HOUSTON: Crude oil futures spiked $5 a barrel on Thursday after reports that air defences were engaging targets over Tehran. After spiking, the benchmarks pared gains.

Brent crude futures settled at $105.07 a barrel, gaining $3.16 or 3.1 per cent. West Texas Intermediate futures finished at $95.85 a barrel, up $2.89, or 3.11pc.

Iranian news services said air defences in Tehran were engaging targets over the city. That followed reports of drone attacks on Iranian Kurds at a base in Iraq.

Phil Flynn, senior analyst with Price Futures Group, said prices were constrained by confidence in the crude market. “The market continues to believe we’re going to find a way through this,” Flynn said. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas on Thursday said a survey of 120 oil and natural gas company executives this month found 39pc expect traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to return to normal by August and 26pc expect normal traffic through the waterway by November.

Twenty per cent of the executives surveyed between April 15 and 20 believe traffic will be normal by May, according to the Dallas Fed.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2026