The Latest: Key oil price spikes over $100 as Iranian attacks hit shipping

The Israeli military is also striking Iran and its militant ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, where more than 800,000 people have been displaced by the fighting.

Here's the latest:

Iran has loaded estimated 18.5 million oil barrels for shipment

Iran has been able to load an estimate 18.5 million barrels of oil for shipment since the start of the war on Feb. 28, said Homayoun Falakshahi, an analyst at commodities firm Kpler.

Of those barrels, 16.5 million were loaded in the Persian Gulf at Kharg Island, with the rest coming from its Jask terminal on the Gulf of Oman, he added.

Those shipments broadly appeared bound for China.

Bangladesh seeks US approval to buy oil from Russia

Bangladesh asked the United States to allow the country to purchase oil from Russia as supply shortages and surging crude oil prices pressure its economy.

Bangladesh’s Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury made the request during a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Dhaka, Brent T. Christensen, on Wednesday.

The U.S. sanctioned Russian oil following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Bangladesh heavily relies on imports of fuel from the Middle East, and the government started a rationing system for the vehicles after the war began. It has shuttered fertilizer factory to keep fuel flowing to power plants and closed universities in an effort to reduce energy consumption.

The country is also making effort to bring fuel from alternative sources. India has already supplied 5,000 tons of diesel as an emergency measure through a cross-border pipeline. Bangladesh has requested India to increase the volume of fuel supply.

Israel warns of missile launched from Iran

Israel’s military said it was working to intercept a missile launch from Iran early on Thursday morning.

It was the third such announcement Thursday, as Israel also said it was targeting Tehran with strikes.

Other overnight missile launches from Iran sent Israelis hurrying to shelters in areas from the very southern tip of the country, to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, to the Galilee and the northern border with Lebanon, where sirens were also sounded to warn of drone and rocket attacks from Hezbollah.

Drone hits residential building in Kuwait

Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said an Iranian drone smashed into a residential building Thursday in the small Mideast nation, wounding two people.

Ship hit in Persian Gulf off UAE

A container ship off Dubai in the Persian Gulf came under attack Thursday, sparking a small fire, the British military said.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the attack happened just before dawn. It said an “unknown projectile” hit the vessel as it was some 65 kilometers (40 miles) off the coast of Dubai’s Jebel Ali port.

It added that the crew of the vessel were safe.

Brent crude oil tops $100 a barrel as Iran attacks on shipping worsen supply concerns

The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, topped $100 a barrel early Thursday, just days after it spiked near $120.

Oil prices shot more than 9% higher as supply concerns worsened with Iranian attacks on commercial shipping around the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. benchmark crude oil jumped to about $95 a barrel.

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Iraqi officials shut oil terminals after deadly strike hits Basra port

An attack on Iraq’s Basra port early Thursday killed at least one person and forced authorities to halt operations at all the country’s oil terminals, officials said.

Farhan al-Fartousi, the director-general of the General Company for Ports of Iraq, made the announcement in a statement carried by the state-run Iraqi News Agency on Thursday. Al-Fartousi said the attack targeted ships in the ship-to-ship transfer are of the Basra port on the Persian Gulf. He said it remained unclear if the ship was targeted by a flying or seaborne drone or a missile.

Rescuers recovered one dead body and helped 38 others after the attack. He said commercial ports in Iraq remained open, though the oil terminals had been shut.

Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization has identified the two tankers as the Safesea Vishnu, flagged in the Marshall Islands, and the tanker Zefyros, flagged in Malta.