FA Staff Report

Financial advisors should avoid panicking in the likely event that Israel attacks Iran's nuclear facilities, Forbes editor-in-chief Steve Forbes told attendees at the second annual Innovative Real Estate Strategies conference in Orlando on Tuesday. Forbes made it clear he thinks an Israeli strike will come sooner rather than later.

Israel may not have reached a final decision, but it knows "the window is closing," Forbes said, adding that it is a matter "of months, not years."  He also predicted the Israeli government wouldn't trust their security to the United States, remarking that when Israel commenced the Seven-Day War in 1967, it notified President Lyndon Johnson's administration after its planes were already in the air.

"This could get ugly very quickly," Forbes told advisors. Even if the U.S. doesn't want to get involved, it will have little choice when the Iranians start trying to shut down the Strait of Hormuz.

Were the U.S. military to become engaged against Iran, it would not be the first time. Forbes recalled the 1987-88 tanker war when both nations exchanged hostilities in the Persian Gulf and the U.S ended up destroying a number of Iranian tankers.

Any conflict would inevitably roil the oil markets, sending both oil prices and insurance rates for oil tankers skyrocketing. But Forbes said advisors shouldn't panic and added the outcome could ultimately be positive.

Citing the Argentinian invasion of the Falklands, Forbes noted that after Great Britain defeated Argentina's military dictatorship, it was replaced by a democracy. Iran's current dictatorship is also vulnerable and unpopular.

As for the financial markets, Forbes told advisors that fundamentals will always win out in the end. "When it comes to investing, emotions are your enemy," he said. "If it feels good, don't [do it]. If it feels bad, do it."