Oil prices surge more than 7% after Israel launches strike on Iran
Oil futures surged after Israel launched a " pre-emptive strike" against Iran in the early hours of Friday.
Brent crude jumped $5.01, or 7.02 per cent, to $74.23 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, rose $5.22, or 7.67 per cent, to $73.26 a barrel at 5.08am UAE time.
In an address to the nation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they had "struck at the heart" of Iran's nuclear enrichment and weaponisation programme. The attack, which he called a "targeted military operation", would "roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival".
"This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat," he said.
Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said the country had conducted a "pre-emptive" strike on Iran, a major escalation following stalled progress over a prospective nuclear deal between Washington and Tehran.
Mr Katz said "a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future".
The strike came hours after President Donald Trump warned of a potential Israeli strike.
"I don't want to say imminent, but it looks like it's something that could very well happen," he told reporters at the White House earlier on Thursday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Israel took "unilateral action against Iran", adding that the US was not involved in the strikes.
Explosions were heard north-east of Iran's capital Tehran, state-run Nour News reported.
US stock futures also slid after the strike, joining a decline across global markets.
Dow futures were down 517 points, or 1.20 per cent. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq Composite futures dipped 1.35 and 1.52 per cent, respectively.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.28 per cent while South Korea's Kospi was down 0.83 per cent.
The attack came days before US special envoy Steve Witkoff was scheduled to hold talks with Iranian counterparts for a sixth round of talks in Oman.
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