Military conflict between the United States and Iran would threaten to shut the world’s busiest seaway for oil exports and send crude prices to all-time highs, perhaps even to $200 a barrel, according to one analyst.
President Donald Trump on Sunday night warned Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Twitter that his country would “SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE” if Rouhani ever threatened the United States again.
Trump appeared to be responding to comments over the weekend from Rouhani, who said, “Iran’s power is deterrent and we have no fight or war with anybody but the enemies must understand well that war with Iran is the mother of all wars,” according to an English translation on the Iranian president’s official website.
The rhetoric has been heating up as the first of two U.S.-imposed deadlines for international businesses to cut ties with Iran approaches next month. By November, the United States expects most oil buyers to reduce purchases of Iranian crude to zero, or else face U.S. sanctions.
In May, Trump pulled out of an international nuclear accord with Iran and restored sanctions against the nation, the world’s fifth biggest oil producer.
