Oil prices surge more than 12% after Israel launches strike on Iran

Oil futures surged more than 12 per cent after Israel conducted air strikes on Iran in the early hours of Friday. Brent crude rose $8.66, or 12.49 per cent, to $78.02 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, rose $9.03, or 13.27 per cent, to $77.25 a barrel as of 6.52am UAE time. In an address to the nation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country had “struck at the heart” of Iran’s nuclear programme. The attack, which he called a “targeted military operation”, would “roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival”, he said.