TOKYO: Asian stocks fell sharply in early trade Tuesday (Mar 31), and oil prices rose as the Middle East crisis further escalated with US President Donald Trump threatening to destroy Iran’s main export terminal.
South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index was down more than 4 per cent around 12.30am GMT, while Japan’s Nikkei index dropped 2.24 per cent, before both recovered slightly.
The price of the main US benchmark for oil, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), was up 3.30 per cent at US$106.28 a barrel after closing Monday above US$100 for the first time since the war started.
Brent Crude, the international benchmark, climbed 2.23 per cent to US$109.78 early Tuesday.
Trump threatened Monday to destroy Iran’s key oil export hub of Kharg Island, along with power and desalination plants, unless Tehran quickly accepted a deal, even as he suggested that diplomacy was making headway.
Trump warned that if a deal were not struck – including to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane – US forces would destroy “all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)”.
Destroying civilian infrastructure would be illegal under international humanitarian law and could constitute a war crime, experts say.