The CEO of the world’s largest oil company is warning of “catastrophic consequences” to oil markets as the conflict in Iran continues, rendering the Strait of Hormuz largely impassable.
Since the United States and Israel launched the joint attack on Iran a week and a half ago, few ships have traversed the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping lane connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Tuesday they would not allow “export of a single liter of oil” through the passage.
“There would be catastrophic consequences for the world’s oil markets, and the longer the disruption goes on … the more drastic the consequences for the global economy,” Aramco CEO Amin Nasser told reporters on an earnings call.
“While we have faced disruptions in the past, this one by far is the biggest crisis the region’s oil and gas industry has faced,” the CEO warned.
Oil prices topped $100 a barrel at the start of the week but fell below $90 a barrel on Tuesday, after President Donald Trump indicated the war might be reaching its end.
“The war is very complete, pretty much,” Trump told CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang on Monday.
Trump also warned Iran Monday that if they take any action “that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far.”
The Trump administration has repeatedly said the U.S. is not entering a “forever war” and is not interested in “nation building” in Iran. It has said it will only continue the operation until U.S. objectives are met.
The U.S. and Israel continued strikes on Iran Tuesday in what Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said would be the “most intense day of strikes inside Iran: the most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes.”
He added that “the last 24 hours have seen Iran fire the lowest number of missiles they’ve been capable of firing yet.”
The U.S. is winning the fight against Iran with “brutal efficiency, total air dominance, and an unbreakable will to accomplish the president’s objectives,” according to Hegseth.
The most consistent objective Trump and the White House have outlined is ensuring Iran is incapable of obtaining a nuclear weapon and no longer presents a critical threat to the U.S. or its partners in the region.
Reuters contributed to this report.
