Iran’s top national security leader, Ali Larijani, who earlier today insisted his country would not negotiate with Washington, wrote on social media that President Trump’s “wishful thinking” had dragged the region into an unnecessary war. “He is rightly worried about more American casualties,” Larijani said, arguing that the war only served the interests of Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Iran’s archenemy, Israel. “It is indeed very sad that he is sacrificing American treasure and blood to advance Netanyahu’s illegitimate expansionist ambitions.”
The oil and natural gas markets continued to be highly volatile. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading around $79.50 at 2:30 a.m. Eastern. Analysts warned that a wider war could severely disrupt tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route. That would make this weekend’s move by OPEC Plus nations to increase production “an entirely moot point, as the lion’s share of OPEC barrels in the region could essentially become stranded assets in an extended war scenario,” Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a note to investors on Sunday. Several analysts now see a worst-case scenario of oil trading at $100 a barrel.
