Oil Prices Top $105 as Houthi Strikes Hit Saudi Airports

A week of stacked supply shocks

Brent crude climbed from just above $100 to more than $106 a barrel in under a week. The rise came as several separate risks hit the oil market at once: Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, a hurricane threat in the Gulf of Mexico, and talk in Washington of military action against Iran.

The climb started on Wednesday. Brent rose under 1% to about $101.51 and US West Texas Intermediate reached roughly $90.25. Traders were weighing a storm that US forecasters expected to become the first Atlantic hurricane of 2026 and strike oil and gas facilities.5 KCM Trade's Tim Waterer called the storm an unwelcome complication for a market that already had plenty of supply problems.5

By Thursday the pressure had grown. One report put Brent up about 2% to above $102 after word that the White House had asked the Pentagon for strike options against Iran. The same report noted that the storm had already shut some US output and that the Iran-backed Houthis had hit two Saudi airports.1 Another account described a larger move that day, roughly 5% to about $105.2 The gap between those figures likely reflects different snapshots of an intraday rally.

The weekend made things worse. The Houthis claimed a Saturday attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. One count put the death toll at 13 and another at 12, with more than 300 people injured in both.34 Saudi authorities reported another death after a second attack on the airport Sunday evening.3 The Saudi-led coalition said early Monday that it was responding to yet another wave of drones and missiles.4 Brent settled near $105.48 on Monday, close to a two-week high, and other trading put it above $106.34

The Yemen front reopens

The biggest change may be that the Yemen war has become active again. Riyadh had treated the conflict as largely frozen since the April 2022 truce. It is now back, and it threatens both chokepoints the region relies on for oil exports, including Saudi Arabia's Red Sea route.2 Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree told airlines to avoid Saudi airspace, with exceptions for Mecca and Medina. Saudi Arabia answered with air strikes on dozens of targets in Saada, Hodeida, al-Jawf and Marib.2 Strikes on oil tankers have added to fears about Middle East supply.3 An image from early October showed flames at an Aramco facility south of Riyadh.3

Diplomacy is also under way. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi phoned his Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan.4 Few details of the call were reported. Its timing suggests Tehran wants to show some distance from, or some influence over, its Yemeni allies' escalation.

Conflicting signals from Washington

The US picture is mixed. One account says President Trump has ruled out strikes on Iran before the November 3 midterms while keeping a blockade in place.2 That would remove one of Thursday's catalysts. As the same analysis points out, it does nothing about the Houthi threat or the storm.2 Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had broken an energy ceasefire Trump declared. Meanwhile, a US deal has improved the chances of more Russian energy reaching markets.4 Reports of increased West Asian crude supply have also helped limit the gains.5

Markets beyond oil

The effects have spread. Treasury yields moved back toward their highest levels since 2002, a 24-year peak.12 Bitcoin fell 1.6% to just under $82,800, breaking the $83,000 level that FxPro had said would show sellers in control. The firm warned that a break there could push the price to $80,000 "fairly quickly."1 Global stocks also fell.15 One analysis gave a single explanation for the oil, bond and crypto moves: when energy looks scarce, markets price in a risk premium.2

What it means

The accounts agree on direction but differ in emphasis. Some lead with the hurricane, some with the Iran strike-plan report, and some with the Yemen escalation. This analysis treats the Houthi campaign as the most durable of the three. A storm passes, and an Iran strike appears to be on hold until after the midterms, but a reopened war on Saudi soil has no clear end. The airport attacks show that Saudi infrastructure is reachable, and the tanker strikes point toward export routes.

Yields near multi-decade highs indicate that investors are starting to treat this as an inflation problem as well as a geopolitical one. If Brent holds above $100, central bankers will face another energy-driven price shock at a time when borrowing costs are already high. For risk assets such as bitcoin, the outlook depends less on crypto-specific news than on whether the Red Sea and Gulf stay open to shipping.