DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran chose Mojtaba Khamenei, the hard-line son of the assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as its new supreme leader, signaling Tehran won’t back down in a war raging across the Middle East and causing a surge in energy prices.

The choice was criticized by U.S. President Donald Trump, who is under mounting pressure not to prolong the fighting as oil prices approach four-year highs and fears grow of a new inflation crisis.

While data from the United Arab Emirates suggests Iran’s barrage of missiles and drones is easing, there’s no clear sign that the conflict, now into its second week, will end imminently.

The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has forced Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, to reduce production, according to a person familiar with the matter. That follows similar moves by the UAE, Kuwait and Iraq.

Brent crude climbed about 10% to $102 as of 3 p.m. in London on Monday. It rose to almost $120 earlier in the day, but pared gains after it emerged that Group of Seven finance ministers are discussing a possible joint release of emergency fuel reserves.

The G-7 is “not there yet” in terms of agreeing to the move, according to France, which holds the current presidency. But the group is “ready to take all necessary measures including using strategic reserves to stabilize the market,” French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said after a virtual meeting with his counterparts.

Stocks tumbled and a global bond rout accelerated, while the dollar hit its highest level in seven weeks.

Trump, whose administration is already facing criticism after U.S. gasoline pump prices jumped last week, on Sunday called $100 oil a “small price to pay” and the the cost “will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over.”

The U.S. is still “nowhere near” ordering troops into Iran to safeguard nuclear material, Trump told the New York Post.

The U.S. and Israel continued to strike Iran, which is still attacking Israel and Arab Gulf states regularly with drones and missiles. Israeli forces maintained attacks on southern Lebanon, aiming to degrade Iran-aligned Hezbollah. The Lebanese presidency said Monday that more than 400 people have been killed in the country since the war began.

Iranian officials say more than 1,300 people have died due to the U.S. and Israel’s attacks so far. The U.S. says seven of its service members have been killed. Fatalities have also been reported in Israel and Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Iran toward Turkey on Monday, the second such incident, raising the risk the military alliance could be drawn more directly into the conflict.

Khamenei — whose father ruled Iran for almost 37 years and was killed when U.S.-Israeli strikes began on Feb. 28 — won a “decisive vote” in Iran’s Assembly of Experts to become supreme leader, Iranian media reported late Sunday. The 56-year-old has deep ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, about the most powerful military and economic organization in Iran and which pledged full obedience to the new leader.

Trump told Fox News he is “not happy” with Iran’s pick. Khamenei was a favorite to be selected, though there were several other candidates in the running, some of who might have been more amenable to the U.S.

Mojtaba “shares many of the same ideological leanings as his father and will aim to maintain continuity — including in the war,” said Dina Esfandiary, a Bloomberg Geoeconomics analyst. His election “suggests Iran won’t be shifting tack in the Middle East war,” she said.

On Saturday, Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed not to back down, saying “the idea that we would surrender unconditionally — they must take such a dream to the grave.”

Saudi Arabia hardened its tone against Iran as it dealt with incoming projectiles again on Monday, including ones heading toward oil giant Aramco’s Shaybah field and areas in and around Riyadh.

The Saudi foreign ministry warned that Tehran’s actions risk further escalation, in which Iran “will be its biggest loser.” The strikes and comments suggest the kingdom hasn’t been successful in its efforts to intensify its diplomatic outreach to Iran, a bid to contain the war.

On Monday, the U.S. ordered American non-essential diplomats in Saudi Arabia to leave the country, citing safety risks. The move marks Washington’s first “ordered departure” since the war began. It follows a U.S. service member dying overnight after being wounded in an attack on U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1.

Israel struck many fuel depots in Tehran on Saturday, sparking a warning from the Red Crescent about toxic acid rain in the city of 9.5 million people.

Axios reported that U.S. officials were unhappy with the strikes, thinking they could backfire strategically by angering Iranian civilians. U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a firm supporter of the war, asked Israel to “please be cautious about what targets you select.” Oil infrastructure, he said, will be essential to Iran’s recovery “when this regime collapses.”

Israel said the fuel storage sites were legitimate military targets because they help Iran’s war effort, and added it might target power stations next.

Trump is weighing the option of deploying special forces on the ground to seize Iran’s near-bomb-grade uranium, as officials grow increasingly concerned the stockpile may have been moved, according to three diplomatic officials briefed on the matter.

“They haven’t been able to get to it and at some point, maybe we will,” Trump said late Saturday during a briefing aboard Air Force One. “We haven’t gone after it, but it’s something we can do later on. We wouldn’t do it now.”

A desalination plant in Bahrain was damaged following an Iranian drone attack, the Arab country’s government said, adding that there was no impact on water supplies.

The Iranian strike on Bahrain came after Tehran accused the U.S. of hitting one of its desalination plants. Persian Gulf countries rely on the facilities for most of their fresh drinking water and sustained attacks could compound the impact of a war.

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(With assistance from Patrick Sykes, Dana Khraiche and Alisa Odenheimer.)

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