Oil is climbing again. Brent crude traded near $97.40 a barrel on Monday, up more than 1% on the day and its highest level since July, after the US and Iran traded fresh military strikes over the weekend. The benchmark is now up over 11% in the past month alone.

Three Tankers, One Failed Missile Attack

US fighters and drones disabled three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, September 5, in retaliation for an unsuccessful Iranian ballistic missile attack on a US aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer patrolling near the Strait of Hormuz. Neither American ship was hit. US forces “permanently disabled” the IRGC-linked crude carriers M/T Downy, off Kharg Island, and M/T Stark 1, near Jask, and destroyed the unladen tanker M/T Kylo, according to US Central Command.

Tehran said it had targeted three tankers of its own, though those claims could not be independently confirmed, and announced it would introduce a “restricted” maritime zone beyond the Strait of Hormuz — reportedly extending from the existing US Navy blockade line into parts of the Persian Gulf — the narrow channel that carries roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas to global markets.

Washington Rules Out Talks

Vice President JD Vance had already shut the door on diplomacy earlier in the week. “We’re not talking to them, and we’re not going to talk to them unless they stop shooting at commercial shipping,” he told reporters at a White House briefing on Thursday, September 3. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the Navy would keep its naval presence in the region, including a blockade meant to curb Iranian oil exports, while still trying to keep commercial vessels moving safely through the strait.

Iran holds the world’s third-largest proven oil reserves, behind only Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, which is part of why every escalation near the strait ripples so quickly through global crude benchmarks. West Texas Intermediate has followed Brent higher too, with the global benchmark alone surging roughly 9% to 10% last week as fighting between Washington and Tehran resumed after about a month of relative calm.

Markets Are Shut, But the Story Isn’t Waiting

US stock and bond markets are closed Monday for Labor Day, leaving traders no session to react to the tanker strikes until Tuesday. It is a jumpy backdrop to walk into: Friday’s session already closed lower after a stronger-than-expected August jobs report reignited bets on a September Fed rate hike, a report this column had previewed before the release. The 10-year Treasury yield finished the week near its highest level since November 2023, and an oil-driven inflation scare is exactly the kind of complication the Fed does not need heading into next week’s CPI print.

Nvidia’s Huang Adds an AI Wildcard

A second story is also shaping sentiment ahead of Tuesday’s open. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang declared in a post on X on Sunday, September 6, that “AGI has arrived,” crediting OpenAI’s new GPT-6 Astra model, which he said was trained on more than 100,000 Nvidia Grace Blackwell NVLink72 systems, with another 400,000 Nvidia GPUs “coming online next.” OpenAI President Greg Brockman echoed the framing, though the company itself has stopped short of calling Astra true artificial general intelligence — a concept, OpenAI notes, with no universally accepted definition. OpenAI said the model scored 98% on FrontierMath Tier 4 and 99.9% on ARC-AGI-3. For chip stocks, the practical read is simpler than the AGI debate: Huang’s comments double as a demand signal at a moment when Wall Street keeps testing whether AI infrastructure spending is slowing, the same question behind the chip-stock rally that jolted the Nasdaq earlier this year.

What to Watch for the Open

  • Brent above $97: a further push higher would signal the tanker strikes are turning into a sustained supply risk rather than a one-weekend spike.
  • The Strait of Hormuz: watch for Tehran’s promised “restricted” zone to take shape — a formal shipping restriction would move oil more than the strikes themselves.
  • Chip stocks at Tuesday’s open: Huang’s AGI comments will be tested against Wall Street’s usual skepticism toward big AI claims from chipmakers with the most to gain.
  • The 10-year Treasury yield: still hovering near its highest level since November 2023 — oil-driven inflation pressure makes it harder for yields to ease before Friday’s CPI report.

Sources: US Central Command, statement on strikes against Iranian oil tankers, September 5-6, 2026. Reuters/Axios, “U.S. strikes Iran oil tankers for first time in retaliation for Hormuz strikes,” September 2026. CNN, “US military strikes three Iranian tankers in retaliation for missile attacks,” September 5, 2026. Washington Times, “Vance pours cold water on diplomacy with Iran as battle over Hormuz continues,” September 3, 2026. Trading Economics, Brent crude oil price data, September 7, 2026. Jensen Huang, post on X, September 6, 2026. Seeking Alpha, “Jensen Huang says ’AGI has arrived’ following OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra launch,” September 2026.