Fears about the global economic fallout from the war in Iran grew on Sunday as the US energy secretary acknowledged in a televised interview that there were “no guarantees” that oil prices would fall in the coming weeks.
The energy secretary, Chris Wright, told ABC’s This Week that he believed the conflict would end in the “next few weeks”, while Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told CBS News that the country had not sought to negotiate with the US and was “ready to defend ourselves as long as it takes”.
Wright’s comments on oil came despite President Donald Trump having vowed repeatedly that the US would try to force Iran to stop attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
“There’s no guarantees in wars at all,” Wright said in the interview. “I can guarantee the situation would be dramatically worse without this military operation to defang the Iranian regime.”
“Right now, our focus is destroying their military capabilities, including those that are used specifically to threaten the straits,” he added. “But we need to finish those tasks first, and you will see the straits open again in the not-too-distant future.”
Trump on Saturday called on other countries to send warships to the region to end the de facto Iranian blockade of the economically vital Strait of Hormuz, but foreign governments have responded with caution — if at all.
Araghchi said on Telegram on Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz “is open to everyone, except American ships and those of its allies”. In practice, however, the oil shipped through the passage is coming from either Iran or American allies such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
He told CBS News that the country was not ready to negotiate with the US, snubbing a claim by Trump. “We never asked for a ceasefire, and we have never asked even for negotiation,” Araghchi said. “We are ready to defend ourselves as long as it takes.”
Trump had said in a phone interview with NBC News on Saturday that “Iran wants to make a deal, and I don’t want to make it because the terms aren’t good enough yet”.
Araghchi told NBC that Tehran has been “approached by a number of countries” seeking safe passage for their vessels, “and this is up to our military to decide”. He said a group of vessels from “different countries” had been allowed to pass, without providing details.
US property struck
Five missiles struck Baghdad International Airport and injured four persons, among them airport staff and security personnel, according to Lt. Gen Saad Maan, the head of the Iraqi Security Media Cell. The powerful Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah said it had launched the missile attack, adding that its rockets had struck Camp Victory, a former US base within the airport complex that still hosts a diplomatic logistics hub.
Jaishankar ‘results’
External affairs minister S. Jaishankar has told the Financial Times that from India’s perspective, “it is better that we reason with Iran and we coordinate and we get a solution than we don’t”. He said he was “engaged in talking to Iran and my talking has yielded some results”.
IEA crude
The International Energy Agency shared more details on Sunday about efforts by its members to release 400 million barrels of oil into the market from reserves around the world. Countries in Asia, a region that is especially reliant on oil from the Persian Gulf, plan to start putting oil into the market “immediately”, while those in the Americas and Europe intend to follow at the end of March, the agency said. The IEA said it had received detailed release plans for about two-thirds of the 400 million barrels of oil, the biggest ever release by its member states.
More strikes
Israeli strikes across Iran have “caused massive breakdowns in the regime’s operations and communications abilities”, Shosh Bedrosian, a spokesperson in the Prime Minister’s Office in Israel, said on Sunday.
Of the over 7,000 strikes the Israeli military says it has carried out in Iran since the war was launched just over two weeks ago, Bedrosian said 4,700 have struck sites related to Iran’s ballistic missile programme, and 2,000 targeted “headquarters facilities and regime assets”.
The Revolutionary Guards force said it was continuing to target Israel and US assets in the region. Iranian missiles repeatedly set off air raid sirens in Israel. Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted drones near the capital and in an eastern province.
Gulf Arab states reported new missile and drone attacks a day after Iran called for the evacuation of three major ports in the United Arab Emirates — the first time it has threatened a neighbouring country’s non-US assets. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE told residents they were working to intercept projectiles.
Bibi video
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday mocked the widespread news on social media about his death as he released a video showing him ordering a coffee at what seemed to be a roadside mini market and holding up his hand to show all five fingers. Some videos had showed him having six fingers.
New York Times News Service and PTI