Futures on Brent crude (BZ=F<\/a>), the international benchmark, rose by roughly 5% to trade above $75.50 per barrel. Those on US benchmark WTI crude (CL=F<\/a>) ticked up by a similar 5% to reach $72. <\/p>\n Three separate ships were struck by projectiles from Iran<\/a> in the last 24 hours, according to alerts from the UK maritime network and statements from governments, including a Qatari LNG carrier and a Saudi oil tanker. <\/p>\n The three vessels were all traveling in or near the Strait of Hormuz when they were struck, according to ship-tracking data. Even as the US has insisted Iran must allow safe freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian government has maintained that it must control transit through the waterway. <\/p>\n The attacks sent multiple vessels that had been using a southern passage along the Omani coast rerouting toward Iran<\/a>, per data from the vessel-tracking platform Windward, potentially looking to avoid drawing the ire of Iranian drones. <\/p>\n “Iran probably can’t enforce a tolling system in the strait \u2014 its effective leverage doesn’t extend that far,” Gregory Brew, Iran and oil-focused senior analyst at Eurasia Group, said Tuesday. “But these sporadic attacks inject enough uncertainty to preserve some of it’s wartime position.” <\/p>\n The violence marks the second time since the signing of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding to end the war that the Iranian military has been documented striking vessels. After the first wave of attacks, the US military renewed airstrikes inside the country before the two sides agreed to ceasefire. <\/p>\n