The Latest: Oil prices soar after Iran names new supreme leader and launches more attacks

Iran launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf countries Monday, hours after Iranian state TV said Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the country’s late supreme leader and long considered a contender, had been named his successor.

Iran’s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard answers to the supreme leader and the younger Khamenei will have a central say in the war strategy.

Oil prices skyrocketed Monday, leading to more worries that higher energy costs will fuel inflation and lead to less spending by U.S. consumers, the main engine of the economy. Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index plunged as much as 7% in early Monday trading, while other Asian markets also tumbled.

Saudi Arabia sharpened its warnings to Iran, telling Tehran Monday it would be the “biggest loser” if it continues to attack Arab states. The Saudi statement came after a new drone attack apparently targeted its massive Shaybah oil field.

Here is the latest:

Israel said Monday it has carried out airstrikes in Beirut.

The Israeli army earlier Monday said it would operate against targets associated with the Hezbollah-linked financial institution al-Qard Al-Hasan. It repeated the warning to residents of Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburb to flee.

Israel says Hezbollah uses al-Qard al-Hasan to finance its military activities.

Smoke billowed over Beirut after the attacks. The first strike destroyed a building housing an office of al-Qard al-Hasan in the southern suburb of Chiyah.

Israel’s military targeted several branches of al-Qard al-Hasan in southern and eastern Lebanon last week.

During the last Israel-Hezbollah war in 2024, Israel’s military carried strikes that destroyed more than a dozen branches of al-Qard al-Hasan across Lebanon.

Emirati authorities have reported another missile attack in the capital, Abu Dhabi, urging people to remain in safe locations.

Israel has identified another launch on northern Israel shortly after a previous warning of an incoming missile attack from Iran on Monday.

Israel said in a new warning Monday that it has identified missiles launched from Iran toward northern and southern Israel.

Sirens sounded in Israel warning of a missile attack from Iran for the sixth time Monday.

Bangladesh on Monday closed all universities, bringing forward the break for Eid al-Fitr as part of emergency measures to conserve electricity during the conflict in the Middle East.

The South Asian country, which depends on imports for 95% of its energy requirements, already has experienced instances of panic buying. Car owners and drivers have struggled to collect fuel as shortages are reported.

The government has shut most fertilizer factories, redirecting ⁠available gas to power plants to avoid widespread outages.

Islam’s biggest festival is expected to be held either March 20 or 21, depending on the moon sighting, at the end of a month-long fasting ritual.

Energy Minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud urged people to remain calm, saying Bangladesh has sufficient fuel stocks.

The capital of the United Arab Emirates came under Iranian attack Monday, with two people hurt by shrapnel from interceptions in Abu Dhabi, authorities said.

South Korea says it will cap oil prices for the first time since 1997 to stabilize soaring fuel costs driven by the war.

Kim Yong-beom, the presidential policy chief of staff, said in a briefing Monday that Seoul plans to introduce the caps sometime this week.

The government did not immediately provide details on how the caps would be structured and operated.

The move will help make fuel prices more predictable and prevent refineries and gas stations from raising prices “abnormally,” Kim said.

The Korea National Oil Corporation says it is holding several months’ worth of strategic oil reserves at nine storage facilities across South Korea, a stockpile that exceeds the International Energy Agency’s recommendation of 90 days.

South Korea last released its strategic reserves, which are used to address serious supply disruptions, in 2022 when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shocked global energy markets.

India’s foreign minister says two Indian mariners have been killed during the war.

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar confirmed the deaths in an address to India’s parliament Monday and said the victims were working on merchant shipping operating near the conflict zone.

One sailor was still missing, he said.

The minister did not give further details of the vessels involved.

“This ongoing conflict is an issue of particular concern for India,” Jaishankar said, explaining that nearly 10 million Indians live and work in Gulf countries.

The region also is central to India’s energy security and trade, accounting for nearly $200 billion annually in commerce, he said.

Jaishankar reiterated that India favors peace in the region and urged a return to dialogue and diplomacy.

“We advocate de-escalation, restraint and ensuring the safety of civilians,” he said.

Turkey has deployed six F-16 jets and air defense systems to the Turkish-Cypriot part of the divided island of Cyprus to bolster its security, the defense ministry said.

A ministry statement said Monday additional measures would be taken if deemed necessary.

A British air base on Cyprus’ southern coastline was hit by a drone last week.

Ankara maintains some 30,000 troops in northern Cyprus, which broke away from the Greek south in 1974. Turkey is the only country to recognize the northern administration.

Iran’s judiciary reiterated it can order the assets of “enemies” abroad seized in the country.

