Sudden surge in selling! Latest developments in Iran situation! An oil refinery was attacked

With international oil prices surging, another refinery in the Middle East has been attacked!

According to the latest updates, in the early hours of April 3 local time, a refinery of Kuwait Petroleum Company was attacked and caught fire. On the same day, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that in Iran’s central airspace it successfully shot down the second U.S. F-35 fighter jet.

On April 2, Dominics, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, said that restoring navigation through the Strait of Hormuz cannot be achieved by relying on military measures alone. What is needed is to ease tensions and adopt feasible maritime solutions.

It is worth noting that, as hopes of the Middle East war being resolved quickly grow increasingly slimmer, hedge funds have been selling global stocks at the fastest pace in 13 years in March. Some analysts said that international oil and gas prices have already been pushed up and have begun to transmit into a wider range of economic areas.

Let’s take a look at the detailed report!

Another refinery attacked

In the Middle East, new developments have emerged. According to CCTV News, on April 3 local time, it was learned from Kuwait Petroleum Company that the Ahmad(i) Port refinery under the company was attacked by drones in the early morning hours that day, causing multiple operating units to catch fire. At present, there have been no reports of casualties.

In a statement, the company said that emergency response and firefighting personnel have begun implementing emergency plans and are working to control the spread of the fire. The company is also coordinating with relevant departments to monitor the environment around the refinery, and so far no significant negative impact from the fire on air quality has been found.

In addition, on April 3 local time, the Public Relations Department of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a statement saying that the advanced air-defense systems deployed by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps successfully shot down the second U.S. advanced F-35 fighter jet in Iran’s central airspace. The aircraft was manufactured by Lockheed Martin. It has now been completely destroyed and crashed.

This is the second U.S. military aircraft shot down by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard air-defense systems within the past 12 hours. Because the airframe has been completely dismantled, no information about the whereabouts of the pilots has yet been obtained.

The statement emphasized: “This is the first time we have responded to Trump’s absurd remarks with air-defense operations.”

Local time on April 2: according to the latest satellite images released by the United States, a key U.S. radar located at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia was damaged in an Iranian attack on March 1. The radar model is AN/TPY-2, the core equipment of the U.S. “THAAD” missile defense system.

Previously, there were reports that a tent housing the radar at Prince Sultan Air Base was hit, but it was not possible to confirm whether the radar was inside the tent when the attack occurred and whether it was damaged. The latest images show that the radar has now been removed from the tent and is placed outdoors. There are burn marks on its antenna and large sections are missing.

Iran is trying to weaken the United States’ ability to detect incoming missiles and drones by striking the radar. Previously, Iran also carried out attacks on the AN/TPY-2 radar deployed by the U.S. military in Jordan and the early-warning radar deployed in Qatar.

It is understood that the U.S. Missile Defense Agency responsible for the “THAAD” program, in its 2025 budget, lists the cost of one AN/TPY-2 antenna at 136 million. Currently, the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Central Command have not yet responded to the radar attack at Prince Sultan Air Base.

Hedge funds sell global stocks

As hopes of the Middle East war being quickly resolved grow increasingly bleak, short-term capital investors are rushing to reduce their global stock exposure.

Based on data compiled by Goldman Sachs’ prime brokerage division, hedge funds sold global stocks at the fastest pace in 13 years in March. This selling pace is the second-highest level since the firm began collecting data in 2011.

This move was mainly driven by an increase in short-selling activity, highlighting that the market is concerned that, amid ongoing fighting in Iran, the stock market may be more vulnerable to further weakness. The MSCI World Index fell 7.4% in March, marking the worst single-month performance since 2022, while the S&P 500 Index fell 5.1%.

Short-term investors use exchange-traded funds to express their skepticism about the stock market’s outlook. Data show that large-scale stock ETF short-selling activity boosted U.S. ETF short positions by 17%.

In the United States, hedge fund selling spans across industries, with net outflows in 8 of 11 sectors. Industrials, materials, and financials—sectors closely tied to the economy—were especially weak.

Meanwhile, fund managers turned to defensive areas and bought consumer staples stocks at the fastest pace since July 2025. This move was driven entirely by long positions. For the first time in four months, tech, media, and telecommunications stocks saw net buying, because investors covered shorts rather than establishing new long positions.

Also, according to CCTV News, on April 2, U.S. financial analyst and part-time professor at Endicott College Michael Collins said in an interview that the most direct risk triggered by the Middle East conflict is still an energy price shock. International oil and gas prices have already been pushed up and have begun to transmit into broader areas of the economy.

Collins noted that energy remains the top economic risk arising from this conflict. In addition to crude oil, global LNG trade is also under pressure, and market volatility has clearly increased. He said that the war’s impact will not stay confined to energy itself, and may continue to spill over through channels such as fertilizers, chips, transportation, and supply chains.

“An energy crisis is definitely still the biggest risk right now, but besides that, we are also concerned about fertilizer prices, copper in the sulfur and African copper belts, and helium used to make microchips. We have already seen chip costs rise sharply,” Collins said.

Collins believes that U.S. ordinary consumers may feel price pressure from the war more noticeably over the next 30 to 60 days, and living costs such as food may continue to rise over the coming months. The main risk facing the United States is not supply shortages themselves, but the ongoing squeeze on consumption and inflation expectations caused by rising prices.

Collins said, “The higher oil and gas prices go, the more consumers’ wallets get squeezed in terms of spending on non-essential items. This situation will keep going, and I think this impact has already started to show.”

(Source: China Securities Journal)