Oil leaped higher after Iran called for an embargo against Israel by Muslim countries, following a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital that raised the risk of wider hostilities in the Middle East.
Brent futures rose as much as 3.5% to trade near $93 a barrel, before paring some of those gains. Iran’s foreign minister called for a full and immediate boycott of Israel by Muslim countries, including an oil embargo on the country.
While Israel’s oil imports are small in the context of global supply and little comes from the Middle East, the comments were significant in that they marked verbal escalation over the war between Israel and Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by the US and European Union.
