Brent crude ticked up closer to $100 per barrel today as hopes for peace in the Middle East continued to shrink amid renewed mutual threats between the United States and Iran. At the time of writing, the international benchmark was trading at $97.66 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $93.05 per barrel, after Iran issued a threat to the United States of “economic warfare” and said it had fired a new, advanced missile at U.S. warships. Oil prices were also pushed higher by the latest attack on Saudi Arabia’s Jizan refinery,…