Iran on Thursday issued a warning that the world should be ready for oil at USD 200 per barrel, as it ramped up attacks on merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
This comes as the International Energy
Agency (IEA) recommended a massive release of strategic reserves to dampen one of the worst oil shocks since the 1970s. The ongoing conflict in West Asia has thrown global energy markets and transport into chaos.
On Wednesday (March 11), three vessels were reported to have been hit in the Strait of Hormuz – a key energy artery closed since the war began on February 28 – as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it fired on ships in the Gulf that had disobeyed their orders. Despite these attacks, US President Donald Trump said he is not yet ready to call an end to his country’s military operations with Israel.
Trump said American forces had knocked out 58 Iranian naval ships and that oil prices would come down. He said Iran was “pretty much at the end of the line”.
“Doesn’t mean we’re going to end it immediately, but… They’ve got no navy, they’ve got no air force, they’ve got no anti-air traffic anything. They have no systems of control. We’re just riding free range over that country,” Trump said.
(With agency inputs)
