Iran steps up fuel supply attacks - oil reserves released as global energy crisis looms | BBC News

Hello to you from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, right on the front line of the economic war in the Middle East conflict.

Today, 32 countries including the UK, all members of the International Energy Agency, approved the largest release of oil reserves in history, 400 million barrels of oil will be made available to curb rising prices caused by the US and Israel's war with Iran.

Now it comes after attacks on shipping in and close to the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran warning that any vessel linked to its enemies will be hit.

Donald Trump, however, says the oil prices are a matter of war and will come down.

Well, the narrow stretch running just off the coast, not far from our position here, is usually one of the busiest shipping lanes on the planet, 20% of the world's oil goes through the straight.

But now it's paralyzed with just a handful of vessels sailing. Events this morning explain why, three ships were hit in separate strikes, powerful blows to the global economy.

Tonight, we'll hear from Sarah Smith, who's traveling with Donald Trump and voters in Kentucky, and from inside Iran, but first, I've been taking a look at some of the challenges now facing the ships trying to sail.

Damaged, but still afloat, a cargo ship bears the scars of an Iranian attack in the Strait of Hormuz.

The crew escaped with their lives.

It's a powerful reminder that the economic war in this conflict could be just as significant as the military campaign.

The narrow Hormuz waterway is a vital artery for global commerce, but look at this.

Off in the distance, a traffic jam of gas and bulk carriers, oil tankers, ships from across the globe, anchored and unable to reach their markets because of the threat of attack.

These vessels are clogged up right now off Ras Al Khaimah, here in the United Arab Emirates, and you can see from the image on the right, the much smaller number of ships, the red and green arrows, moving in the straight, compared to this time last year on the left.

Tom, thanks for joining us, it's good to see you.

Tom Sharp is a former Royal Navy commander who served in the Persian Gulf. He says on top of the missile and drone threat, don't forget Iranian fast attack boats, some homemade.

These are jet skis, sometimes packed with explosives, suicide attack. They're in people's garages, this isn't they're not moored in a in a harbor like you would expect, they're all the way up and down the coast, so dispersed deliberately to be hard to strike.

As well as attack boats, there are mine laying vessels too.

And today, America's Central Command showed off footage, it says, of some of them being blown up. US forces are warning Iranian civilians to avoid all port facilities along the coast.

Donald Trump says the threat of mines is being reduced.

We knocked out their navy, okay, let's put it that way. But they also knocked out the uh, the mine layers, they call them mine layers, they put mines in the water. Nice, lovely job, isn't it nice, blow up ships. And we knocked out 31 of them.

But others believe American confidence is misplaced.

There's definitely a messaging part to this, you know, we're killing their mines, but but their mine layers don't look like that, they look like converted fishing boats, dows, skiffs, and they've got thousands of them.

Iran has been preparing how best to disrupt traffic through this waterway in the event of war for decades.

This drone attack on an oil storage facility in Oman is part of a long developed battle plan.

Massively outgunned by America and Israel, these images tonight of ships unable to sail, are a reminder that choking off a fifth of the world's oil supply may be more effective in hurting Iran's enemies than bullets and bombs.

And we're going to talk to Simon Jack now, our business editor. Um, Simon, the release of these oil reserves for the very first time, a huge moment in global commerce.

Yes, it's the biggest intervention of its kind by the International Energy Agency. And for context, this is more than double the number of barrels that were released during the early days of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Now, every member of the IEA is required to keep 90 days worth of consumption in reserve for moments just like this. Now, to give another bit of context, 400 million barrels is about four days worth of global supply, and that will be leaked gradually into the system. Now, the question is, has it made any difference? Well, thousands of miles from you, the answer is not yet. In fact, petrol prices here, the most visible sign, crept up again today. Price of unleaded is 1.39 on average across the UK, price of diesel 1.55. They're up 7p and 13p respectively, because it's not just whooshing into the market, it has to go to refineries and there are bottlenecks there. Um, but as we've discussed before, uh, the price of petrol is very pervasive, oil and petrol very pervasive into other things, food, fertilizer, fuel, and even in fact, into inflation expectations, which is why a lot of people think that an interest rate cut that was coming down the track is now very unlikely to emerge. So mortgages are getting more expensive. In fact, 500 mortgage products were removed from the market today, um, and we've seen two-year fixes above 5%, the highest since June. So a reminder that events where you are have real world impacts thousands of miles away right here.

Yeah, quite extraordinary. All right, Simon, thank you. Simon Jack, our business editor there.

Well, it's day 12 of the war and a US human rights group says more than 1,245 people have died so far. Israel says,

it today launched a new wide-scale wave of strikes hitting infrastructure across Iran. This footage was filmed close to an airport in the capital Tehran.

Israel is also continuing its assault on Beirut, targeting the Iran-backed group Hezbollah. The Lebanese Health Ministry says more than 600 people have been killed since hostilities began.

Much more on all this now, but first, here's Ellie Price.

From the air, we've achieved a concentration of air power. Watching today's video update released by US Central Command, you would be forgiven for thinking you were watching a Hollywood action movie. The US had already warned strikes on Iran would be stepped up to the most intense yet. US combat power is building, Iranian combat power is declining.

And we remain centered on very clear military objectives in eliminating Iran's ability to project power against Americans and against its neighbors.

But this gives you some idea of what that power starts to look like if you live in Tehran.

