Oil prices are climbing on concerns about an escalating Iran war

JUST IN: Oil prices climb and global stocks slide on fears of an escalating Iran war, amid reports Trump is weighing further strikes on Iran ahead of the US midterms.

Oil is climbing and global stocks are sliding, all on one word. Iran.

Traders woke up to reports that Trump is weighing further strikes on Iran, and with the US midterms just weeks away, nobody thinks that timing is an accident. You can see the mood on trading floors already, screens in Seoul going red across the board this morning.

Here's why energy desks are nervous. Any widening of this war puts the Strait of Hormuz in play, and a huge share of the world's seaborne crude moves through that narrow stretch of water. Markets don't wait for missiles, they price the possibility, and that's exactly what crude is doing right now.

So the pattern is set. Every headline out of Washington or Tehran moves the barrel, and the barrel moves everything else, your fuel, your flights, your grocery run. Escalation talk alone is already costing the world money, before a single new strike has been ordered.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.