Israel is considering strikes on Iran’s energy sector, a retaliatory option that has rattled markets and raised concerns that war in the Middle East could threaten global oil supplies.
Any Israeli attack that disrupted Tehran’s 1.7mn barrels per day of oil exports would have ramifications for global energy markets — while any Iranian retaliation targeting rival oil exporters in the Middle East would cause even more upheaval.
Such an uncontrolled cycle of attacks would risk a price surge in the world’s most essential commodity, reigniting inflation and hurting the global economy weeks before the US election, analysts said. But they said there were mitigating factors pointing to some underlying resilience in the market.