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TRANSCRIPT
The war in the Middle East is escalating sharply, with threats of wider regional fighting and warnings the global economy could soon feel the consequences.
Iran’s military command now says oil prices could surge to two hundred U-S dollars a barrel if the conflict spreads further.
The warning comes as Iran continues launching missiles and drones at Israel, U-S military bases and infrastructure across the Gulf.
Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaqari says instability in the region will inevitably push global energy prices dramatically higher.
"You will not be able to keep oil and energy prices artificially low. As we have already warned, if the war spreads across the region, expect oil to reach $200 per barrel. Oil prices follow the level of security in the region and the source of that insecurity is you."
The threat centres on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping route between Iran and Oman that normally carries about a fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Any sustained disruption there could trigger a global economic shock, sending petrol prices soaring and pushing up transport, electricity and food costs worldwide.
As tensions rise, the United States is also signalling it is prepared to escalate further.
U-S President Donald Trump says American strikes have already crippled much of Iran’s conventional military capability.
He says the United States could inflict far greater destruction if it chose to do so, possibly an ominous warning of the use of nuclear weapons.
"Right now, they are, they've lost their Navy. They've lost their Air Force. They have no anti-aircraft apparatus at all. They have no radar. Their leaders are gone. And we could do a lot worse to one another. We're leaving certain things that, if we take them out - or we could take them out by this afternoon, in fact, within an hour. They literally would never be able to build that country back."
The U-S President has also been facing questions about one of the war’s most controversial incidents - a strike on a girls’ school in Iran that reportedly killed more than a hundred people, most of them school girls.
When asked about an investigation into the attack, Mr Trump said he had no knowledge of it.
"I don't know about it."
While political leaders exchange warnings, the fighting itself continues across several fronts.
Air raid sirens have sounded across Jerusalem and Haifa, sending residents rushing into shelters as Iranian missiles were intercepted in the sky.
Israel says at least twelve people have been killed in the strikes so far.
The conflict is also expanding across the wider Middle East, drawing in neighbouring countries and international diplomacy.
At the United Nations, Gulf Arab states are urging the Security Council to condemn what they describe as Iranian aggression across the region.
Bahrain’s ambassador to the United Nations, Jamal Fares Alrowaiei, says Gulf states have intercepted hundreds of missiles and drones since the fighting began.
"We hope that the Security Council speak today in one voice, in support of our inherent right to defend ourselves in the face of the unprovoked aggression as enshrined in the U.N. Charter. We have repeatedly called for dialogue and diplomacy, but these two cannot be achieved under the barrage of missiles and drones."
Qatar’s U-N envoy, Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani, says the Security Council must act.
"Our message today is simple and clear: the Security Council must act, fulfil its responsibility. Failure to respond would send a dangerous signal that attacks against uninvolved neighbours carry no consequences."
Another major front in the conflict is Lebanon.
Israeli airstrikes there have intensified as Hezbollah launches rockets and drones into northern Israel.
Lebanon’s Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine says more than 600 people have now been killed, including many children and women.
"The number of martyrs has so far reached 634, including 91 children and 47 women. The number of wounded stands at 1,586, including 275 children and 300 women."
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes in southern Lebanon and in the southern suburbs of Beirut as the fighting intensifies.
The United Nations says violence along the border between Lebanon and Israel is continuing to escalate.
U-N spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric says peacekeepers are recording increasing numbers of attacks on both sides of the front.
"I can tell you that today, they're continuing to record a growing number of incidents across the Blue Line, including rockets and projectiles fired from Lebanon into Israel and airstrikes by the Israeli Defence Forces impacting southern Lebanon ... UNIFIL has also observed ground movements from the Israeli Force."
Lebanon’s government says it is caught in a war it did not choose.
The country’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ahmad Arafa, says Beirut’s priority is to end the fighting and protect civilians.
"The Lebanese people do not want war, and the Lebanese government is moving forward, implementing its decisions, and will not backtrack. However, our priority today is to stop this war, to protect our country and ensure the security and safety of our people. It is our right to live in peace and security in our homeland and our region. "
Israel says it expects Lebanon to act decisively against Hezbollah.
Speaking at the United Nations, Israel’s ambassador Danny Danon says Lebanon now faces a stark choice.
"Let me say this directly to the Lebanese government: There are only two options here - either the Lebanese state acts to dismantle Hezbollah's military in southern Lebanon or Israel will. The Lebanese government must mobilise its army and confront the terrorist threat Hezbollah poses not only to Israel, but to the people of Lebanon."
With fighting now stretching from Israel and Lebanon to the Gulf and beyond, the risk of a wider regional war is growing.
And with threats to global oil supplies already rattling energy markets, the economic consequences of this conflict are already being felt far beyond the Middle East.
