Brent crude futures settled at $100.45 a barrel on Wednesday, up 2.6%, as intensifying U.S.-Iran military exchanges renewed concern over oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. forces destroyed five Iranian oil tankers after what officials described as hostile actions against American naval vessels, and Tehran responded with missile strikes aimed at a U.S. installation near Al Azraq in eastern Jordan. Iran also warned Kuwait and Bahrain against supporting U.S. military operations, while Iranian-backed Houthi militants struck energy infrastructure and economic targets in southern Saudi Arabia, injuring more than 70 people. The IRGC said it engaged 10 vessels, including two U.S. military ships and eight commercial oil tankers. Estimates of Hormuz traffic differ: the latest assessment put flows near 10 million barrels a day, about half of pre-conflict levels, while an earlier report put transit closer to 2 million barrels a day after the late-August escalation. Goldman Sachs analyst Daan Struyven said Brent above $120 is increasingly plausible if maritime attacks intensify, although the bank's central scenario assumes Persian Gulf exports gradually recover through alternative routes and expanded pipelines.