Israel strikes Iranian capital, sinking stocks

Israel has initiated its greatest bombing raid yet on Iran - this time at the heart of the nation's capital, prompting a massive selloff in the stock market.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Earlier today, sources speculated that Israel would prepare for a full assault on Iran in reaction to Iran's active involvement in its guerilla conflict with the Palestine-based Hamas terrorist organization. Israel escalated its tension with the rest of the Middle East by launching a bombing raid on Iran, specifically in the capital of Tehran.

Sources have said that the strikes impacted several neighborhoods in Tehran. Reporter Sulaiman Ahmed recorded video footage at the heart of Tehran showing bellowing smoke and emergency services rushing to evacuate civilians (footage: https://x.com/ShaykhSulaiman/status/1933315934137069920). Still, some news sources have denied the raids from happening while real footage disproves this claim.

Stock trader Ricky Gutierrez's X post within minutes of the bombing.

Immediately upon the strikes, the stock market plummeted. S&P 500 futures fell by almost 1.3%, Nasdaq futures fell 1.2%, and Dow futures fell 1.5%. The price of oil immediately skyrocketed to almost $74 per barrel, an 8.5% increase in mere minutes.

In addition, over $335 million in cryptocurrency was liquidated from the market within an hour of the incident.

Diplomatically, Israel has declared a state of emergency, possibly indicating an all-out war against Iran. This may include the implementation of martial law with greater powers given to the executive under this action.

It is unclear how Iran will respond to this situation.