Iran war pushes oil price above $90, threatening rise in global inflation

Crude oil depots in Al Ahmadi, Kuwait. The price of the commodity has gone up by more than 25% since the US and Israel began their assault on the Tehran regime. Photograph: Nicolas Economou/Reuters

The Iran conflict has driven the oil price past $90 a barrel to its highest weekly gains since the Covid-19 pandemic six years ago, threatening a fresh rise in global inflation.

Reports that Kuwait had begun cutting production of oil at some fields after running out of space to store it drove the cost of a barrel of Brent crude to as high as $91.89 at one point on Friday – its highest since April 2024 and up from about $72.50 just before war broke out.