Brent crude climbs to highest level since May

The oil price moved higher on Friday, with Brent crude gaining 1% to reach $114.72 a barrel - a level last seen in May, marking a more than five-month peak. Richard Hunter, of Interactive Investor, tied the gain to the Iran war now in its eighth month, saying: "Widespread reports that the US is considering renewed military strikes on Iran after the midterm elections" had been enough to lift it.

Tehran lists its retaliation targets

If the US and Israel launched a new attack, Tehran said it would respond by hitting targets across the Gulf region. The facilities it named:

• •Oil facilities
• •Undersea cables
• •Datacentres
• •AI facilities

A war that reshaped the price of oil

Before the Iran war began, oil sold for roughly $72 a barrel in February; by the close of April the figure had jumped to $126.

Supply risks across the Gulf

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz came under attack on Wednesday, with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps claiming four commercial vessels were hit. Washington has also pulled staff out of the region: some diplomats and relatives of US government employees were ordered by the state department to depart Saudi Arabia, a country that Houthi rebels in Yemen have kept attacking.

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: "the attacks on Saudi Arabia's facilities by Houthi rebels have intensified this week". Ships crossing the strait, she noted, still face incoming projectiles, and Ukraine's bombardment of Russian diesel refineries is adding to oil supply worries.

With the US elections on 3 November approaching, Streeter said fears are building that American and Israeli forces will be ordered to attack Iran's energy infrastructure once the vote is over.