Tehran, Iran. Explosions tore through Tehran and Beirut on Tuesday as financial markets around the world fell on fears of prolonged disruption to global energy supplies from the U.S.-Israeli air war against Iran.
War timeline and objectives
A day after President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave open-ended answers when asked how long the war would last, a source told Reuters that Israel’s campaign had been planned to last two weeks and was moving faster than expected.
The source, familiar with Israel’s war plan, said its aim was to overthrow Iran’s clerical rulers, and there was no firm deadline to achieve it.
The Israeli military was going through its target list faster than planned, with early success killing Iran’s leaders and taking out its defences, the source said. Israel was also accelerating its campaign out of concern that Washington might agree with Iran’s surviving leaders to stop before Israel’s objectives were realised, the source added.
Strikes in Tehran and civilian impact
Inside Iran, Israel struck the Tehran headquarters of the state broadcaster IRIB. Residents have jammed highways to flee cities as the bombs have fallen.
“How long will this continue? Where are the shelters? Where is the government?” Bijan, 32, a bank employee, told Reuters by telephone from Tehran.
“Every night my wife and I hide in the basement. The whole city is empty. There is smoke and blood everywhere.”
Market reaction and oil prices
The price of crude oil rose around 4% overnight. Europe’s benchmark STOXX 600 index fell 3% in early trading, after a 1.7% drop on Monday. A 2% fall in U.S. stock futures suggested the selloff might reach Wall Street later.
U.S. personnel movements and reported killing of Iran’s leader
The U.S.-Israeli campaign killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on day one, in what may have been history’s first assassination of a national leader by enemy forces from the air. If it were to achieve the aim of overthrowing Iran’s ruling system using air power with no armed force on the ground, that would also be a first.
How do you think the conflict could affect energy prices and financial markets in the coming days?
