President Joe Biden said on Friday he would think about alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields if he were in Israel's shoes, adding he thinks Israel has not yet concluded how to respond to Iran.

Biden earlier in the day contributed to a surge in global oil prices when he said Washington was discussing strikes on Iran's oil facilities. A U.S. official later said Washington does not believe Israel has decided yet how to respond to Iran.

Biden said in response to a question about whether he’d support striking those targets. Bloomberg’s Antonia Mufarech and Devika Krishna Kumar report that oil markets surged on the prospect that Iran’s oil production could be damaged,

Fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants continues inside southern Lebanon as Israel decides how to retaliate against Hezbollah ally Iran for its missile attack on Tuesday. Israel is planning a “ significant ” retribution against Iran for launching at least 180 ballistic missiles into Israel.

President Biden said Israel should consider alternative ways of retaliating against Iran, a day after he said the United States was “in discussion” about the possibility of Israel striking Iran’s oil fields.