Iran pushed back, threatening to target energy infrastructure and desalination facilities in the Gulf if the U.S. carries out its ultimatum. <\/p>\n
Iran’s Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Saturday<\/a> that attacks on the country’s power plants would “immediately” be met with retaliatory strikes on energy and oil infrastructure across the region. <\/p>\n “Critical infrastructure and energy and oil infrastructure throughout the region will be considered legitimate targets and irreversibly destroyed, and oil prices will rise for a long time,” Ghalibaf said on X.<\/p>\n On Sunday, Ghalibaf extended the threat<\/a> to holders of U.S. Treasurys, warning financial entities that purchase American government bonds and “finance the U.S. military budget” would be considered legitimate targets, alongside military bases. <\/p>\n Crude prices were largely stable in early trading hours on Monday. Brent crude<\/a>\u00a0lost 0.25% to $111.97 per barrel as of 7:16 p.m. EST. The U.S.\u00a0West Texas Intermediate<\/a> was down 0.6% at $97.64 per barrel.<\/p>\n The spread between Brent and WTI exceeded $14 a barrel, the steepest price difference between the benchmarks for U.S. and international crude oil in years. <\/p>\n That widening gap may indicate a “peak intensity of this oil crisis,” Chris Verrone, chief market strategist at Strategas Research, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia”<\/a> Monday. Elevated Brent crude prices will likely prompt traders to price in a longer-lasting conflict, he added. <\/p>\n Japan’s Nikkei 225<\/a> declined nearly 5%, widening losses from the earlier session, while the broad-based Topix dropped 4.4%. <\/p>\n South Korea’s blue-chip Kospi\u00a0plunged more than 6%, and the small-cap Kosdaq\u00a0fell nearly 5%. The Korean exchange briefly suspended trading<\/a> after the Kospi 200 futures index fell by over 5%. <\/p>\n Australia’s\u00a0S&P\/ASX 200<\/a> declined 2.4%. <\/p>\n Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index<\/a> and the mainland CSI 300 dropped nearly 2% on the open. <\/p>\n Stock Chart IconStock chart icon Overnight in the U.S., stock futures were little changed. The\u00a0Dow Jones Industrial Average<\/a>\u00a0was flat and the\u00a0S&P 500<\/a> shed 0.1% while the\u00a0Nasdaq Composite<\/a>\u00a0futures pulled back by 0.2%.<\/p>\n The three major indices ended last week lower, with the S&P 500 declining by more than 1.5% and falling below its 200-day moving average for the first time since May. The Dow, which saw its first four-week losing streak since 2023, and the Nasdaq each fell around 2% for the week. <\/p>\n \u2014 CNBC’s Lisa Kim and Fred Imbert contributed to this report. <\/p>\n![\"hide](\"https:\/\/static-redesign.cnbcfm.com\/dist\/a54b41835a8b60db28c2.svg\")
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