Oil rises on intensifying US-Iran hostilities and threat of Red Sea closure

PERTH, July 17 : Oil prices inched higher on Friday after the U.S. and Iran stepped up attacks across the Gulf, with their broken truce limiting oil flows out of the Strait of Hormuz and with Tehran asking the Houthi movement to stand ready to shut the Red Sea export route. Brent crude futures rose $1.05, or about 1.25 per cent, to $85.28 a barrel by 0118 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose $1.03, or 1.3 per cent, to $79.98 a barrel, erasing losses from the previous session.Both benchmark contracts have climbed nearly 12 per cent this week, with Brent on track for a third consecutive weekly gain and WTI for a second weekly gain.For the first time since a memorandum of understanding paused fighting last month, the United States launched two big waves of air strikes in a singl