Following the news (3 January 2020) that a US drone strike on Baghdad airport had killed General Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force;
Richard Thompson, Editorial Director at GlobalData, shares his view on the implications of this escalating conflict, he says:
“Suleimani’s killing increases fears of war in the region and of major disruption to regional oil supplies through military or cyber-attacks against oil facilities.
“Unlike the short-term spike in oil prices that we saw after the attacks against Saudi oil facilities in 2019, this is likely to add a security-risk premium to oil prices for the foreseeable future.”
“Fears that Iranian reprisals will further destabilise the region and disrupt Middle East oil supplies saw oil prices jump about 4% following the news of Suleimani’s assassination.
“The assassination of Qassem Suleimani by the US is a major escalation in the conflict between the US and Iran in the Gulf and it adds considerable new uncertainty to an already unstable region.
