Following Israeli airstrikes targeting commanders and military infrastructure of Iran’s regime, the prices of foreign currencies and gold are rapidly rising. Global markets have also experienced volatility. The prices of oil, gold, and gas have increased, while global stock indices declined, although these effects eased somewhat later in the day.
In Iran’s domestic markets, although today—Friday, June 13—the official markets are closed, the dollar experienced an unusual surge, rising by more than 100,000 rials and reaching around 938,000 rials by Friday afternoon.
On Thursday, June 12, the dollar was about 837,000 rials.
The euro and the British pound also saw similar increases. By Friday afternoon, the euro, which was about 969,000 rials on Thursday, rose to approximately 1,081,500 rials in the open market.
The pound also increased from around 1,140,000 rials to approximately 1,270,000 rials.
The price hikes in these assets continued until 2:30 PM Tehran time, even though Iran’s official markets had not yet opened.
Global Markets
In the initial hours following Israel’s attack on Iran, Brent crude oil prices surged by more than 7%, even reaching up to 13%, although they later gave up some of those gains.
Even before the attack, the oil market had already reached its highest level in the past two months.
At the same time, natural gas prices in Europe experienced their highest increase in more than five weeks. The main concern was the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which about one-quarter of the world’s oil and all of Qatar’s liquefied natural gas exports pass.
Although physical delivery of gas has not yet been disrupted, delays could occur if ships begin avoiding the strait.
Gold, regarded as a safe-haven asset, rose by up to 1.7% before slightly declining. As of Friday morning, gold was trading about $90 below its all-time high of $3,500 per ounce, recorded in April.
In contrast, stock markets reacted negatively, with U.S. indices seeing steeper declines compared to other markets.
Some analysts attribute this to concerns among American investors about the possibility of a wider conflict in the Middle East.
These developments are unfolding while Iran’s regime has yet to deliver its final response, and it remains unclear whether the conflict will escalate beyond limited aerial strikes.
