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Escalating tensions in the Middle East have propelled oil prices past the $100 mark per barrel, as relentless Iranian assaults on shipping routes and energy facilities continue amid ongoing American and Israeli military responses. The conflict shows no signs of abating.
Iran has carried out a series of aggressive actions, including striking a container ship near Dubai, igniting a fire close to Bahrain’s international airport, and launching a drone attack on a key Saudi oil field. Additionally, it prompted Iraq to suspend operations at all its oil terminals following an assault on the Basra port situated on the Persian Gulf.
Despite a United Nations Security Council resolution passed just the day before, calling for Iran to cease its attacks on neighboring Gulf countries, new incidents of aggression have been reported in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
In Jerusalem, sirens pierced the pre-dawn silence as Israel intercepted Iranian missiles, and later in the day, the city experienced another wave of attacks, marked by resounding explosions.
In response, Israel has initiated a comprehensive offensive against targets in Tehran and Lebanon, specifically focusing on Hezbollah militants linked to Iran. These strikes have resulted in the deaths of 11 individuals during two early morning raids.
Since the United States and Israel started the war with a February 28 attack on Iran, Tehran has focused on inflicting enough global economic pain to pressure them to halt their attacks.
US President Donald Trump suggested that was not imminent, however, promising to “finish the job” even though he claimed Iran is “virtually destroyed”.
“We don’t want to leave early do we? We’ve got to finish the job,” he said at an event on Wednesday in Kentucky.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei hasn’t yet made a statement or been seen since being chosen to succeed his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the opening day of the conflict. But Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian suggested online on Thursday that for the war to end, the world would need to recognise Iran’s “legitimate rights”, pay reparations and offer guarantees against future attacks.
In addition to attacking energy infrastructure around the region, Iran has a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway leading from the Persian Gulf toward the Indian Ocean through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported.
With traffic in the strait effectively stopped, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose another 9 per cent to more than $100 a barrel, up some 38 per cent over what it cost when the war started.
Iran fires at Gulf Arab countries and hits ship in Persian Gulf
The UN Security Council voted on Wednesday to approve a resolution demanding a halt to Iran’s “egregious attacks” on its Gulf neighbours, but Tehran showed no signs of changing its strategy.
As the day began on Thursday, a container ship in the Persian Gulf was hit with a projectile off the coast of Dubai, sparking a small fire, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre. It said the crew of the vessel were safe.
In Bahrain, an Iranian attack sparked a major fire on Muharraq Island, home to the country’s international airport. Sirens sounded again later in the morning with more incoming Iranian fire.
Kuwait’s Defence Ministry said an Iranian drone smashed into a residential building, wounding two people. The UAE said it had activated air defences twice to protect Dubai from attacks, and firefighters extinguished a blaze at a tower in Dubai Creek Harbour after a drone hit.
Saudi Arabia said it shot down a drone targeting the diplomatic quarter of the capital, Riyadh, and also reported downing drones in the kingdom’s east, including at least one trying to target its Shaybah oil field.
Following an attack on Iraq’s Basra port on Wednesday that killed at least one person, officials said on Thursday that operations were halted at all the country’s oil terminals.
Farhan al-Fartousi, the director-general of the General Company for Ports of Iraq, said the attack targeted a vessel in a ship-to-ship transfer area of the Persian Gulf port.
In the UAE, CitiBank said it would close all its branches except one due to a threat by Iran, not yet realised, to target financial institutions in the region. Other financial institutions have reportedly urged their staff to work from home for the time being.
Explosions heard Jerusalem while Lebanon and Tehran are hit
In addition to the attacks on Jerusalem, in which no casualties were immediately reported, missile launches from Iran and Hezbollah also sent Israelis to shelters in multiple other areas, including Tel Aviv and the northern border with Lebanon.
An Israeli strike hit a car on Thursday in Ramlet al-Bayda, a major seaside tourist area of Beirut where dozens of displaced people have been sheltering. Eight people were killed and 31 others were wounded, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. The Israeli military press office told The Associated Press it was “not aware” of a strike at that location.
In Aramoun, a town about 10 kilometres south of Beirut, another three people were killed and a child was wounded in another early Israeli attack.
In Tehran, security force checkpoints came under attack for the first time on Wednesday night, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported. At least 10 people were killed in the suspected drone assaults.
Israel and the US military’s Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment over whether they were behind the attacks.
Casualties continue to climb as conflict continues
At least 634 people have been killed in Lebanon since the latest fighting began, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
The UN refugee agency said at least 759,000 people have been internally displaced in Lebanon.
Iranian authorities say more than 1300 people have been killed there, and Israel has reported 12 people dead. The US has lost seven soldiers while another eight have suffered severe injuries.