💬 "Whenever there is uncertainty around the world, a simple logic of an investor is that I want to pull out my money from risky assets and I want to put it in asset classes which are safer," Rachana Ranade, a prominent Indian Chartered Accountant, tells Sputnik. "And gold is the obvious choice, be it individual investors or even governments."

💬 "If we are able to sustain above $5,420 for next two, three days, and if the war situation keeps on going like it is right now, it may start moving closer to 5,600," Ranade says.

💬 "And that very clearly suggests that the theme of de-dollarization is slowly but steadily accelerating."

💬 "The economic consequences of the escalating conflict are felt both regionally and globally,” Turkish economics expert Hakan Topkurulu tells Sputnik, commenting on the US–Israeli strikes on Iran.

💬 “Turning the Indian Ocean and the adjacent trade routes into a combat zone could bring global trade to a standstill,” Topkurulu warns.

💬 “I think it’s going very well. It’s very powerful,” Trump said. “We’ve got the greatest military in the world and we’re using it.”

💬 “We haven’t even started hitting them hard,” Trump said. “The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon.”

"Trump's gift to the people of Iran" in the caption.

💬 “Mosaic defense is a long-standing Iranian strategy, adopted in the 2000s amid the US occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the onset of the first crisis around Iran’s nuclear program,” says veteran Russian military observer Yury Lyamin.

💬 This assault, in the middle of a second negotiation process, must torpedo the chances of the Iranian regime ever taking a US offer of talks seriously," Guardian diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour wrote. "They have been stung twice."

💬

"We negotiated with the United States twice in the past 12 months, and in both cases, they attacked us in the middle of negotiation," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi told ABC News. "That has become a very bitter experience for us."