Bitcoin hit its record yesterday coming to $8,400. However, the reasons for that are not as nice as it might seem. There is something to do with the current U.S.-Iran political tensions.
Yesterday political situation came to its climax when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed that it conducted rocket attacks on the Al Asad base in western Iraq that hosts American troops.
Right immediately after this news was outlived, all “safe haven assets” jumped sky-high. But let’s go from the beginning. It all started earlier on Wednesday when Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official Major General Mortada Qurbani confirmed Iran is in a “high state of alert” and ready to attack the United States and European bases in the Middle East if it’s necessary. U.S.-Iran tensions were heavily climaxed when he openly threatened U.S. President Donald Trump after his troops killed general Soleimani last week. Prices of oil immediately surged by 3 and 4% respectively while all major airlines changed their flight plan not to go over Iran’s territory. That includes Emirates, Etihad as well as Singapore Airlines.
After that, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps start threatening on its Telegram channel to attack Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Haifa in Israel in case the country is bombed in retaliation to attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq.
Trump Being Ignorant, Pelosi Says U.S. Cannot Afford War
And while Donald Trump was belittling this situation calling it “all good”, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said:
“We must ensure the safety of our service members, including ending needless provocations from the Administration and demanding that Iran cease its violence. America & world cannot afford war.”
U.S.-Iran situation then seemed to soften by saying that Iran said it will discontinue attacks if there is no retaliation to the strikes on American troops from earlier in the day.
On the other hand, it threatened to escalate the attacks if the United States respond with force. One America News reporter Jack Posobiec said that the White House would consider limited retaliatory strikes on targets within Iran. In the meantime, Trump seems to get to his senses and finally met with top officials earlier, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, to discuss the U.S.-Iran conflict immediately.
However, that didn’t seem to bother Iran’s revolutionary guard commander Ismail Qaani who said that the latest missile attack that Iran conducted on the United States base in Iraq is “only the first step.” He added that Tehran will not spare Americans.
Also, two sides didn’t seem to agree on the number of victims as well as their nationalities. Iranian media reported that at least 80 United States soldiers died in the attack on American bases in Iraq. However, CNN reported that both U.S. and Iraqi sources said there were no known casualties as a result of the strikes.
The Pentagon stated that there are no American lives lost in the U.S.-Iran conflict.
Oil Price Rise Will Help Iran?
Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said on Wednesday that the increase in crude oil prices will benefit his country. The surge in oil prices is literally expected when any critical situation happens (especially the one that involves some of the biggest oil producers in the world).
The price of gold surged above the $1,600 mark on Tuesday following an escalation of tensions in the Middle East while palladium jumped to new all-time highs on Wednesday as it hit $2,103.04 per ounce and continued trading above the $2,100-mark as investors turned to safe havens.
That being said, when this was announced, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index fell 451 points at 7:40 pm ET, or 1.58%.
The Nasdaq 100 was down 2.02% one minute later, with the S&P 500 losing 1.67%.
Bitcoin was growing at the time of writing by 6.06% to $8,351, while Ethereum and XRP followed with rise of 1.03% and 1.06% respectively.
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