Oil prices continued to climb on Tuesday, hitting their highest levels in a month, as an escalating pattern of strikes and counter strikes between the United States and Iran rattled markets.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, breached $85 per barrel for the first time in a month. Analysts at the Eurasia Group said that ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz was likely to fall from 30 to 50 percent of prewar flows before the latest burst of fighting to only 5 to 15 percent of prewar levels. As a result, they expect oil to trade at a price of up to $95 a barrel because of the disruptions.