The killing of  Iran's top military commander Qasem Soleimani by the US adds considerable uncertainty to an already unstable region, said Richard Thompson, Editorial Director at GlobalData. 

 

"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," he said in a commentary on the situation. 

 

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, Thompson said.     

 

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 Soleimani’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," said Thompson.

 

“Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has described the killing as a criminal act and has promised retaliation. The question now is what will that retaliation look like and what will be the further consequences of that," he said. -TradeArabia News Service