(Reuters) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
TEL AVIV\/WASHINGTON, March 31- Iran attacked and set ablaze a fully loaded crude oil tanker off Dubai on Monday, \u200bas President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0warned the U.S. would obliterate Iran’s energy plants and oil wells if it does not open the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The apparent strike on the Kuwait-flagged \u200cAl-Salmi is the latest in a string of assaults <\/a>on merchant vessels by missiles or explosive air and sea drones in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The month-long conflict<\/a> has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands, disrupting energy supplies and threatening to send the global economy into a tailspin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crude oil prices briefly spiked anew after Kuwait’s state news agency reported the attack on the tanker, which can carry around 2 \u200bmillion barrels of oil worth more than $200 million at current prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kuwait Petroleum Corp, the ship’s owner, said work was underway to assess damage and warned of a possible oil spill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Authorities \u200bin Dubai later said they had been able to bring the fire under control following a drone attack on the tanker. No injuries have been \u2060reported, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The jump in oil and fuel prices has started to weigh on U.S. household finances and become a political headache<\/a> for Trump and his Republican Party ahead of the November midterm elections, having \u200bvowed to lower energy prices and ramp up U.S. oil and gas production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n