Iran launched a remarkable multi-front military operation over the weekend, firing ballistic missiles at Tel Aviv and central Israel, launching drone and missile barrages against five Gulf nations, and striking US forces stationed in Saudi Arabia — all while its own oil facilities burned following Israeli airstrikes. The sheer scale of the operations drove global oil prices roaring past $100 per barrel.
Israeli strikes on oil storage and fuel distribution facilities near Tehran killed four workers and left the capital cloaked in smoke, triggering the Iranian response. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to push global oil to $200 per barrel and warned Gulf states to press Israel and the United States to halt their campaign or face the consequences.
In Israel, Iranian ballistic missiles targeted Tel Aviv and central areas, with most intercepted by air defenses. One person was seriously injured when a residential building was hit. In the Gulf, Saudi forces intercepted 15 drones, Bahrain’s desalination plant was damaged, two Saudi civilians were killed, and a US service member died from wounds sustained in an Iranian attack.
Iran’s clerical body appointed Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new supreme leader following his father’s death, a historic and controversial decision that drew immediate international condemnation. His appointment marked the first hereditary transfer of Iran’s supreme leadership since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Washington pledged not to target Iranian oil infrastructure and predicted only brief supply disruptions. But with Iran firing simultaneously at Israel, five Gulf nations, and US forces — all in a single weekend — the scope of the conflict had reached a level that made optimistic market predictions feel deeply disconnected from reality.
