(Reuters) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
DUBAI\/TEL AVIV\/WASHINGTON, March 12 – Iran\u00a0set ablaze two tankers<\/a>\u00a0in Iraqi waters as it stepped up attacks on oil and \u200btransport facilities across the Middle East, warning the world should be ready for oil at $200 a barrel in defiance of President Donald Trump’s claim that the U.S. had already \u200cwon the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unleashed with joint U.S. and Israeli air strikes on Iran almost two weeks ago, the war has so far killed around 2,000 people<\/a> and thrown global energy markets<\/a> and transport into chaos. The conflict has spread across the Middle East and prompted plans for a record release of strategic oil reserves<\/a> to dampen one of the worst fuel shocks since the 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said more than 1,100 children had been killed or injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At a campaign-style rally in Kentucky ahead \u200bof November midterm elections in which his Republican party is trailing badly, Trump said the United States had won the war but didn’t want to have to go back every two years<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We don’t \u200bwant to leave early do we?” he said on Wednesday. “We got to finish the job.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oil prices, which shot up earlier in the week to nearly $120 a \u2060barrel before settling back to around $90, rose nearly 5%<\/a> on Wednesday and extended gains in Asian trade on Thursday amid renewed fears about supply disruption. Wall Street’s main share indexes fell<\/a> and stocks in Asia followed suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Iran \u200bhas made clear it intends to impose a prolonged economic shock, with the spokesperson for Iran’s military command saying in remarks directed at the U.S. on Wednesday: “Get ready for oil to be $200 a barrel, because the \u200boil price depends on regional security, which you have destabilised.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n