Why gold and silver are sliding despite Iran airstrikes

Safe-haven assets are collapsing at precisely the moment geopolitical risk should lift them. Silver has hit 8-month lows even as airstrikes continued across Iran, according to Yahoo Finance reports, breaking a centuries-old market pattern where precious metals surge on conflict fears. Gold prices are struggling to stay just over the $4,000 mark, equally stubborn despite the escalation.

Wall Street sentiment has turned bearish on gold even as it struggles to maintain $4,000 support, per Kitco reports. The disconnect is stark: traditional hedges are supposed to outperform when geopolitical tension rises, yet silver has been unable to crack the $60 mark despite continued U.S. airstrikes in Iran. This suggests markets are pricing something other than conflict, perhaps confidence that the dispute will remain contained, or that inflation concerns have softened enough to dim gold's appeal as an inflation hedge.

Bank of America suggested buying the dip and averaging down on gold even though prices could go lower, according to Kitco. The recommendation reveals the tension within Wall Street itself: some strategists still see value in precious metals at depressed levels, yet the absence of any real bid from broader institutional investors implies skepticism about near-term recovery. If gold cannot hold $4,000 on geopolitical headwinds, the question becomes whether any catalyst short of an economic shock can reignite safe-haven demand.

The Iran escalation has exposed a fundamental shift in how markets now weigh risk. Precious metals are no longer the automatic beneficiary of conflict; investors appear willing to accept geopolitical uncertainty in exchange for higher yields elsewhere or outright disbelief that tensions will escalate further. Until one of those assumptions breaks, gold and silver face headwinds that no airstrike will easily reverse.