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Joe Biden has said the US is consulting with Israel about a possible Israeli attack on Iranian oil infrastructure.
Asked if he supported such an attack, Biden said: “We’re talking about it. I think it’s a little one way or the other.”
His off-the-cuff remarks as he left the White House did not clarify Washington’s position. Biden has previously said he does not support an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The benchmark Brent crude oil price rose 5% immediately after the remarks. That number has increased by 10% since Tuesday’s massive Iranian missile attack on Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran “will pay a heavy price” for Tuesday’s attack, in which at least 180 ballistic missiles were launched into Israel.
Satellite images released by the Associated Press show damage to Nevatim Air Base, one of the targets of the attack.
Iran said the barrage was a response to the killings of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan.
Biden told reporters he did not expect Israel to launch retaliation on Thursday.
As he left the White House, he was asked what plans the United States had for authorizing Israel to attack Iran. “First of all, we do not authorize Israel, and Israel “And nothing will happen today.”
A U.S. official told Reuters that the United States believes Israel is “still deciding exactly what it will do.”
Biden earlier said the United States does not support an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, as promoted by some in Israel, including former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
Bennett argued that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities could “help change the face of the Middle East” and “fatally paralyze this terrorist regime.”
Reports in Israeli media, citing local officials, suggest that Israel is planning a pre-emptive strike on Iranian oil facilities. If Iran strikes back, Israel will target its own nuclear facilities.
On Wednesday, Iranian Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri told state television that retaliation would damage infrastructure across Israel.
Bagheri said the barrage “will be repeated with greater force and will target all infrastructure of the regime.”
Biden said Wednesday that he had consulted with other G7 leaders and agreed that Israel “has a right to respond, but it should respond proportionately.”
Fears of further violence between Israel and Iran, the world’s seventh largest oil producer, have kept markets on edge.
Of particular concern is whether an escalation could cut off the Strait of Hormuz, through which a third of oil tanker traffic and a fifth of LNG refrigerated gas must pass.
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