The IDF retaliatory strike on Iran should target the country’s oil fields because of the negative impact that would have on the Islamic Republic’s economy, Yesh Atid Party head and leader of the opposition, Yair Lapid, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
“We should start with the oil fields,” Lapid said as he sat in his Tel Aviv office. He spoke as Israel had reportedly ceded to a US request not to target Iran’s oil fields or nuclear sites during its anticipated retaliation for Iran’s ballistic missile attack on the Jewish state on October 1.
Israel has reportedly assured the US it would hit Iranian conventional military targets rather than nuclear facilities or oil fields.
The US has been concerned that such a strike would impact global oil prices, a move that could harm the US economy in the critical last weeks before the American presidential election.
“I’m in disagreement with the American administration. I don’t think it will raise significantly the oil prices in the world five minutes before an election,” Lapid stated.
Iran’s oil exports have already been “reduced by half,” and that hasn’t sparked a global economic crisis. It would harm Iran’s economy, which has been its “Achilles heel,” Lapid explained.
It is possible, he said, to speak with other oil-producing countries, such as Saudi Arabia, about increasing their output to ensure that there won’t be a global economic crisis.
Lapid’s words were backed up by the International Energy Agency, which said in its monthly report on Tuesday regarding the world oil market that “for now, supply keeps flowing, and in the absence of a major disruption, the market is faced with a sizable surplus in the new year.”
It went on to reassure markets “that as supply developments unfold, the IEA stands ready to act if necessary” to cover any supply disruption from Iran.
Indeed, oil prices have risen in recent weeks on investor concern that Israel may retaliate against a missile attack from Iran, a major oil exporter and OPEC member, by hitting its oil facilities or nuclear sites.
IEA ready to act if needed
But the IEA, which manages industrialized countries’ emergency oil stocks, said public stocks were more than 1.2 billion barrels, and spare capacity in OPEC+, which comprises the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, stood at historic highs.
Lapid was more cautious when it came to a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Israel can act alone and it shouldn’t take that option off the table, he said.
But at the same time, he said, such a step is best taken together with a “wider coalition” of forces, such as America.
The full interview will be published in the Post’s Simchat Torah Magazine on October 23.
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