Iran Threatens 'Irreparable Damage' If US Strikes With Missiles: Analyst Says Israel Conflict To Have Limited Impact On Equities

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, on Wednesday threatened the U.S. with “irreparable damage” if the country follows through with a missile strike.

According to a report from NBC News, Khamenei said a military entry of the U.S. in Iran would “100% backfire.”

“The damage they suffer will be far worse than anything Iran may face. If they enter militarily, they will face harm that they cannot recover from,” he added.

He added that Iranians are “not a people who can be forced into surrender.”

Khamenei’s retort comes after President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned that his patience was wearing thin. He demanded an “unconditional surrender” from Iran and hinted that the U.S. could take out Khamenei if it wants to, but added that this is not the case for the time being.

“We know exactly where the so-called “Supreme Leader” is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Despite the rising tensions in the Middle East, Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson expects the Israel-Iran conflict to have a limited impact in the range of 5% to 7% on U.S. equities, according to CNBC.

At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was up 0.47%, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) gained 0.48%.

Wilson added that his projection remains in place only if crude oil prices don’t spike too much.

“I think if oil were to spike to $90, or something north of $90, we’d have a real problem, but that’s not the case at the moment,” he said.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures traded 0.83% lower at $72.17 per barrel, compared to its closing price of $73.27.

The United States Oil Fund LP (USO) fell 1.48%, while the ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil (UCO) was down 1.67% at the time of writing.

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