US President Donald Trump yesterday expressed frustration with allies who have been unwilling to do more to support the US war effort, telling them to “go get your own oil” as the conflict with Iran and its closure of the Strait of Hormuz sent average US gas prices soaring and roiled global markets.
The president’s social media tirade came after US strikes hit a city that is home to one of Iran’s main nuclear sites, sending a massive fireball into the sky, and Tehran attacked a fully loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker in the Persian Gulf.
The attacks showed the intensity of the war more than a month after the US and Israel launched their first strikes. The conflict has left more than 3,000 dead, and caused major disruptions to the world’s supply of oil and natural gas.
Photo: AP
Trump, who has vacillated between insisting there is progress in diplomatic talks with Iran and threatening to widen the war, had earlier shared footage of the attack on Isfahan. The central city is home to one of three nuclear enrichment sites attacked by the US in a 12-day war in June last year, and analysts believe much of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is likely stored there.
Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway leading out of Persian Gulf through which one-fifth of the world’s oil is transported during peacetime, has driven up global oil prices, as have Tehran’s attacks on regional energy infrastructure. That has shaken stock markets around the world and pushed up the cost of many basic goods.
Spot prices of Brent crude, the international standard, hovered at about US$106 a barrel yesterday, up more than 45 percent since the war started on Feb. 28.
Trump warned this week that if a ceasefire is not reached “shortly,” and if the strait is not reopened, the US would broaden its offensive, including by attacking the Kharg Island oil export hub and possibly desalination plants.
Israel and the US launched a wave of strikes on Iran, hitting Tehran early yesterday morning. Israel also said it had launched a new wave of strikes targeting what it described as Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut.
The video shared by Trump appeared to show a massive attack on Isfahan, and NASA satellites suggest explosions happened in a mountainous region on the city’s southern edge. Iran has not confirmed the attack.
An Iranian drone hit a Kuwaiti oil tanker in waters off the United Arab Emirates, sparking a blaze that was later put out, the Dubai Media Office said. Authorities said no oil spill resulted.
Four people were also wounded when debris from an intercepted drone fell into a residential area, and loud explosions could be heard later from another attack on Dubai.
Air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain, while Saudi Arabia said it intercepted three ballistic missiles launched toward its capital. Loud explosions were also heard in Israel not long after the military warned of an incoming missile barrage from Iran.
The UN Security Council planned to convene an emergency session yesterday after officials said three peacekeepers in southern Lebanon had been killed in less than 24 hours during Israel’s invasion.
The UN peacekeeping mission in the country, where Israel is battling Iran-backed Hezbollah, did not say who was responsible for the deaths.
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