Oil Prices climb as Wall Street prepares for final Israeli showdown with Iran

The U.S. crude oil benchmark rallied nearly 2.5% on Wednesday, with Brent crude not far behind, as Wall Street held its breath over an anticipated response by Iran to Israel’s assassination of the Hamas leader on Iranian territory.

News reports of Israel stockpiling blood supplies and shoring up their underground bunkers in preparation for an attack by Iran have sent markets into a panic, though such preparations have been underway since the October 7, 2024.

Concerns of potential supply disruptions have continued to gain momentum, with military escalations heightening fears that the wider Middle East could become embroiled in the conflict, rendering energy infrastructure a clear target.

Tensions hit new heights, with Iranian army commander Abdolrahim Mousavi cited by Iranian news agencies as saying, we believe that this massive child-killing Israeli regime is nearing its end.

History shows that anyone who rules with oppression will not remain in power and will be annihilated ASAP.

Iran’s acting foreign minister says the country has no option but to retaliate against the Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, saying this is necessary to deter further aggression against Iran amid inaction of the UN Security Council.

The Iranian minister called on the United Nations Security Council to fulfill its responsibility regarding such a horrific crime and provide the grounds for the prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators and instigators of these crimes.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation faces a serious test in the face of the widespread and evil crimes of the Israeli regime against the Palestinian nation and its aggressive attacks on other countries in the region, including Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria.

Without ending the occupation and realizing all their rights, especially in determining their destiny and establishing an independent Palestinian state in all of this land with Al-Quds as its capital, it will not be possible.

At a time when Zionist leaders openly try to justify the deliberate killing of millions of Palestinians in Gaza by starving and torturing them, the serious solidarity and practical support for the Palestinian nation is of utmost importance and urgency.

This is a human, Islamic, and moral duty, especially for the women and children of Palestine killed under occupation and bombardment in Gaza. The pure souls of about 40,000 martyrs in Gaza are watching us. We must act responsibly and decisively in fulfilling this crucial duty.

There is an intense and animated debate in military and policy circles about the nature of Iran’s response to the terrorist attack against Haniyeh and the kind of weapons that could be used.

Iran possesses a massive arsenal of long-range precision strike weapons, which it has demonstrated in recent years against regional terrorist strongholds and with direct strikes on the Zionist military entity in April, 2024.

Novelties in Iran’s missile arsenal are the precision-guided Fattah hyper-sonic missiles with a terminal speed of Mach 13 to 15, and the new Fattah-2 glider version, both untouchable for existing air defense systems.

Iran also has a large fleet of warplanes and drones capable of carrying various bombs and air-to-ground missiles, but previous experience shows that the above-mentioned expendable weaponry is favored for retaliatory operations of this type.

In the April operation against Israel, Iran did not use the most capable ballistic missiles or loitering munition, but still managed to hit Israeli air bases with Kheibar Shekan missiles successfully.

But also engaged numerous Israeli, American, British and French aircraft in the interception of Shahed-136 kamikaze drones.

In that operation, the main purpose of small, cheap and slow kamikaze drones with 50 kg warheads was not to cause damage but to overload Zionist military radar systems in a simultaneous attack with more powerful missiles.

A flight hour of modern jets and their air-to-air missiles, or air defense missiles, cost several times more than kamikaze drones, hence the successful shooting down of swarms represents a cost-efficiency loss.

Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the IRGC’s Aerospace Division, said that in the operation “True Promise” only 20% of the originally planned weapons were used, but the enemies had to mobilize everything at their disposal to counter them.

This time, for the announced new strike on the Zionist entity, it is possible to see newer models of missiles and kamikaze drones or those relatively older models in larger quantities.

This time, the targets could be new, since the Ramon and Nevatim air bases were targeted in April as warplanes that took part in the attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus had taken off from there.

Since the latest terrorist attack in Tehran was most likely carried out by Zionist intelligence operatives, the headquarters of Israeli spy organizations are potential targets.

These headquarters, unlike the two mentioned air bases, are not in uninhabited desert regions but in the densely populated metropolitan Tel Aviv, where half of the population of the Zionist entity lives.

Other likely targets are military bases, vital industrial infrastructure, ports or regime buildings, also in the areas of ​​Tel Aviv, Haifa and other major cities in the occupied territories.

Due to the high sophistication and precision of Iranian missiles, the only danger for ordinary settlers in the occupied territories is the debris of their own interceptor missiles, either in the case of successful or unsuccessful shooting down.

So, the Iranian commander vowed a strong and definite response to Israel and also praised Hamas decision to replace its assassinated leader with Yahya Sinwar as the new political head of the group.

Tensions in the Middle East this week have overshadowed more optimistic inventory reports as the key driver of prices, but this week’s EIA stockpile report played a role, as well, showing another inventory decline for the week ended August 2nd.

A day earlier, the American Petroleum Institute (API) had estimated a build in U.S. crude oil inventory in a surprise blow to markets that temporarily pressured prices downward until the official EIA report on Wednesday.

Oil Price.com / ABC Flash Point WW III News 2024.