The situation in the Middle East is such that in the past, Israel was in a state of rebellion, inciting Shiites and Sunnis, Saudi Arabia and Iran to fight desperately, and reaping its own benefits. As a result, a certain big country came down, and Saudi Arabia and Iran fought each other, dividing one dragon into two tigers, and completing an impossible breakthrough. The editor has always wanted to say that Israel, which is stirring up trouble behind the scenes, will have a sad time in the future.
Sure enough, Iran really did it against Israel. In the early morning of April 14, Beijing time, Iran used hundreds of drones, cruise missiles and medium-range surface-to-surface missiles to attack and strike many Israeli cities and military bases. As of today, according to Xinhua News Agency, Iran's Fars News Agency reported on the 19th that explosions were heard near Isfahan Airport and Shekari Air Base. Subsequently, according to the Fars news agency, explosions in the Iranian city of Isfahan were heard from the vicinity of the airport and the 8th air base. In addition, media reports under the banner of the Israel Defense Forces say that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has declared all its bases to be at the highest level of combat readiness.
According to Israeli statistics, during the first "hands-on" period, Iran launched a total of 331 terrorist attacks. Including 185 suicide squad drones, 110 ballistic missiles, 36 cruise missiles, so many missiles and drones, it can be said that the intensity of this air attack even exceeded the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield. In particular, the image of Iranian missiles streaking across the night sky of the Great Mosque in Jerusalem really makes people feel that the era of chaos has knocked on the door.
Six years ago, on April 14, 2018, the United Kingdom and the United States carried out air strikes on Syria under the pretext of using chemical weapons, in defiance of the United Nations. At that time, the Syrian representative Jaafari argued with reason at the UN Security Council, while the representatives of the United States, Britain, and France had already left the meeting room when he spoke, and then Syria was attacked by 110 missiles, and Jaafari could only sit helplessly outside the conference room, helpless. I didn't expect the boomerang to be too fast, and in just six years, Israel enjoyed the same treatment.
And from the feedback of the Americans, it seems that we can also know from the side that the Israeli side has still suffered serious losses, and after receiving the first air strike, Biden called Netanyahu as soon as possible and strictly ordered Israel not to counterattack. And Biden then made it clear that the United States will not participate in any counterattack against Iran, nor will it target such actions.
Such a statement is enough to show that the United States does not want to get involved in this conflict, does not want to go directly to the field and fight Iran, and all they can provide to Israel is a light word of support, such as the US military is willing to intercept Iranian drones and missiles is a good result. And the editor believes that the Americans seem to be very worried that the beaten Israel will jump over the wall in a hurry.
In addition, in addition to the Iran-Israel conflict itself, the impact of Iran's attack on Israel on the international energy market has received widespread attention from the international community. Iran produced 3.25 million barrels of crude oil per day in March 2024, the third largest member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq, according to the latest data released by the International Energy Agency.
As of press release on April 19, we saw that today's oil and gas opening rose sharply, Bakken Energy pulled up the sealing board, and quasi-oil shares, Tongyuan Petroleum, potential Hengxin, Zhongman Petroleum, etc. have risen sharply. WTI crude oil stood at $84 a barrel in New York, up 2.56% on the day.
Xiaobian believes that there are still many factors that will affect international oil prices in the future. If the fundamentals of global oil supply and demand do not change, that is, oil producers do not cut production, if the economy continues to recover and demand rises, oil prices will rise. If OPEC production cuts lead to a reduction in supply, oil prices will also rise if demand remains largely unchanged. If the situation in the region is volatile, oil prices will also be affected by the intensification of geopolitical conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Red Sea crisis, and the intensification of political risks this year as a global election year.