Paris (France) (AFP) – Here are the latest economic events in the Middle East war:
**Tokyo rebounds in holiday-hit trade**
Tokyo shares rebounded Friday following the previous day’s steep losses as investors tracked gains on Wall Street, with most markets closed for Easter. Oil markets were also closed, a day after West Texas Intermediate soared more than 11 percent to $111.54 and Brent jumped 7.8 percent to $109.03, as US President Donald Trump’s address to the nation suggested the Iran war would continue for weeks more. Trump’s failure to flesh out an exit plan initially sent stock markets tumbling – with all major Asia exchanges closing well down – but European and US indexes recovered ahead of the long weekend.
**New Trump infrastructure threat**
Trump warned of more attacks on Iran’s bridges and energy infrastructure. The US military “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, several hours after he said Iran’s tallest bridge had been destroyed.
**Iran says attacked US, Israeli industries**
Tehran said its latest wave of attacks on Thursday had targeted the UAE, Bahrain, and Israel after US-Israeli strikes hit Iran’s two largest steel plants. “In response to attacks on Iranian steel industries, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched a new wave of attacks this morning,” the military’s central command, Khatam Al-Anbiya, said in a statement carried by state TV. “American steel industries in Abu Dhabi, American aluminium industries in Bahrain, and the Rafael arms factories of the Zionist regime” were among a number of targets, it said.
**UK-led coalition demands Strait of Hormuz be opened**
A UK-led meeting of around 40 countries on the Strait of Hormuz crisis wrapped up Thursday with a demand for the “immediate and unconditional” reopening of the vital shipping route, but no immediate breakthrough. Separately, the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) called Thursday for the UN Security Council to authorize the use of force to protect the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks.
**Iran drafts peacetime Strait of Hormuz protocol**
Iran said on Thursday it was drafting a peacetime protocol that would supervise maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz with Oman, state media reported. Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told Russia’s Sputnik state media that the protocol would apply after the ongoing war with the United States and Israel had ended, setting basic rules to manage ship movements, the IRNA news agency said.
**Pakistan, Bangladesh hike energy prices**
Pakistan’s government on Thursday drastically raised fuel prices in response to spiking global energy prices caused by the Iran war, the country’s petroleum minister said in a press conference. The new prices mark an increase of 42.7 percent in petrol prices and 54.9 percent in the price of diesel. Separately, Bangladesh hiked prices of liquefied petroleum gas used for cooking and compressed natural gas in some cars by 29 percent.
**Banks tighten security in Paris**
Citigroup and Goldman Sachs stepped up security in Paris, telling staff they can work from home, after authorities thwarted an attack against another US financial institution that French prosecutors said might have been linked to a pro-Iran group.
**Iraq exports oil through Syria**
Iraq has begun exporting crude using tanker trucks through Syria, its oil ministry said. Iraq is hugely dependent on its oil exports, accounting for some 90 percent of its budget revenues, and until the Middle East war all but shut the Strait of Hormuz, it exported the majority of its oil through the strategic waterway. Iraq’s oil export revenues in March dropped more than 70 percent from February, an Iraqi official said Thursday, after the Middle East war disrupted the oil industry. The oil ministry said it “has begun exporting oil by tanker truck through neighbouring Syria” and that Syria would “ensure the safe passage” of the oil.
**Iran to allow Philippine oil shipments**
The Philippines said Iran has pledged to allow safe passage for shipments of oil to the import-dependent archipelago through the Strait of Hormuz. President Ferdinand Marcos last week declared a state of national energy emergency, saying “nothing was off the table” as the country of 116 million tries to navigate a global fuel crisis driven by the Middle East war.
**Czechs, Romania cut taxes**
The Czech Republic and Romania said they would cut the excise tax on diesel, joining a host of other countries reacting to a price surge driven by the Middle East war. The Czech government also put a limit on the profit margins of fuel distributors.
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© 2024 AFP
