New Delhi, Mar 10: The war involving the United States, Israel and Iran entered its eleventh day on Tuesday with no immediate end in sight, even as global oil prices fell in early Asian trading after surging to as high as $115 a barrel on Monday.
The drop followed comments by US President Donald Trump suggesting the conflict could end “pretty quickly,” though he added that Washington had not yet “won enough.” Trump also issued a fresh warning to Tehran against disrupting shipping in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world’s oil supply passes.
“If Iran does anything that stops the flow of oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America twenty times harder than they have been hit thus far,” Trump said in an online statement.
The US president warned that Washington could strike “easily destroyable targets” in Iran that would make it “virtually impossible” for the country to rebuild. “Death, fire and fury will reign upon them — but I hope and pray that it does not happen,” he added.
The conflict, which began on Feb 28, has expanded across the West Asia or Middle East and disrupted maritime traffic in the Gulf, pushing oil prices sharply higher in recent days.
Speaking to Republican lawmakers in Florida, Trump said the United States had achieved several military successes but intended to intensify its operations. “We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough,” he said, describing the conflict as “an excursion” from his domestic policy agenda but necessary because he believed Iran was preparing attacks against the United States and Israel, reports the BBC.
Trump acknowledged the economic and social impact of the war in US, including falling stock markets, but predicted the markets would recover. He also said casualties among US personnel were unavoidable. The US military confirmed that a seventh service member had been killed since the conflict began. Across the West Asia, casualties have also been reported in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon as Israeli forces continued air strikes inside Iran.
Meanwhile, European leaders warned of wider economic fallout, reports the BBC. The UK’s chancellor said inflation could rise as London signalled support for releasing strategic oil reserves by members of the Group of Seven to help stabilise energy markets.
French President Emmanuel Macron visited Cyprus, which has seen several strikes since the war began, while Britain and other European countries announced plans to deploy additional military assets to Europe’s southern flank. British Defence Secretary John Healey said a drone that struck a British military base in Cyprus last week was believed to have been launched from the region, underscoring fears that the conflict could continue to widen.
In a humanitarian development, several players from Iran women’s national football team currently in Australia for the Asian Cup have been granted humanitarian visas to remain in the country following their elimination from the tournament, reports the BBC.
