Iran war rattles Washington as oil fears surge

Washington, March 16 (IANS) The war with Iran is rattling Washington and pushing oil prices higher. Fighting in the Strait of Hormuz is disrupting global energy flows. The conflict is also widening political divisions in the United States.

The conflict, now in its third week, has disrupted energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz and triggered sharp debate across the US political spectrum over the strategy and consequences of the war.

Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said the United States had inflicted severe damage on Iran’s military capabilities.

“Militarily, the US military has decimated Iran's air force, their air defenses, their missile capability, their missile production capability,” Waltz said in the interview with CNN anchor Jake Tapper. “This has been a dominant victory, the likes of which we haven't seen in modern American military history.”

Waltz also argued that Iran was becoming increasingly isolated diplomatically, citing support at the United Nations for condemning Iranian attacks on civilian infrastructure.

“The Iranian regime has never been more diplomatically isolated,” he said.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has suggested the conflict could continue until Washington decides its objectives have been met.

Asked about when the war might end, Trump said in remarks aired by Fox News: “I can't touch that. I mean, I have my own idea. It'll be as long as it's necessary.”

Iran has sought to leverage its position in the Strait of Hormuz, a key global energy chokepoint, raising fears of prolonged disruption to oil supplies and shipping routes.

Waltz said the disruption affects Asia most directly.

“Eighty percent of the oil coming out of the Gulf heads to Asia,” he said on CNN, arguing that countries dependent on the energy flow should help secure the waterway.

The war has also drawn strong criticism from Democrats, who accuse the administration of launching the conflict without congressional approval.

Democratic Senator Cory Booker said in the CNN interview that the conflict represented a constitutional overreach by the White House.

“It’s outrageous that this is a unilateral war started by one person, the president,” Booker said. “The Constitution clearly says a war, especially something of this magnitude, should come to Congress.”

Booker added that lawmakers should not treat the situation as routine.

“This is a massive military undertaking… costing American taxpayers billions and billions of dollars and tragically costing 13 lives,” he said.

Former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg also criticised the administration’s handling of the war in an interview on CNN’s programme.

“What I'm worried about is not the soldiers and the people who are serving. What I'm worried about is their political leadership,” Buttigieg said.

He warned that Americans were already feeling the economic consequences of the conflict.

“Mortgage rates are up because of this war. Food is going to be more expensive because of this war. And, of course, the price of gas that we're paying at the pump is higher because of this war,” Buttigieg said.

The Pentagon has confirmed that 13 US service members have died since the conflict began, including six killed when a refuelling aircraft crashed in Iraq. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.