Oil prices rose as much as 13 percent in Asia on Monday as Donald Trump said the US would continue attacking Iran and traders braced for further disruptions to global energy supplies.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, reached $82.37 a barrel at the open, its highest price in more than a year, before paring its gains to 9 percent. US oil futures rose 9 percent to more than $72 a barrel.
Futures tracking the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indicated the indexes would fall 1 percent when Wall Street reopened on Monday. The price of gold increased by 1.6 percent.
The surge in oil prices comes amid fears that a massive US and Israeli military campaign against Iran could spill over into the world’s most important oil-producing region after Tehran launched retaliatory attacks on Gulf neighbors and blocked traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients on Sunday: “The main transmission channel of the Iran crisis to the global economy and macro markets is its impact on energy markets, with the combination of severity and expected longevity key.”
The US and Israeli strikes – which have hit more than 1,000 targets and killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top military commanders – will continue “until all of our objectives are achieved”, Trump said on Sunday, without giving specific details about what they were.
Trump’s comments came in a six-minute video posted on his Truth social platform as the US president grappled with the first US casualties from the conflict and conflicting messages about the aims of the war.
He said of the Iranian regime, “They have waged a war against civilization itself.”
But Trump warned that “there will be more deaths” of US troops as he argued that Washington’s “actions are right and they are necessary”. Three American soldiers were killed and five were seriously injured.
Trump has cited a number of reasons for attacks on Iran, including regime change, preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, protecting Americans, and supporting Iranian protesters demanding major changes in their country.
The US President said he has kept his promise to the Iranian people and that the future of his country will be in their hands after Washington led the most significant effort to overthrow the Islamic regime since it came to power in a 1979 revolution.
He told Iranians, “Those who yearn for freedom, seize this moment, be brave, be bold, be heroic and return to your country. America is with you. I made you a promise, and I kept that promise. The rest is up to you, but we will be there to help.”
During the regime’s brutal crackdown on protests across Iran in January, Trump told Iranians in a social media post that “help is on the way”, and came close to ordering an attack before stopping.
