India, July 23 -- Oil prices extended their rally on Thursday, with Brent crude trading around $97.67 a barrel, up 3.83 percent, after earlier climbing above $98. WTI crude rose to $89.31, up 2.86 percent, marking its strongest level in more than six weeks as geopolitical risks across the Middle East intensified.

The latest leg of the rally followed confirmation from US Central Command that American forces launched a fresh wave of strikes against Iranian military targets at 5:30 pm ET Wednesday, the twelfth consecutive night of such action, aimed at degrading Iran's capacity to threaten commercial shipping in the region.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards claimed in response that an oil tanker caught fire after attempting to transit a mined s...