The Americans say they struck more than 5,000 targets. These pictures suggest they've hit residential areas too. Iranian officials say more than 1,300 civilians have been killed.

The BBC doesn't have reporters on the ground in Iran, but our colleagues on the BBC Persian service have heard from people living in Tehran.

I made some food, I read a book, I played a computer game. Then found out a girl that I went to school with has been killed and her body still hasn't been found. Why do we have to experience such horror when we are at the prime years of our youth?

Woke up today feeling terrible. Watched a film and another one after that. During the day, sometimes I forget that a war is happening outside. I'm locked up at home waiting for an explosion.

People prefer to stay at home because they are sure America won't target their homes. They don't target ordinary civilians.

And this is the poster of Mojtaba Khamenei, who is nowhere to be seen. He's been elected but doesn't exist in reality. He hasn't made a speech or anything.

But the firepower isn't only incoming. Air raid sirens in Israel have sounded overnight and into the morning to warn of missiles. 12 Israelis have been killed in the strikes.

And in Dubai, the airport was briefly closed as two drones fell nearby, while Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman have all also reported Iranian attacks. Ellie Price, BBC News.

Let's go to Wyre Davies, who's in the Lebanese capital Beirut now. And Wyre, tell us more about this large-scale wave of attacks Israel says it's launched against Hezbollah targets.

Yes, Clive, well, Israel says it, Israel indeed has launched a huge swathe of strikes tonight against the Dakhyeh area of Southern Beirut. That's regarded as a Hezbollah stronghold. The Israelis had previously warned people living in the area to evacuate. In reality, because of the increasing Israeli military strikes in recent days, hundreds of thousands of people have left the area seeking refuge elsewhere. As Israel seems determined to defeat Hezbollah as a military force, not just here in Southern Beirut, but also, of course, in the border area between Lebanon and Israel, but also in the Eastern Bekaa Valley. As you said earlier, uh, the Lebanese Health Ministry says that more than 600 people have now been killed in Lebanon as a result of the Israeli air strikes, 700,000 made homeless, and Hezbollah has increased its rocket attacks against Israel, launching about 100 rocket attacks in the last day against Northern Israel. So the war here, if anything, seems to be intensifying, Clive.

Wyre, thank you. Wyre Davies there live in Beirut.

Well, what about the view from America? Donald Trump has been talking to voters in Kentucky and Ohio, trying to turn attention back to domestic issues amid the ongoing war with Iran. Now there are growing concerns for many Americans about the economic impact of the conflict and about why it was necessary to attack Iran now. Sarah Smith has been in Kentucky finding out.

Head up, head up, head up.

Kentucky is famously horse country. Working with animals on this horse farm is part of a therapeutic program for American Army veterans.

Serving in Iraq, Jeremy saw firsthand how American military adventures in the Middle East can spiral out of control.

He is a Trump supporter who believes action against Iran is justified.

I think so. I think I think this is probably 45 years later than it should have been, right? I think they've always uh posed a danger to us, but but to the whole world.

Are you concerned about this dragging on and possibly even involving troops going into Iran with boots on the ground?

I am very concerned about that, you know, especially coming off the heels of of a couple wars that that were decades long. You're talking about human lives, right? You're talking about the very people that we we want to protect, right? And and and then the family members who then would have to go on and live and see pictures of their father or mother and and never interact with them again. Um, that is a heavy cost, and I think any responsible leader in this country would consider that above all.

America's current leader ventured out of the White House today to Kentucky and Ohio, seeking to reassure voters who are worried about the economy, particularly now oil prices are being driven up by the war in Iran.

Oil will be coming down. That's just a uh, that's just a matter of war that happens where you can almost predict it. I would say it went up a little bit less than we thought. It's going to come down more than we than anybody understands.

The cost of this conflict is already being paid at the petrol pump. Many New York drivers do not agree with Donald Trump when he says this is a small price to pay for peace in the long run.

I think people are suffering now, they're coming out of our pockets. He says it all the time, like this is a price we got to pay now, but the price we're paying is emotionally devastating people's pockets and it's how are we going to recover from this?

I think everybody's feeling a pinch everywhere. I think from tariffs to gas prices to our mental health with everything that's going on, I think it's it's more than just a pinch.

Lynn's son Darren was killed in the early months of the Iraq war. She wonders what was achieved in that conflict and doesn't feel she's been told why it's necessary to risk more American lives by attacking Iran.

I don't know why we're there.

I maybe other people do that have been observing it, but I don't feel like I know that we're there. Are we there to change their leadership? Uh, you know, and I and I also waver between like, you know, these these countries have been fighting each other since the beginning of time, and why do we think that we have the right answer for everything?

Kentucky's memorials to wars past include many proud successes and more controversial conflicts like Iraq or Vietnam.

Even those campaigns were backed by the public at the outset. The operation in Iran is unique as it didn't have majority public support from the start.

Donald Trump is still here in Kentucky.

Where he has been telling voters that over the last 11 days, Iran has been virtually destroyed. He says that the Iranian Air Force and Navy have been practically wiped out. Earlier he said America was actually running out of targets in Iran, and all of this is designed to reassure people that the conflict isn't going to last for too much longer and won't have too much of an economic impact.

But in the last few minutes at a rally, he also said that we cannot leave too early, we've got to finish the job.

Sarah, thank you. Sarah Smith, our North America editor live in Kentucky.

Well, that's it from us here in Abu Dhabi on another extraordinary day in the war with Iran.