Oil prices spike after Houthi attacks on Saudi airports

Oil prices rose Monday, after the Iranian-backed Houthis launched attacks on two airports in Saudi Arabia over the weekend.

Brent Crude, the international benchmark, closed at nearly $106 per barrel as of late Monday afternoon, up roughly $1.20 from closing time Friday. The price of Brent Crude peaked at $107.33 earlier in the day.

West Texas Intermediate Crude, the North American standard, reached $94.36 during Monday trading and closed at $93.16 per barrel .

The Houthis, a Yemen-based rebel group aligned with Iran, launched a string of attacks over the weekend on King Khalid International Airport and King Fahd International Airport , respectively located in Riyadh and Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

The pair of attacks on King Khalid killed at least 13 people and injured at least 320 others, according to Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA). GACA noted Sunday it was assessing the damage of the attack on King Fahd International Airport, which resulted in injuries.

President Trump said Saturday the U.S. “may” join Saudi Arabia in responding to the Houthis.

“We will make a decision. We move very quickly,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

Saudi forces, which the Obama administration and first Trump administration supplied with offensive weapons , have fought against the Houthis in Yemen for more than a decade.

The Iranian proxy group has continued to launch strikes into the kingdom during the U.S.-Iran war . The latter conflict, in its eighth month, has led to oil price spikes stemming from the Islamic Republic’s restrictions on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

The shock to the energy industry has increased prices at the pump back home. As of Monday, a gallon of regular gas costs roughly $4.36 on average nationally, up about $1.28 from a year ago, according to data from AAA .

A gallon of diesel fuel also costs around $2.60 more on average than it did a year ago, AAA reported.

Trump on Friday announced a deal for Russia to supply diesel to the U.S. and global markets, in an attempt to lower prices ahead of the midterms.

Under the deal, Russia will “immediately” supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the marketplaces, before supplying another 500,000 tons next month, 1 million tons “immediately thereafter” and 3 million tons “within a short period of time,” depending on the condition of its diesel refineries, Trump wrote on Truth Social .

But analysts cautioned the deal may not lower prices, with GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan saying Monday he was “skeptical” it will “deliver significant relief to the trucking industry and consumers who depend on diesel.”