Iran attacks oil facilities in the Gulf and causes new price rises

Iran launched this Thursday (12) a new wave of attacks against oil infrastructure in Gulf countrieswhich caused a new rise in crude oil pricesdespite the historic release of strategic reserves announced on Tuesday.

The war, which began on February 28 with bombings by Israel and the United States against Iran, has acquired a regional dimension and threatens global oil supplies, as traffic has been paralyzed in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

A barrel of Brent from the North Sea once again surpassed the price of 100 dollars on Thursday morning, despite the unprecedented intervention by great powers in the market.

The 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which include the United States, decided on Wednesday to release a record 400 million barrels of their strategic reserves to calm supply concerns.

United States Secretary of Energy Chris Wright explained that 172 million barrels will be made available “starting next week”.

However, on the 13th day of the conflict, the damage to oil infrastructure is increasing. Bahrain denounced an Iranian attack on fuel depots and asked residents to remain in their homes due to the smoke caused by the flames.

In Oman, fuel depots at the port of Salalah also suffered a fire on Wednesday after a drone attack, according to an AFP video, while Saudi Arabia reported a new drone attack on the Shaybah oil field in the east of the country.

Attack in Iraq

An attack carried out this Thursday against two oil tankers near the coast of Iraq, whose origin is still unknown, left at least one dead. Emergency teams are still searching for several missing people, according to the port authority.

Iraqi state television showed images of a huge fire on a ship.

A container ship was also hit in recent hours by an “unknown projectile” off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, which caused a “small fire” on board, according to the British maritime agency (UKMTO). Three ships were attacked on Wednesday.

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, had promised that in “great security” would soon reign in the Strait of Hormuz regiona route through which 20% of the world’s production of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) passes.

He also assured that “28 Iranian mine-laying ships” were attacked, as one of the main fears of the international community is the presence of submarine explosives in the passage of Hormuz.

Contradictory signals

O Iran is “close to defeat”, said the president of the United States on Wednesday night, at the end of a day marked by mixed signals about his intentions.

He repeated that the war would end “soon”, stated that “there was practically nothing left to attack” in Iran and that the American military operation was “very advanced” in relation to the planned timetable.

The New York Times reported, based on congressional sources, that the first week of war cost the United States more than $11 billion.

The duration of the clashes, however, seems uncertain. Israel, which supports Washington in this conflict, has not established “any time limit” and claims that it still has a “large reserve of targets”.

For its part, the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, announced that it is determined to continue a long campaign to force the withdrawal of US forces by bombing Western interests in the region.

Ali Fadavi, representative of the elite force, threatened a “war of attrition”, capable of “destroying the entire American and global economy”.

The Iranian military declared on Wednesday that it intends to attack “the economic centers and banks” of the Gulf, while the Iranian agency Tasnim cited American technology companies as “future targets” of Tehran, including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and Nvidia.

American banking group Citi and British consultancies Deloitte and PwC either stood down or closed their offices in Dubai on Wednesday after receiving threats.

*With AFP