the waterway is only possible though the route overseen by Tehran, the IRGC stressed.
“Shipping companies should not be deceived by the provocations of the child-killing American army and should not unnecessarily expose the property and lives of their ships’ crews to destruction,” the IRGC advised.
- 04:12 GMT
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Strait of Hormuz amid the renewed exchange of strikes between Tehran and Washington.
IRGC air defenses hit the “long-range American MQ-9 drone,” causing it to crash into the waters of the Persian Gulf, Iranian media reported, citing a Guard statement.
The US has yet to confirm the loss. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that the US military had lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reapers during the war with Iran, although not all were shot down. The aircraft can cost between $30 million and $50 million each, depending on its sensors and weapons.
- 03:30 GMT
Iran is “not looking for war” but will not “sit still in the face of any aggression,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said in his first public comments since the US strike on Larak Island.
“We will give a decisive response to the aggressors,” Pezeshkian said before departing for Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.
“Instability and unrest in the region are not in the interest of any country and will challenge everyone,” he added, according to Fars news agency.
