Renewed military tensions between the United States and Iran, just a month after their last confrontation, drove international crude oil futures sharply higher on August 31, with prices consolidating firmly during the session and Brent settling above $90 a barrel.

At the close, light sweet crude for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped $2.36 to settle at $85.76 a barrel, a gain of 2.83%, while Brent crude for November delivery on the London ICE Futures Exchange rose $2.39 to close at $90.49 a barrel, up 2.71%.

Multiple US media outlets, citing American military officials on August 30, reported that US forces struck two rocket launchers on Iran's Lark Island near the Strait of Hormuz that day. The operation marked the first US military strike on Iranian targets in a month, a claim subsequently confirmed by both US Central Command and Iranian authorities.

In response to the American attack on Lark Island, Iran's Foreign Ministry and military announced on August 31 that its armed forces had hit US military targets in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, and also shot down a US MQ-9 drone.

US President Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News that same day, said there "will definitely be a response" to the attack on Iran, vowing "we will hit them very hard."

Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy reported that a large oil tanker attempting to transit the southern Strait of Hormuz struck a naval mine, caught fire severely, and came to a complete halt.

Analyst Tamas Varga at PVM Oil Associates said the situation in Iran has likely altered the Middle East's security landscape, with crude supply risks persisting and inventories expected to continue depleting significantly in the period ahead.

Nikos Tzabras, senior market specialist at UK trading platform Tradu, argued that the longer geopolitical uncertainty and supply disruptions last, the tighter the market balance will become, keeping upward pressure on oil prices.

That said, with Washington shifting its policy focus toward economic sanctions on Iran, its appetite for launching a larger-scale military campaign may be more limited.