Oil price tops $100 again as Iran strikes economic targets across Middle East

Vast release of emergency crude reserves fails to quell mounting fears about supply crunch, rattling markets Oil prices have again topped $100 a barrel as widespread Iranian attacks on energy facilities in the Middle East overshadowed a vast release of government reserves. As Donald Trump vowed to “finish the job” and press ahead with the US-Israel war on Iran, the country’s regime stepped up retaliatory strikes on economic targets across the region. Several merchant ships were struck in and around the strait of Hormuz, one of the most important arteries in global trade. Three crew members onboard one of the ships – the Thai-registered Mayuree Naree – were “believed to be trapped”, the vessel’s owner said. Meanwhile, Iraq halted all operations at its oil ports after an attack on two nearby tankers. Bahrain told residents to stay at home after an Iranian attack on fuel tanks in the Muharraq governorate. Oman shifted all vessels out of its main oil export terminal at Mina Al Fahal – one of the few remaining ports from which crude can be shipped from the Middle East to the world – after drone strikes at another of its ports, Bloomberg reported, citing sources who received a notice fro