Iran And One Of Its Proxies Keep Their Chokehold On Key Waterways. Oil Keeps Climbing.

Oil prices keep climbing as perspectives of a deal to reopen key waterways in the Middle East continue to fade.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, gained 0.41% and clocked in at $91.24 a barrel at 9:40 a.m. ET, while West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, climbed 1% and stood at $84.58 at the same time.

Different reports showed continued hostilities in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. CBS News noted that a ship on its way out of the former was struck by an "unknown projectile." There was one casualty and damage to an engine room.

Elsewhere, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they targeted an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia. Concretely, they launched drones at a refinery in Jazan as part of the group's blockade of the country's oil in the Red Sea.

President Donald Trump, on his end, claimed on social media that the Hormuz Strait is "open and operating" even though traffic has slowed down to a trickle. He went on to say that "all water mines have been removed or detonated" and "there are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran."

In this context, the U.S.'s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) fell to its lowest level in more than 40 years.

Data from the Department of Energy showed that the SPR stood below 300 million barrels last week, the lowest since January 1983.

It was at about 415 million barrels before the war with Iran bean in late February and has a maximum authorized capacity of 714 million barrels.

The Trump administration had ordered the release of 172 million barrels in March as the war continued and the Strait of Hormuz remained closed.

A spokesperson for the DoE told CNBC that the minimum amount needed to operate the SPR is 70 million barrels.

Traffic through the waterway is not expected to fully reopen any time soon as Washington and Tehran's positions remain far apart. And a new report is claiming that Iranian leadership is taking steps to widen the war with the U.S. and Israel.

The Wall Street Journal cited Arab intelligence officials who claim that Tehran is seeing a "strategic shift" and have begun taking steps to "get their forces ready to widen the war."

The steps include ramping up drone and missile production, as well as conversations with proxies in Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon to escalate conflicts elsewhere in the region.