Israel struck numerous military and nuclear targets in Iran overnight, escalating tensions in the Middle East. Of note, Iran has confirmed that Natanz nuclear facility was hit several times and has been reportedly destroyed. And among the casualties of the strikes by Israel were Iran's armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri and Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami.Israeli prime minister Netanyahu has called the attack "very successful" and warned that this was only "an opening strike". Adding that the strikes across Iran will continue for "many days".As tensions flare up, the anticipation now is mainly waiting on Iran's retaliation in response. They already delivered a warning here, reaffirming that the US is the one "responsible for the consequences".Despite everything though, the US is still seeking talks with Iran on Sunday. A US official told AFP that "we still intend to have talks Sunday" but there's no information yet on whether Iran has agreed to that.The escalation is seeing safety flows dominate proceedings in broader markets. And as Iran's response is awaited, oil prices are already surging on the back of the above developments. WTI crude jumped to as high as $77.50 earlier and is now settling around $73.80, still up over 7% on the day.Meanwhile, gold is also catching a bid today amid haven flows with the precious metal up over 1% in clearing the $3,400 level. The high earlier touched $3,444 - the highest since April - with price seen at $3,426 currently.As risk takes on a more defensive approach, stocks are down with S&P 500 futures lower by 1.5%. And in Asia, the Nikkei is down a little over 1% while the Hang Seng is down 0.7% on the day.In FX, the dollar is also holding firmer as it finds back some of its traditional roots. EUR/USD is down 0.5% to 1.1520 while AUD/USD is down 0.9% to 0.6470 on the day. USD/JPY and USD/CHF are both little changed as safety flows hold the course, trading at 143.70 and 0.8095 respectively. This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.