Iran fired missiles at Israel and some Gulf nations while explosions could be heard around Tehran and the central Iranian city of Isfahan. The United States is preparing to reinforce its already significant military forces in the Middle East. Iran’s attacks on Gulf region energy infrastructure and its tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas transits in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing. The impact has been detrimental to global economies and caused a serious crisis in some Asian countries heavily dependent on oil from the Gulf.
