Iran says prepare for $200 a barrel oil, fires on ships
Iran says the world should be ready for oil at $200 a barrel as its forces hit commercial shipping, and the International Energy Agency recommends massive releases of strategic reserves to cushion one of the worst oil shocks since the 1970s.
The war, which started about two weeks ago with joint airstrikes by the United States and Israel, has spread to Lebanon, throwing global energy markets and transportation into chaos, killing nearly 2,000 people so far, mostly Iranians and Lebanese.
Despite what the Pentagon described as the most intense airstrikes since the start of the war, Iran showed it could still respond by opening fire on Israel and targets in the Middle East on Wednesday local time.
Three ships were reportedly hit in Gulf waters after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said its forces opened fire on ships that did not comply with its orders.
US President Donald Trump, who has not committed to a timeline for military operations, said on Wednesday he was not yet ready to call for an end to the war.
“We won” the war, he said at a rally in Kentucky, but the United States didn’t want to have to go back every two years.
“We don’t want to leave early, do we?” he said. “We need to finish the job.”
Trump said U.S. forces had disabled 58 Iranian naval ships and oil prices would fall, and told reporters in Washington that Iran was “almost at the end of the road.”
“That doesn’t mean we’re going to end this right away, but… They don’t have a navy, they don’t have an air force, they don’t have anything against air traffic. They don’t have a control system. We’re just hovering over that country,” he said.
Trump said the United States would “take a very strong look” at the Strait of Hormuz, which is now blockaded off the coast of Iran and serves as a conduit for about a fifth of the world’s oil.
“The Straits are in very good condition. We disabled all their boats. They have some missiles, but not many.”
An Iranian military spokesman said the strait was “undoubtedly” under Iranian control.
On Wednesday, G7 countries (US, Canada, Japan, Italy, UK, Germany and France) agreed to examine the option of providing escorts for ships so they can navigate freely in the Gulf.
Oil prices were up almost five per cent US time on Wednesday, after rising to around US$120 per barrel at the start of the week and then falling back to US$90.
The International Energy Agency, a group of major oil-consuming countries, has recommended releasing 400 million barrels from global strategic reserves to stabilize prices; this was the largest intervention in history, and it was quickly approved by Washington.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Trump has authorized the release of 172 million barrels of oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve starting next week.
Iranian officials made clear on Wednesday that they plan to impose a long-lasting economic shock.
Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesman for the Iranian military command, said in a statement to the United States, “The barrel of oil will be 200 dollars, because the price of oil depends on the regional security that you are destabilizing.”
Dubai Media Office said that although flights continued, four people were injured when two Iranian drones crashed near Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates.
According to the Oman News Agency, firefighters in Oman’s Salalah Port responded to a fire in fuel storage tanks after days of Iranian attacks.
At sea, a Thai-flagged bulk carrier was set on fire, and a Japanese-flagged container ship and a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier were also reported damaged.
In Iran, large crowds took to the streets for the funeral of senior commanders killed in airstrikes, carrying portraits of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son and successor Mojtaba.
An Iranian official told Reuters that Mojtaba Khamenei was slightly injured early in the war when his father, mother, wife and son were killed in airstrikes.
with AP
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