Tehran, Iran. Iran fired multiple waves of missiles at Israel on Monday and vowed to “punish the aggressor” as Israeli forces struck Tehran and oil prices rose after Yemen’s Houthis entered the conflict.
Missile and drone activity widens the conflict
Israel’s military said two drones from Yemen were intercepted on Monday, two days after the Iran-aligned Houthis fired missiles at Israel for the first time since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran that has spread across the region.
Israeli strikes target Tehran and Beirut infrastructure
The Israeli military said its forces were targeting what it described as military infrastructure in Tehran and had launched an attack on infrastructure in the Lebanese capital Beirut used by Hezbollah. Israeli authorities said the Iran-backed Lebanese group fired more rockets at Israel on Monday.
U.S. comments and troop movements draw Iranian response
President Donald Trump said on Sunday the United States and Iran had been meeting “directly and indirectly” and that Iran’s new leaders, following the killing of Iran’s supreme leader on February 28, have been “very reasonable”. He has also been sending more U.S. troops to the region, leading to Iran’s parliament speaker accusing Washington of sending messages about possible negotiations while planning a ground invasion, prompting more defiance from Tehran.
Iran says it will continue to punish aggressors
Iran’s acting defence minister, Majid Ebn-e Reza, was quoted by the Iranian news agency IRNA on Monday as telling his Turkish counterpart that Tehran would continue to “punish aggressors, create deterrence and ensure war won’t repeat itself”.
Oil prices rise as key shipping routes face disruption
The month-long war has spread across the region, killing thousands, causing what was described as the biggest disruption ever to energy supplies and hitting the global economy. Oil prices extended gains on Monday, with Brent crude futures up 2.8% to nearly $116 a barrel at 0933 GMT.
The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran has severely disrupted energy markets, as it is a conduit for about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies. The Houthi attacks on Israel raised the prospect that they could target and block a second important shipping route, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
How do you expect the widening conflict to affect global energy prices in the coming weeks?
