US-Iran war news LIVE: Iran warned that global oil prices could climb to $200 per barrel after its forces attacked merchant ships on Wednesday, while the International Energy Agency (IEA) urged a large release of strategic oil reserves to ease what could become one of the most severe energy shocks since the 1970s, as reported by Reuters.
The conflict, triggered nearly two weeks ago by joint US and Israeli airstrikes, has already killed about 2,000 people, most of them Iranians and Lebanese. As the fighting spreads into Lebanon, it has disrupted global energy markets and shipping routes, creating turmoil in transportation and oil supplies worldwide.
A sharp rise in oil prices shows Iran may be leveraging its strongest tool, the ability to disrupt the global economy — exposing what could be the United States’ biggest vulnerability in sustaining the campaign, according to a report by Reuters.
On Wednesday, tensions escalated as Iranian forces targeted commercial vessels near the Strait of Hormuz and around Dubai International Airport, expanding efforts to squeeze the oil-rich Gulf region at a time of growing global energy concerns, the report suggested.
The US airstrike campaign inside Iran has now entered its 12th day with no clear end in sight. According to a US commander, artificial intelligence has aided the military in striking more than 5,500 targets across the country.
Meanwhile, an Israeli intelligence assessment claims Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, was wounded at the outset of the conflict.
US President Donald Trump, who has not committed to a timeline for military operations, suggested on Wednesday that he was not yet ready to call an end to the Iran war.
At a rally in Kentucky, he said “we won” the war, 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 got to finish the job.”
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