WTI crude futures climbed more than 2% toward $98 a barrel on Friday, as the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz continues to disrupt roughly 20% of daily global energy flows and markets absorb the latest escalation in regional tensions. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday that the United States will launch its largest wave of strikes to date against Iranian targets, a move that has effectively frozen normal commercial maritime traffic and forced major Gulf producers to scale back output as storage nears critical capacity. This sustained supply shock is sharply tightening the global energy balance, with alternative export routes proving inadequate and international buyers forced to compete for scarce non-Gulf cargoes, while shipping costs surge amid sharply higher war-risk insurance premiums.