Oil prices are rising in response to the killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
U.S. oil futures rose 3.7 percent Friday morning while oil prices rose to just more than $63 a barrel following news of the Iranian military leader’s killing in Iraq in a U.S. air strike ordered by President Trump
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The reverberations of the attack were also felt elsewhere in the market, as the Dow dropped more than 300 points at its opening before clawing back some of the losses.
Iran has vowed retaliation, which could include attacks on oil infrastructure elsewhere in the region — a tactic Tehran has been accused of backing.
“It’s been a knee-jerk reaction because everybody is asking the question how is Iran going to retaliate, and I think that’s why you’ve seen prices jump 3, 4 percent,” Amrita Sen, co-founder and chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects, told CNBC Friday morning.
“The real risk is how does Iran retaliate. We’ve seen what it can do in Saudi Arabia, does it do similar stuff again, is there another attack on Saudi facilities,” Sen said, referencing attacks on a Saudi oil field in September.
*story by The Hill