Iran War Updates: Oil hits $100 per barrel as Tehran fires missiles in retaliation for U.S. blowing up tankers

What to know about the Iran war today:

• Jordan said Wednesday its military intercepted 18 Iranian missiles and reported no casualties. Iran’s state-run media said Tehran had targeted U.S. assets in the region in retaliation for American attacks on its oil tankers.
• The U.S. military’s Central Command said Tuesday night it had destroyed 5 Iranian oil tankers in response to recent attempts to attack U.S. warships with ballistic missiles.
• The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, hit $100 per barrel Wednesday morning, its highest level since late July, as the U.S. and Iran’s standoff over the Strait of Hormuz flared up again with new attacks.
  

  U.S. military denies Iran’s claim to have damaged U.S. warships with missile attack

  The U.S. military’s Central Command denied on Wednesday Iran’s claim to have inflicted “heavy damage” on U.S. warships.

  “No U.S. Navy warship has been struck; all IRGC attempted attacks failed,” CENTCOM said in a post on social media.

  Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed earlier that its naval forces had targeted two U.S. warships, along with eight other vessels, and “inflicted heavy damage on them.”

  CENTCOM dismissed the claim as “completely FALSE” and said U.S. forces had destroyed 10 Iranian tankers “just in the last week.”

  Oil prices could hit $120, analysis finds, as Americans absorb $100 billion fuel hit

  An analysis by Goldman Sachs has forecast that heightened attacks in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea could push global oil prices above $120 a barrel, which would add to the surging fuel costs Americans have faced during the Iran war.

  The investment bank’s forecast implies a roughly 20% increase in the cost of Brent crude, the international benchmark, which is trading at nearly $100 a barrel. Oil prices have spiked in recent weeks as the Middle East conflict drags on, with U.S. military forces striking three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday and the Houthi rebels attacking Saudi oil facilities.

  Iranian forces say they targeted American warships again

  Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Wednesday that it had targeted two U.S. warships and eight other vessels in retaliation for U.S. strikes on five Iranian oil tankers the previous day.

  The IRGC said its naval forces had targeted the vessels in the Persian Gulf region, claiming to have “inflicted heavy damage on them.”

  There was no immediate response from the U.S. military, which said Tuesday that it had warned the crews of the five Iranian tankers to abandon ship “before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable.”

  The new attacks claimed by the IRGC are the latest in a series of flare-ups in fighting between the U.S. and Iran since a ceasefire agreed to by both sides in June fell apart over disagreements regarding control over ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.