OIL PRICES

Reporting and analysis related to oil prices.

• Iran and Qatar Offer Two-Day Strait of Hormuz Reopening Plan After Vance Letter as Trump Weighs Strikes

  Araghchi says Tehran and Qatari mediators cut the reopening timetable to two days, but only if Washington lifts sanctions, trims forces and frees Iranian funds.

• Limpet Mines Hit Tanker Louise 1 in Strait of Hormuz as CENTCOM's Cooper Briefs Trump on Iran Options

  The first successful limpet mine strike of the war sets a tanker's engine room ablaze off Oman as Brent tops $117 and Washington weighs strikes after the midterms.

• Iran Talks With Saudi, Pakistani and Turkish Chiefs End Without Deal as Report Says U.S. Could Strike Within 96 Hours

  Tehran's first joint meeting with the Mecca pact states produced only a pledge to keep talking, as Pezeshkian heads to Moscow and oil dips.

• Iran Plots Against Americans at 'Advanced Stages,' DNI Clayton Warns as U.S. Cuts Embassy Staff in 4 Countries

  An intelligence memo to Secretary of State Rubio prompts staffing cuts in Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and the UAE as Trump weighs another round of Operation Epic Fury.

• Iran Claims 7 Tankers Hit Near Strait of Hormuz as Trump Calls Them 'Fake Hits' and Strike Plans Surface

  The IRGC says seven ships were set ablaze or mined and threatens U.S. bases; no independent body has confirmed a single hit, and Trump says Tehran is faking them to lift oil before the midterms.

• U.S. Orders Diplomats' Families Out of Saudi Arabia as Houthi Attacks Mount and Troops Quietly Leave Mideast Bases

  The State Department's ordered departure, a reported troop drawdown in Jordan, Qatar and Kuwait, and new IRGC tanker claims signal Washington is shrinking its Gulf exposure as Trump weighs strikes.

• Will Warsh's Fed Hike Rates Before the Midterms? Inside the Oct. 28 Decision After a 3.7% CPI Shock

  Iran-war fuel prices pushed September inflation to 3.7%, putting a rare pre-election rate hike on the table for the Oct. 27-28 FOMC meeting.

• Ukraine Hits St. Petersburg Oil Terminal in 1,000-Drone Strike as Trump Accuses Zelenskyy of Prolonging War

  Russia says it downed 1,015 drones as fires hit the Petersburg Oil Terminal, an Ozon hub and a VK data center, deepening a public rift between Trump and Kyiv.

• U.S. and Iran Both Claim Control of the Strait of Hormuz as Tanker Attacks Hit Record Pace

  CENTCOM says Washington and its partners hold the strait, while Iran's Revolutionary Guards claim two more supertankers hit mines, and independent data backs neither side fully.