Iranian Shia women shout slogans during Eid al-Fitr prayers, which mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, at the Grand Mosala Mosque in Tehran on March 21, 2026.
Stra | AFP | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were heavily sold on Monday, with major indexes in Japan and South Korea falling more than 5% as investors fled risky assets as the Middle East conflict escalated into its fourth week.
President Donald Trump said Saturday that he would “destroy” Iran’s power plants if it could not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for global energy flows, within 48 hours.
Iran reacted by threatening to attack energy infrastructure and desalination facilities in the Gulf if the U.S. followed through on the ultimatum.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Berger Ghalibaf said on Saturday that attacks on the country’s power plants would be “immediately” followed by retaliatory attacks on energy and oil infrastructure across the region.
“Critical infrastructure, energy and oil infrastructure across the region will be considered legitimate targets and will be irreversibly destroyed. Oil prices will rise for a long time,” Ghalibaf said on the X program.
Ghalibaf on Sunday extended his threats to U.S. bond holders, warning that financial institutions that buy U.S. bonds and “finance the U.S. military budget” are considered legitimate targets, along with military bases.
Oil prices were mostly stable in early trading Monday. Brent crude oil fell 0.25% to $111.97 per barrel as of 7:16 p.m. ET. US West Texas Intermediate fell 0.6% to $97.64 a barrel.
The spread between Brent and WTI crude exceeded $14 per barrel, the largest price difference between the U.S. and international crude oil benchmarks in years.
Chris Verrone, chief market strategist at Strategas Research, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday that the widening gap could signal “the peak intensity of this oil crisis.” With the rise in Brent oil prices, traders are likely to price in a prolonged conflict, he added.
Japanese Nikkei Stock Average The index fell by nearly 5%, widening the decline from the previous day, while the overall TOPIX fell by 4.4%.
South Korea’s blue-chip stock Kospi plunged more than 6%, and the small-cap stock Kosdaq also fell nearly 5%. The Korea Exchange temporarily suspended trading after the Kospi 200 futures index fell by more than 5%.
australian S&P/ASX 200 It decreased by 2.4%.
hong kong Hang Seng Index And the mainland’s CSI 300 index fell nearly 2%.
There was little change in stock futures in the US overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Nasdaq Composite futures were down 0.2%.
Last week ended with the three major indexes lower, with the S&P 500 down more than 1.5% and below its 200-day moving average for the first time since May. The Dow and Nasdaq each lost about 2% for the week, the first four-week losing streak since 2023.
—CNBC’s Lisa Kim and Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
