Missile Barrage Escalates Oil Price Chaos
When Iran unleashed more than 150 ballistic missiles and a hundred attack drones at Israel on June 13-14, energy traders around the world didn’t need much warning. Oil prices immediately took off, surging over 8% in one of the most dramatic overnight moves seen in a year. The American oil benchmark jumped $4.97 a barrel—7.3%—reaching $72.91. Brent crude, the key international marker, raced up $4.78 to $74.15 per barrel, a gain of 6.67%.
What’s different this time is the scale and directness of the military hits. The Israeli strikes, which targeted core Iranian nuclear facilities like Natanz and Esfahan, as well as a missile base in Kermanshah Province, represented a brazen attempt to knock out Iran’s nuclear weapon ambitions. Iran’s answer came quickly and hard, with missiles and drones reaching deep into Israel—including the financial hub of Tel Aviv. For once, the famous Iron Dome missile shield couldn’t stop everything. Several rockets slipped through, sparking fires and injuring at least 21 people, two seriously.
Global Markets Roil as Energy Supply Fears Spike
The rattle wasn’t just felt in the Middle East. Investors everywhere started unloading stocks and snatching up safe-haven assets like U.S. Treasuries and dollars. The panic is about more than explosions on both sides—it’s about what could happen next. Most previous dust-ups between Iran and Israel only nudged oil prices for a few days before things calmed down. This time, with nuclear infrastructure in the crosshairs and exchanges becoming more intense, the uncertainty scale has shot up.
Richard Joswick at S&P Global Commodity Insights put it bluntly: if Iran widens its aim to hit oil refineries, gas fields, or pipelines beyond Israel, get ready for even steeper price hikes. The oil markets, already jittery from tight global supply, can’t handle more shocks without shoving costs up at the pump. And with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promising a “harsh response,” nobody’s betting the fireworks are over yet.
Some immediate effects are already clear. The U.S. military wasn’t caught off-guard, with personnel at Al-Tanf in Syria and Union III in Baghdad ordered into bunkers once Iranian missiles started flying. Washington’s confirmation that U.S. forces participated in missile defense operations will only add fuel to the speculation about a wider regional conflict brewing.
Experts are split over whether this all-up war talk will choke off real oil flows in the long run. Yet, the latest price spike shows just how quickly global energy markets can react—and how vulnerable things remain in a part of the world where almost one-third of oil still comes from. Any hint that missile barrages could spill over into the Gulf or disrupt the Strait of Hormuz, and you’ll see the oil prices rollercoaster only get wilder.
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