Oil hits $100 a barrel for first time since July after US and Houthi strikes
Oil prices rose to $100 (£74) a barrel on Wednesday, after the US and Iran attacked tankers in the Gulf region and Yemen's Houthis hit oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.
The Guards also said they planned a new "prohibited zone" for shipping that extended beyond the Strait of Hormuz into the Arabian Sea.
The escalating conflicts pushed the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, to its highest level since late July, when Iran and the US resumed hostilities after a one-month lull.
Before the US and Israel's war with Iran began in February, Brent crude had been priced at about $70 (£52) a barrel.
The Houthis have also been targeting Saudi energy infrastructure and tankers in the Red Sea since July, when a four-year ceasefire in Yemen began unravelling.
Centcom released video footage that it said showed the Iranian tanker Riesco ablaze and sinking
The US military's Central Command (Centcom) said early on Wednesday that its latest strikes destroyed four Iranian oil tankers linked to Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) in the Gulf of Oman - Kaviz, Charminar, Horizon 1 and Riesco - and a fifth tanker - Derya - near Kharg Island, in the northern Gulf, which hosts Iran's main terminal for exporting oil.
Centcom said the attacks came after the IRGC launched ballistic missiles at a US warship in the region twice in two days. It added that the warship "successfully evaded" the missiles and that no American troops were harmed.
Jordan's armed forces said they intercepted 20 Iranian missiles and two others fell in unpopulated areas, with no casualties were reported.
Centcom said the claim that the IRGC struck two of its warships was false.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said it had received reports of several merchant vessels in the northern Gulf and the Gulf of Oman being "subject to disabling fire as part of ongoing military activity in the region".
Iraqi authorities said they extinguished a fire on a Panama-flagged tanker, New Andros, that was carrying two million barrels of fuel oil when it was hit by a drone in the Gulf.
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- Oil prices rose to $100 (£74) a barrel on Wednesday, after the US and Iran attacked tankers in the Gulf region and Yemen's Houthis hit oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.
- The Guards also said they planned a new "prohibited zone" for shipping that extended beyond the Strait of Hormuz into the Arabian Sea.
- The escalating conflicts pushed the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, to its highest level since late July, when Iran and the US resumed hostilities after a one-month lull.
- Before the US and Israel's war with Iran began in February, Brent crude had been priced at about $70 (£52) a barrel.
- The Houthis have also been targeting Saudi energy infrastructure and tankers in the Red Sea since July, when a four-year ceasefire in Yemen began unravelling.