Several international media outlets have reported overnight, citing sources, that the United States has attacked Iranian targets around the Strait of Hormuz.
In parallel, stock market indices in Asia have fallen broadly. The Hong Kong-based Hang Seng is seeing one of the biggest declines of the day and is down 2.0 percent at lunchtime. The stock exchanges in China's Shanghai and Shenzhen are down 0.3 and 0.7 percent respectively.
In South Korea, the Kospi is down 1.2 percent. On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei 225 is hovering around flat, while the broader Topix is down 0.2 percent.
At the same time, both Brent and WTI oil are up about 3 percent in July futures, trading at around $97.30 and $91.70 per barrel, respectively, according to CNBC.
