Oil prices ease but are set for 10% weekly gain as Trump mulls ‘bigger than ever’ attack on Iran

Oil prices dropped by more than 3% early on Friday, but remained on track for a weekly jump of 10% as the U.S.-Iran war continued to escalate.

Global benchmark Brent crude futures for July delivery were 3.6% lower at $97.10 a barrel and heading toward a weekly gain of about 10%.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were 3.4% lower, trading at $89.07 per barrel but up 8% for the week.

Overnight, the U.S. Central Command completed its 13th consecutive night of strikes on Iran, targeting military command centers, drone storage facilities, communication networks, coastal surveillance sites, and maritime capabilities.

Centcom said the strikes were intended to “further diminish the threat Iran poses to civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”

“The international waterway remains open for transit despite recent attacks from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Commercial vessels continue to freely navigate the strait with U.S. military support,” the military unit said in a statement.

“More than 50,000 U.S. service members are currently operating across the Middle East.”

U.S. President Donald Trump told Axios on Thursday that he was mulling a “massive attack” on Iran after the conflict in the Middle East extended to a new battleground in the Red Sea. The president said the proposed strikes would be bigger than anything seen in the war so far, and that Iran has not “received enough pain yet.”

“I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it,” he said in the interview.

It came after Trump said he would hold Iran responsible for further attacks by Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthis, after the militant group claimed to have struck two Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea.