White House Sent ‘WTF’ Message To Israel After Iran Oil Field Strike: US Report

New Delhi, March 9: Israeli strikes on Iranian oil storage facilities over the weekend – which triggered massive fires and killed four people – have led to a ‘WTF’ moment with allies United States, the first major disagreement since the war began February 28, news outlet Axios reported late Sunday.

Axios said Tel Aviv notified Washington of the strikes – Israel had claimed the facilities were being used to fuel missile launches – but the attacks went ‘far beyond what the US expected’. The media report cited an American official who said the US military was surprised by how ‘wide-ranging’ the strikes were and said, ‘We don’t think it was a good idea’.

An Israeli official said the message from Washington was ‘WTF’.

Neither the White House nor the Israel Defence Force has commented so far.

Israeli military struck three oil depots and a refinery in and around Iran capital Tehran, leading to apocalypse-like scenes in the city; visuals showed uncontrolled fires spreading rapidly across affected regions with thick black clouds of toxic smoke smothering everything in its wake.

Fuel leaking from one of the depots caught fire. Local said a ‘river of fire’ flowed through the streets. After the strike blackened rain water – water mixed with oil and soot – fell and people have been warned to stay indoors amid reports of ‘acid rain.

The humanitarian and environmental cost is only one aspect of Israel’s strikes, which military observers have said signals a terrifying escalation in the war. The other is economic.

A day after Israel’s attack oil prices – already under pressure because of the war and Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a key energy shipping channel – spiked sharply, crossing the US$100 per barrel red line for the first time in nearly four years.

On Monday a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, was at US$107.97 after trading resumed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange; it jumped 16.5 per cent from its Friday closing price of US$92.69. And West Texas Intermediate, the light, sweet crude produced in the US, was selling at $106.22 a barrel, about 16.9 per cent over last week’s close.

The US’ concern over Israel’s strike stems from a potential strategic misstep.

Attacks on oil and oil infrastructure could lead to Iranian citizens – even those who are now backing Donald Trump’s regime change operation – to rallying against the US and Israelis.

Equally significantly, it could also further drive up oil prices.

“The president doesn’t like the attack. He wants to save the oil. He doesn’t want to burn it. And it reminds people of higher gas prices,” a Trump adviser told Axios.

A furious Iran has warned that further strikes on oil infrastructure could prompt a similar response.

A spokesperson for Iran’s military said Tehran had not launched such attacks – i.e., energy infrastructure – so far but this could change and could drive prices to US$200 per barrel.