Oil market becomes hostage to Iran war
• IMO to weigh Hormuz threats at extraordinary session as US Navy ‘not ready to escort ships’
• Iran denies mining strait, offers passage to ships that coordinate with its navy
• Trump says US ‘making lot of money’ from higher oil prices; boasts of victory ‘in the first few hours’
• At least one person killed as IRGC hits more ships in Persian Gulf
• First six days cost Pentagon over $11bn; Larijani says they will make US ‘regret starting war’
• Drone, missile attacks continue across Gulf region
• Tehran slams UN Security Council resolution that didn’t mention US-Israeli aggression
TEHRAN / WASHINGTON: Oil prices rose back above $100 and stocks sank Thursday as Iran’s attempts to hit supplies in the Middle East and bring down the global economy overshadowed a record release of strategic crude reserves by the International Energy Agency.
But US President Donald Trump insisted that stopping Iran developing nuclear weapons was “of far greater interest and importance to me” than controlling oil prices.
“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” he wrote on Truth Social.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) announced an “extraordinary session” next week to discuss threats to shipping in the Middle East, and particularly in the Strait of Hormuz.
The US military has said it is “not ready” to escort tankers through the critical waterway because all its assets are focused on striking Iran.
Meanwhile, Tehran denied laying mines in the strait, with the deputy foreign minister saying that ships from some countries were being allowed to cross the narrow shipping lane.
The statement came after media reports suggested that Indian ships were being allowed safe passage through the strait. Indian PM Narendra Modi also spoke to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, stressing the “safety and security of Indian nationals, along with the need for unhindered transit of goods and energy”.
However, Iran’s foreign ministry signaled that ships can still pass through the Strait of Hormuz if they coordinate with the Iranian navy.
“After the current events, generally we cannot return to conditions before February 28 (start of the current Iran war) … as we have understood how important the safety of the Strait of Hormuz is, and so did the others,” spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said.
The Revolutionary Guards, however, claimed on Thursday to have struck a Marshall Islands-flagged ship, which they claimed was US-owned, in the northern part of the Persian Gulf.
A projectile struck a container ship off the coast of the UAE, causing a small fire onboard, the UK maritime agency said, adding the ship’s crew had been reported as safe.
Meanwhile, three crew believed trapped on a Thai bulk carrier hit by projectiles a day earlier were yet to be rescued.
Two more oil tankers were attacked off Iraq’s coast, government officials told the INA news agency, and at least one crew member of a ship was killed and several were missing, while 38 people had been rescued, port authorities said.
Cost of war
In its latest update, United States Central Command said it had struck approximately 6,000 targets in Iran since Feb 28.
Over 90 Iranian vessels have also been damaged or destroyed, including more than 60 ships, and over 30 mine-laying vessels have also been hit since operations began, Centcom added.
Meanwhile, the financial cost of the conflict is also drawing scrutiny. According to media reports, defence officials told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that spending related to the first six days of military action exceeded $11.3 billion.
The figure, first reported by TheNew York Times, does not include several associated costs, including the deployment of additional assets and personnel before the initial strikes. Lawmakers expect the total to increase as further assessments are completed.
The White House is expected to seek additional funding from Congress, even as President Trump said last week that the IS has a “virtually unlimited supply” of medium and upper grade ammunition being used in the conflict.
Trump, meanwhile, reiterated his insistence that US strikes on Iran had already practically defeated the Islamic republic.
“They are pretty much at the end of the line,” Trump told reporters, after delivering a speech to supporters in which he declared: “We’ve won… We won – in the first hour it was over.”
Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani, however, maintained that his country would not stop fighting until the US came to regret launching its war against the Islamic republic.
“We will not relent until making you sorry for this grave miscalculation,” Ali Larijani said on X.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Larijani had warned that Iran would target power grids in the Gulf region if the US attacked its electricity supplies.
Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, also lashed out at Trump, calling him “the most corrupt and stupid American president” and referring to him as “Satan himself”.
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf also warned that Tehran will “abandon all restraint” if the US and Israel attack any of its islands in the Gulf.
War theatre
Up to 3.2 million people have been displaced inside Iran since the war erupted nearly two weeks ago, the United Nations refugee agency said.
A series of powerful explosions hit the Iranian capital on Thursday, with smoke seen rising from western Tehran as Israel’s military said it began a new “wide-scale” wave of strikes across the country.
Blasts were also heard over Jerusalem after the Israeli military reported missiles fired from Iran.
Dubai reported a drone attack and fallen debris in two __cpLocations while Kuwait’s airport was damaged in yet another strike on the facility.
An attack on an Italian military base in Iraqi Kurdistan, where Italian troops train Kurdistan security forces, caused damage but no injuries, officials said.
Drones were shot down on Wednesday over Erbil by US-led international forces based at Erbil airport, a Kurdish security source said.
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said it had intercepted and destroyed two drones headed toward the Shaybah oil field in the southeast of the country.
Earlier, the ministry said it shot down one drone approaching a district housing foreign embassies, and another in the eastern region.
Meanwhile, Bahrain told residents to stay home after an Iranian attack on fuel tanks on Thursday.
Tehran slams UNSC resolution
After the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution condemning Iran’s attacks across the Gulf – but another resolution introduced by Russia was vetoed – Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei condemned the resolution as “utterly unlawful”.
In a statement on X, Baqaei says Wednesday’s resolution “distorts the fundamental principles” of the UN Charter and international law.
He has accused the resolution’s sponsors of ignoring that “Iran is defending itself against an unprovoked aggression by two bullying regimes.”
Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2026