**Paris (France) (AFP)** – Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:
**- Oil prices climb**
Oil prices rose as US-Iran talks stalled, while markets were mixed as traders appeared to shrug off uncertainty over the 10-week-old war. The price of international benchmark Brent crude jumped one percent to $105 a barrel during Tuesday morning trade in Asia, while benchmark US oil contract West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also rose one percent to $99 a barrel.
**- Lebanon state media reports Israeli strikes kill 6**
Israeli strikes on a town in southern Lebanon killed six people and wounded seven others, state media said Tuesday, as fighting continued despite a ceasefire agreement. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israeli strikes Monday night hit a house in Kfar Dounine, a town about 95 kilometres (59 miles) from capital Beirut.
**- UAE attacked Iran last month: WSJ**
The United Arab Emirates carried out attacks on Iran early last month, sources told the Wall Street Journal, revealing previously unknown participation in the war by the Gulf country. AFP has not been able to independently verify the Emirati attacks, which the American newspaper reported on Monday. The Journal did not specify a date or time but said the attacks took place around the time US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire in April.
**- New US, UK Sanctions**
The United States on Monday slapped 12 individuals and entities with new sanctions, saying they facilitated the sale and shipment of Iranian oil to China. The move comes hours after the UK issued its own distinct set of sanctions and days before US President Donald Trump was scheduled to visit China.
**- ‘Teach a lesson’**
Iran’s parliament speaker said his country’s military stood ready to “teach a lesson” to any aggressor after Trump warned that the ceasefire in the Middle East war was hanging by a thread. “Our armed forces are ready to respond and to teach a lesson for any aggression,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X. “A bad strategy and bad decisions always lead to bad results — the world already understands this.”
**- US gas tax suspension**
Trump said he plans to suspend a federal gasoline tax as consumers cope with surging energy prices in the wake of the Iran war. US federal taxes on gasoline amount to 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel. Suspending the tax would require an act of Congress, where Trump’s Republican party holds a razor-thin majority in both houses.
**- Ceasefire ‘on life support’**
Trump said Monday that the ceasefire with Iran is on “life support” and that he is considering restarting naval escorts — previously dubbed “Project Freedom” — through the Hormuz strait as he seeks “complete victory” in the war. Amid growing pressure at home over the war’s impact on the US economy, Trump warned that Iran’s rejection over the weekend of Washington’s demands meant the already tenuous ceasefire is now “unbelievably weak.” “I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support,” he told reporters at the White House.
**- ‘Largest energy shock’**
The Middle East war triggered the world’s largest energy shock, with market recovery likely to extend into 2027 even if the Hormuz blockade is lifted soon, Saudi oil giant Aramco’s CEO told investors. “The energy supply shock that began in the first quarter is the largest the world has ever experienced,” said Amin H. Nasser. “If the Strait of Hormuz opens today, it will still take months for the market to rebalance, and if its opening is delayed by a few more weeks, then normalisation will last into 2027.”
**- UN warns of hunger crisis**
Tens of millions of people could face hunger and starvation if fertilizers are not soon allowed through the Strait of Hormuz, the head of a UN task force aimed at averting a looming humanitarian crisis told AFP. About a third of a world’s fertilizer normally passes through the key waterway in the Gulf that Iran has blocked. “We have a few weeks ahead of us to prevent what will likely be a massive humanitarian crisis,” Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and leader of the task force, told AFP in an interview.
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© 2024 AFP