It made the announcement Monday on the judiciary’s Mizan news agency.

Reporters for Farsi-language media abroad have seen their assets seized over the years.

The report also said “any intelligence or espionage activity conducted” abroad for the Israeli or U.S. governments “could lead to the confiscation of all assets and even the death penalty.”

A barrage of drones was fired toward Saudi Arabia early Monday, hours after an attack killed two Bangladeshi nationals in the kingdom.

The Saudi Defense Ministry said it intercepted drones in the northern Jawf region, as well as the vast Shaybah oil field.

Late Sunday an attack in the central city of Kharj killed the two Bangladeshi nationals and wounded 12 others. All but one was from from Bangladesh.

As Iranian state television reported on the ascension of Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader, it referred to him as being wounded in war.

State TV on air described him as “janbaz,” or wounded by the enemy, in the “Ramadan war,” which is how media in Iran refer to the current conflict.

However, later an analyst on air suggested Khamenei’s wounding could have been during his service in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war.

The differing accounts could not be immediately reconciled.

Khamenei’s father and his wife were killed in the Feb. 28 Israeli airstrike in Tehran at the start of the war. Khamenei has yet to be seen since the war began. He was announced as Iran’s new supreme leader on Monday.

Bahrain again sounded an alarm over incoming fire from Iran on Monday.

The investigative group Bellingcat says its analysis of a newly released video “appears to contradict” U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that Iran was responsible for an explosion at an Iranian school, which Iran’s state media said killed 165 people on Feb. 28.

The video shared by Bellingcat was a three-second clip released Sunday by the Iranian semi-official news agency. It shows a munition hitting a building, sending a dark plume of smoke into the air.

The Associated Press was not immediately able to authenticate the video.

Experts interviewed by the AP have deduced from satellite image analysis that the school was likely struck during a quick succession of bombs dropped on an adjacent IRGC base.

Neither U.S. central command nor the Israeli military immediately responded to requests for comment from the AP.

Israel’s military warned Monday of new incoming missile fire from Iran. Moments later, sirens sounded in parts of northern Israel.

Bahrain’s state oil company declared force majeure on Monday for its shipments after an Iranian attack set its refinery ablaze.

The state-run Bahrain News Agency carried the announcement of the force majeure, a legal maneuver that releases a company of its contractual obligations because of extraordinary circumstances.

It said the company’s operations “have been affected by the ongoing regional conflict in the Middle East and the recent attack on its refinery complex.”

It insisted local demand could be met.

The United Arab Emirates said Monday its air defenses were working to intercept drones and missiles coming from Iran, the second time in the day it faced an attack.

An Iranian attack Monday on Bahrain sparked a fire apparently at the island kingdom’s sole oil refinery, sending thick plumes of smoke into the air.

Online video purportedly shows the fire at the Sitra refinery.

The state-run Bahrain News Agency later published a report saying “a fire broke out due to the Iranian aggression targeting a facility in Maameer, with material damage but no loss of life.”

Maameer is a Bahraini village adjacent to the refinery.

Bahrain’s government did not immediately identify the refinery itself as being hit, though it has been a target of repeated Iranian attacks since the war began.

The Israeli military claimed strikes Monday on targets in Iran’s city of Isfahan targeting security forces there.

The Israelis described hitting command centers for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and its all-volunteer Basij force there.

The military also said it hit a rocket engine production facility and missile launch sites.

Iran did not immediately acknowledge the strikes. Iran has not provided any details on its materiel losses since the war started Feb. 28.

A Chinese envoy to the Middle East has called on all sides to stop their military actions and said attacks on non-military targets and civilians should be condemned.

Special Envoy Zhai Jun, meeting in Saudi Arabia with Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said Sunday that the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of all Gulf countries must not be violated, a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said.

China is a major importer of oil and natural gas from the region.

Zhai also met Jassim Mohammed al-Budaiwi, the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Foreign Ministry said.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Monday warned that a steep rise in fuel prices could rattle the country’s economy and called on officials to accelerate efforts to diversify fuel routes away from the Strait of Hormuz.

Lee spoke at a Cabinet meeting after the country’s stock market opened with an 8% plunge, as concerns grew about how the spiraling war in the Middle East could affect an economy heavily dependent on trade and imported fuel.

Lee called on officials to aggressively use a 100 trillion won ($67 billion) market stabilization fund activated last week to reduce volatility in stock markets and strengthen monitoring of disruptive market activities, such as fuel price collusion or hoarding.

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said Seoul was also negotiating with Gulf states to find alternative trade routes to reduce reliance on the Strait of Hormuz, including the possible use of alternative ports in the UAE.