Middle East crisis live: Trump pausing strikes on Iran energy sites; Houthis say ‘no reason’ to halt Red Sea shipping
Key events
And just to recap, on Thursday Wall Street had its worst day since the war with Iran started.
The S+P 500 fell 1.7%, and the index is headed for a fifth straight losing week, which would be the longest such losing streak in almost four years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 2.4%.
Some news on the Asian markets, after early Friday trading.
South Korean shares have fallen more than 3% today and are set to end the week lower. Japan’s Nikkei share average is also down today, and is on track for a fourth straight weekly decline, amid fading hopes for an imminent ceasefire.
Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.1%, while the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.1%. Australia’s S+P/ASX 200 fell 0.5%, while Taiwan’s Taiex was trading 1.5% lower.
World Trade Organisation chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has warned the global trading system is experiencing the “worst disruptions in the past 80 years”.
“The world order and the multilateral system we used to know has irrevocably changed,” she said on Thursday, at the WTO ministerial conference. “We cannot deny the scale of the problems confronting the world today.”
Welcome summary
Hello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran and the consequences for the region, the world and the global economy.
Here are the latest developments:
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Donald Trump said he would extend – once again – his pause on his threat to attack Iran’s energy infrastructure for 10 days until 6 April, claiming that the request came from Tehran and that talks were going “very well”. The US president threatened last Saturday he would strike Iranian energy infrastructure if Tehran did not reopen the strait of Hormuz. Then, on Monday, he postponed his threat for five days (until Friday), citing “very good and productive conversations” with Iran on ending the war (which Tehran dismissed as “fake news” designed to “manipulate” the oil markets). Now, he’s pushing that deadline back, again.
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The price of Brent crude also dropped following Trump’s latest announcement. Oil prices rose to their highest level this week, with Brent crude trading at roughly $108 a barrel after Trump’s cabinet meeting earlier on Thursday.
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Yemen’s Houthis have said there is no need to worry amid fears that if Trump follows through on threats to seize Iran’s Kharg Island, Tehran may ask them to attack shipping in the Red Sea.
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A day after Tehran dismissed Trump’s 15-point ceasefire plan, the US president claimed Iran was “begging to make a deal”. and that he wasn’t the one pushing for negotiations. Earlier, he told Tehran to “get serious soon” on negotiating a deal to end the war.
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Trump rejected reports he was looking for an exit ramp, as oil prices soar and political pressure mounts to avoid the kind of drawn-out Middle East war he once spurned. “I read a story today that I’m desperate to make a deal,” Trump told reporters. “I’m the opposite of desperate. I don’t care.”
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A US proposal for ending nearly four weeks of fighting is “one-sided and unfair”, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday.
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Trump said Iran was allowing some oil tankers through strait of Hormuz as a sign of good faith for talks. He said Iran allowed 10 oil tankers to pass through the strategic strait as a “present” to show it was serious about negotiations to end the war.
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The Pentagon is looking at sending up to 10,000 additional ground troops to the Middle East to give Trump more military options even as he weighs peace talks with Tehran, the Wall Street Journal reported, quoting defence department officials.
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The Israel Defence Forces’ chief of staff has warned that the military will “collapse in on itself” as it faces increasing demands and a growing manpower shortage while fighting on multiple fronts, according to Israeli media reports.
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A Thai-flagged cargo ship that was hit by unknown projectiles in the strait of Hormuz earlier this month has run aground off Iran’s Qeshm Island, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Friday.
