WTI Crude Oil (CL) Hits $106.2 Intraday High on Iran Tanker Mine Claims

Mine Claims Lift WTI to a One-Month High

WTI crude oil touched $106.2 per barrel on Friday, its highest intraday level since mid-September, after Iran claimed that naval mines struck four tankers near the Strait of Hormuz. The spike landed a day after United States Central Command (CENTCOM) declared the main transit lanes through the waterway clear. The contract later eased to $104.1, while Brent traded near $111.9, up 9.4% from a month earlier. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said three tankers exploded on the southern route on Thursday, a corridor Tehran treats as off-limits. The Iranian army reported a fourth vessel damaged by a mine east of the waterway. CENTCOM had already rejected the reports: in its official October 28 statement, the command called Iranian claims that commercial vessels were striking sea mines false and said all internationally recognized primary transit routes through the strait remain open. The command noted the reports had circulated in Iranian-controlled media over recent days and weeks. On Thursday the IRGC rejected that position outright. Its spokesman, Hossein Mohebi, demanded “independent evidence, not a statement” that the strait had been cleared, adding that Hormuz's reality “is determined in the air, on land and at sea,” not on social media or in what he called America's media war rooms. Neither account is independently verified, and the intraday jump reflects the uncertainty rather than a confirmed loss of supply.

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Official October 28 statement.

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November 3 Sets the Next Test

For energy traders, the larger swing factor sits just past the ballot box. Washington is running force and diplomacy side by side ahead of the November 3 midterms. Renewed United States strikes on Iran are reportedly on the table for the window that opens after the vote, and Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of United States Central Command, presented Iran military options to Trump on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The report added that Trump could still decide against any action. On the diplomatic side, Vice President JD Vance reportedly wrote to Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei about a framework for talks; asked whether he had directed the letter, Trump said “No” and tied the outreach to medical supplies. A second front flared the same day. Iran-backed Houthis claimed six attacks on Saudi airports and oil sites, including the Ras Tanura refinery, days after Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman attended a meeting in Tehran focused on regional peace and security. Polymarket, a prediction market where traders buy contracts tied to event outcomes, still gives the ceasefire an 83% chance of holding through November 3, though the odds briefly slid from above 90% to near 62% before recovering. That contract expires on Election Day itself, while the reported strike window opens after it, so the current reading says little about oil's path into mid-November. Brent had already climbed toward its yearly high last week, touching $117.42 on October 23. The World Gold Council has argued that a Democratic Congress could restrict war funding, one more variable waiting on the vote.

WTI crude oil (CL) last traded at $103.83, up 2.21% over 24 hours, according to COINOTAG data, after an intraday range of $99.88 to $105.11. COINOTAG's composite scoring rates resistance at $106.77, where the upper Bollinger Bands boundary sits, at 79/100, with a nearer level at $104.93 scored 62/100; Friday's high of $105.11 already pushed into the gap between them. Daily RSI reads 67.2 and the trend remains up, while perpetual funding at -0.0607% and open interest near $441.4 million suggest the derivatives book has not fully chased the move. The mine dispute carried price toward the $106.77 level; a daily close above it would extend the uptrend, while rejection would point price back toward the lower band.