Iran’s military warned on Wednesday the world should brace for oil at $200 a barrel, as three more merchant ships came under attack in the blockaded Gulf and Israel declared its campaign against Iran would continue with no time limit.
“Get ready for oil to be $200 a barrel, because the oil price depends on regional security which you have destabilised,” said Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for Iran’s military command, addressing his remarks directly to the United States.
Iran also fired at Israel and targets across the Middle East on Wednesday, demonstrating it retained the capacity to fight back despite what the Pentagon described as the most intense US-Israeli strikes yet.
Zolfaqari warned that Iran would also target banks doing business with the United States or Israel, and urged people across the region to stay at least 1,000 metres from such institutions.
Oil prices, which briefly touched nearly $120 a barrel on Monday, have since eased to around $90, with investors betting that President Donald Trump will move quickly to end the war he launched alongside Israel nearly two weeks ago.
Stock markets have also rebounded. But there has been no let-up on the ground, and no sign that the Strait of Hormuz — through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes — will reopen soon, in what analysts have described as the worst disruption to energy supplies since the oil shocks of the 1970s.
Three more merchant ships were struck in the Gulf by unknown projectiles on Wednesday, bringing the total number of vessels reportedly hit since the conflict began to 14. Crew were evacuated from a Thai-flagged bulk freighter after an explosion triggered a fire. A Japanese-flagged container ship and a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier also sustained damage.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said the operation “will continue without any time limit, as long as required, until we achieve all objectives and win the campaign.” A senior Israeli official told Reuters that Israeli leaders had privately accepted that Iran’s ruling clerical system could survive the war, while two other officials said there was no indication Washington was close to ending the campaign.
Iran has said it will not allow oil through the strait until US-Israeli strikes cease and has ruled out negotiations. Trump has threatened to strike Iran “twenty times harder” if the blockade continues, but US officials have not disclosed any military plan to reopen the waterway.
In a further development, an Iranian official told Reuters that Mojtaba Khamenei — son of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his designated successor — had been lightly wounded early in the conflict, when airstrikes killed his father, mother, wife and a son. He has not appeared publicly or issued any statement since the war began. An Israeli source said Israel also believed he had been lightly hurt.
Huge crowds gathered in Tehran on Wednesday for the funerals of senior commanders killed in airstrikes, carrying caskets and portraits of the slain supreme leader.
Residents said they were growing accustomed to nightly bombardments that have driven hundreds of thousands from the city and left it blanketed in black rain from burning oil infrastructure.
More than 1,300 Iranian civilians have been killed since US and Israeli strikes began on 28 February, according to Iran’s UN ambassador.
Scores more have died in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, where Hezbollah has been firing into Israel in solidarity with Tehran. Iranian strikes on Israel have killed at least 11 people; seven US soldiers have been killed and around 140 wounded.
The International Energy Agency recommended releasing 400 million barrels from global strategic reserves — a record intervention that would nonetheless cover only around three weeks of normal flow through the strait.
(Reuters)
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