Oil prices jumped about 2 per cent in early trading after ​the US military launched additional strikes overnight on an Iranian ‌military site, escalating tensions even as Washington and Tehran negotiate to end their three-month conflict.

Brent crude futures rose $1.90, or 2.02 per cent, to $96.19 ​a barrel, while the more active ​August contract gained $1.64 or 1.78 per cent, to $93.89.

The July ⁠contract is set to expire on Friday.

The Trump administration has placed additional sanctions on Iran as part of a sprawling economic pressure campaign during the war, this time targeting the country’s newly created agency that is trying to control shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The sanctions were announced last night after US forces carried out strikes on an Iranian military facility after downing Iranian attack drones.

“The Iranian military’s latest attempt to extort global maritime trade is proof that Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash,” treasury secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has warned the US this morning that any further attacks would trigger “a more decisive” response.

The US military carried out new strikes targeting an Iranian drone operation that posed a threat to US forces and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, an American official said.

The Revolutionary Guard, which is separate from the Iranian military, said it targeted a US airbase in response to the attack near Bandar Abbas airport.

US forces have shot down four Iranian drones around the Strait of Hormuz after Donald Trump’s military launched a fresh wave of strikes this morning.

The US military has also struck a ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone, Reuters reported.

“These actions were measured, purely defensive and intended to maintain the ceasefire,” an unnamed US official said.

Kuwait’s army said this morning ​that its ⁠air defences were ⁠intercepting hostile ​missile ⁠and drone threats, ‌but did not say ‌where the ‌attacks were coming from.

The ⁠army said any sounds of explosions heard in the country were ‌the result ​of ‌air-defence systems ⁠intercepting the ⁠attacks.

US Central Command had shot down four Iranian drones that posed a threat around the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil passageway in the Middle East, a US official told The Independent.

An Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas, where a fifth drone was going to be launched, was also targeted, according to the official.

Bandar Abbas is a city located on the coast of the Strait of Hormuz and is home to a key Iranian naval base.

Senior foreign affairs reporter James Reynolds reports:

Iran has long been burdened by Western sanctions, limiting its ability to earn revenue from its lucrative oil and gas.

There are primary sanctions, by which a sanctioning country or bloc, like the EU, bans its companies and citizens from doing work with Iran. And then there are secondary sanctions, or extraterritorial sanctions, which bar entities in third countries from doing business with Tehran.

Washington’s secondary sanctions have resulted in companies suspending payments to Tehran, as international banking restrictions have made transfers illegal under rules set out by the US treasury department.

For example, Iran has sought the release of $6bn now held in Qatar. Those funds stem from Iranian oil sales to South Korea that were blocked in South Korean banks after Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran in 2018 and scrapped a deal with Iran over its nuclear programme.

The figure had been due for release in 2023, under Joe Biden, as part of a US-Iranian prisoner swap before being effectively frozen again in the wake of the October 7 attacks on Israel by Iran’s ally, Hamas.

While no comprehensive public ledger is available, trackers estimate there are around $100bn (£74.4bn) worth of frozen assets around the world, representing between a third and a quarter of Iran’s GDP.

These are mostly held between China, India, Japan, Qatar and Iraq, with smaller amounts tied up in Europe and the United States.