Three more merchant vessels were struck by projectiles in the Gulf on Wednesday, bringing the total number of ships attacked since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran to 14, as Tehran vowed to extend the economic fallout of the conflict well beyond the battlefield.
Iran’s military command spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaqari issued a direct warning to Washington, according to Reuters: “Get ready for oil to be $200 a barrel, because the oil price depends on regional security, which you have destabilised.” Zolfaqari added that Iran would retaliate against financial institutions conducting business with the United States or Israel, urging people across the Middle East to stay at least 1,000 meters away from banks — a threat that followed overnight strikes on a bank branch in Tehran.
Among the vessels targeted Wednesday was a Thai-flagged bulk freighter that caught fire after an explosion, forcing crew members to abandon ship. Three people were reported missing and believed trapped in the engine room. A Japanese-flagged container ship and a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier also sustained damage.
The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed to commercial traffic. The narrow waterway along the Iranian coast normally carries roughly a fifth of the world’s daily oil supply, and its continued blockade represents the most severe disruption to global energy markets since the shocks of the 1970s. Iran has said it will not permit oil transit through the strait until US-Israeli strikes end, and has ruled out negotiations.
The International Energy Agency moved to address the supply crunch, recommending a release of 400 million barrels from global strategic reserves — the largest intervention of its kind in the agency’s history. The measure was quickly endorsed by Washington. Even so, analysts noted the volume would cover only roughly three weeks of normal strait throughput and would take months to deploy.
Oil prices, which briefly approached $120 a barrel earlier in the week, have since pulled back to around $90, reflecting what market participants appear to view as a bet on a relatively swift resolution. Stock markets also partially recovered. But those expectations have yet to translate into any shift on the ground. Two Israeli officials told Reuters there was no indication Washington was close to winding down the campaign, while an Israeli military official said the military still held an extensive list of targets inside Iran, including ballistic missile infrastructure and nuclear-related sites.
A senior Israeli official separately told Reuters that Israeli leaders now privately accept that Iran’s ruling clerical system may outlast the war — a scenario Tehran has made clear it would frame as a victory.
A Tehran resident who gave his name as Farshid, 52, told Reuters that the rhythm of conflict had become grimly routine. “There were bombings last night but I did not get scared like before,” he said. “Life goes on.”
More than 1,300 Iranian civilians have been killed since US and Israeli airstrikes began on February 28, according to Iran’s UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani. Iranian strikes on Israel have killed at least 11 people. Washington has reported seven US soldiers killed and approximately 140 wounded.
Iran’s police chief Ahmadreza Radan warned Wednesday that anyone taking to the streets would be treated “as an enemy not a protester,” adding that “all our security forces have their fingers on the trigger.” The warning came as large crowds gathered across Iranian cities for public funerals for military commanders killed in airstrikes, with mourners carrying the portraits of slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his son Mojtaba, who an Iranian official told Reuters was lightly injured early in the conflict.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military campaign “will continue without any time limit, as long as required, until we achieve all objectives and win the campaign.” Israel also struck Beirut on Wednesday in operations targeting Hezbollah, which has fired into Israel from Lebanon.
