Oil prices jumped up in international trading after the US claimed responsibility for the airstrike near the Baghdad Airport that killed a top Iranian general, an action that is likely to increase tensions in the volatile Persian Gulf region.

During Asian trading hours, futures of Brent Crude - considered a benchmark - jumped 2.9 percent to US$68.16 per barrel.  US oil futures gained 2.8 percent, reaching $62.86 per barrel.  The tracking service Refinitiv reports that puts both on pace right now for their biggest daily gains in about a month.

Analysts are not in agreement if the spike will last or go higher.  But Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst for Asia Pacific at Oanda, noted that Iran's response to attack would not be directly at the United States:  "An indirect response is the most apparent course of action, and oil installations and tankers were my first thoughts," he said.

The Pentagon said that Donald Trump had ordered the missile attack that killed Major General Qassem Soleimani, leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards elite Quds Force, as well as Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.