Iran on Friday claimed it launched attacks on U.S. military assets in Bahrain and Kuwait amid the latest re-escalation of hostilities in the region, which dashed the hopes from early this week that there could be a swift return to diplomacy.
Iran’s army targeted the Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait, Iranian media reported on Friday.
“In a direct response to recent U.S. aggressions on southern Iran, the Iranian Army has conducted precision drone strikes against key strategic facilities at Kuwait’s Ahmed Al-Jaber Air Base, targeting fighter aircraft hangars, satellite communications systems, and equipment depots,” the Iranian army was quoted as saying.
On Thursday, Iran claimed it had targeted key U.S. facilities at Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa Air Base.
For several days now Iran and the United States have traded strikes in the region in a return of hostilities just two days after a halt to strikes was announced this weekend.
As a result, oil prices have kept in the upper $80s per barrel in recent days amid concerns that the conflict would spread to other countries. Reports of more crude oil volumes managing to exit the Strait of Hormuz have kept prices below $90 per barrel.
Crude oil prices have been trending lower over the past couple of days, but the two key benchmarks are on course to book both a weekly and a monthly rise. On a monthly basis, Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate have both gained close to 20%.
The number of tankers crossing Hormuz is still a fraction of what traffic used to be before the U.S. and Israel first struck Iran on February 28 but it appears any news of improvement in traffic results in lower futures prices, regardless of the degree of that improvement.
In a bearish development for oil prices, Saudi Arabia said it was seeking partners for a defense-strengthening coalition this week, to focus on the Ban el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. According to Riyadh, 14 countries have officially supported the initiative, including Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan, and Djibouti.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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