Oil Hits 1-Month High as Next Week’s Midterms Set Up an Iran Test

West Texas Intermediate crude reached $106.2 a barrel on Friday, its highest intraday level since mid-September, after Iran claimed mines struck four tankers, one day after U.S. Central Command said its forces had cleared the main routes. WTI later eased to $104.1, while Brent traded near $111.9, up 9.4% from a month earlier. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said three tankers exploded on the southern route on Thursday, and Iran’s army reported a fourth vessel damaged by a mine east of the waterway; CENTCOM rejected the mine-strike reports. With U.S. midterms on November 3, traders were also weighing reports that renewed U.S. strikes on Iran were under consideration after the vote.