The world should be prepared for oil to hit $200 a barrel, Iran's military command said on Wednesday, as three more ships came under attack in the blockaded Gulf.
Iran fired at Israel and targets across the Middle East on Wednesday, demonstrating it can still fight back and disrupt energy supplies despite what the Pentagon has described as the most intense U.S.-Israeli strikes yet.
Oil prices that shot up earlier this week have eased and stock markets have rebounded, with investors betting for now that U.S. President Donald Trump will find a quick way to end the war he began alongside Israel nearly two weeks ago.
But so far there has been no let-up on the ground, or any sign that ships can safely sail through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world's oil has been blockaded behind a narrow channel along the Iranian coast in the worst disruption to energy supplies since the oil shocks of the 1970s.
"Get ready for oil be $200 a barrel, because the oil price depends on regional security which you have destabilized," Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for Iran's military command said in comments addressed to the United States.
After offices of a bank in Tehran were hit overnight, Zolfaqari also said Iran would respond with attacks on banks that do business with the United States or Israel. People across the Middle East should stay 1,000 meters from banks, he added.
Three more merchant ships were struck in the Gulf by unknown projectiles, according to agencies that monitor maritime security, raising the number of ships reportedly hit since the war began to 14.
Crew were evacuated from a Thai-flagged bulk freighter after an explosion caused a fire. A Japan-flagged container ship and a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier also sustained damage.
Oil prices, which shot up briefly to nearly $120 a barrel on Monday, have since settled around $90, suggesting investors are betting Trump will be able to halt the war and reopen the strait soon.
But governments are still discussing drastic action. The International Energy Agency (IEA) was expected to recommend releasing 400 million barrels from global strategic reserves, a record. That would take months and amount to just three weeks' flow through the strait.
The longer the war goes on, the greater the risk to the global economy.
Iran has said it will not let oil through the strait until U.S.-Israeli attacks cease, and it will not negotiate. Trump has threatened to hit Iran "twenty times harder" if it blockades the strait, but U.S. officials have not revealed any military plan to unblock it.
