War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Iran has granted “friendly” countries including Russia a fee exemption to transit the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera reports, citing the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

“We have provided exceptions for some countries. I don’t know what will happen in the future,” Iranian Ambassador to Moscow, Kazem Jalali, told the news outlet.

“At the moment, our foreign ministry is trying to use the exceptions provided for friendly countries, for example Russia,” Jalali said.

Iran will resume flights between Tehran and the northeastern city of Mashhad from tomorrow, Al Jazeera reports according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency.

Most Asian currencies were set for weekly losses, with the Philippine peso slipping to its weakest level in nearly four weeks and the Indonesian rupiah hovering near its record low, as stalled US-Iran peace talks supported the dollar.

Most stock markets in emerging Asia were headed for weekly gains after US President Donald Trump extended the ceasefire with Iran indefinitely, but stalled talks and the fragile truce gave investors little to cheer.

The MSCI gauge of EM Asia stocks inched higher on the day and was set for a third consecutive weekly gain. An MSCI gauge of global EM currencies inched lower to its lowest since April 13.

The Philippine peso weakened 0.5 per cent to 60.755 per dollar, its lowest since late March. The currency has lost nearly 2pc so far this week, facing its worst week in seven. The Philippine central bank (BSP) raised its policy rate to 4.50pc on Thursday to tame inflation

Israeli warplanes launched fresh strikes on southern Lebanon, just hours after US President Donald Trump announced a three-week extension to the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, local media reported.

Gold held steady, but was on track for a weekly drop as elevated oil prices fuelled fears of inflation and higher-for-longer interest rates amid stalled US-Iran peace talks.

Spot gold was down 0.1 per cent at $4,686.29 per ounce, as of 0230 GMT. The metal is down 3pc so far this week after a four-week winning run.

US gold futures for June delivery fell 0.5pc to $4,702.

Brent crude prices have risen over 17pc so far this week to hover above $105 a barrel, as the key Strait of Hormuz remained largely closed despite an extension of the Iran ceasefire.

Adam Ereli, former US ambassador to Bahrain, has told Al Jazeera’s This is America that while the US blockade of Iranian ports and seizure of vessels transporting Iranian oil “makes sense” as a policy, it may not work as intended due to domestic political considerations in the US.

“The Iranians have prepared for this, for this eventuality. They have their own plans. They’ve got alternative means of storing their oil or selling their oil,” Ereli told Al Jazeera.

“Even if they ran out of oil, they have ways to survive a very tough blockade and sanctions regime that, frankly, I think will outlast Trump’s patience and the patience of the American people,” he said.

Al Jazeera reports that the United States has announced a $10m reward for information that leads to the arrest of the leader of an Iran-aligned “terrorist group” in Iraq.

Hashim Finyan Rahim al-Saraji is the leader and secretary-general of Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS).

The statement from the US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice programme said the group was responsible for killing Iraqi civilians and attacking US diplomatic facilities and personnel in Iraq and Syria.

Those providing information “could be eligible for relocation and a reward”, the State Department said.

Speaking to US media less than two hours after US President Donald Trump announced a three-week extension of the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said that the ceasefire situation was “not 100 percent”, according to Al Jazeera.

Danon said in an interview that the situation was “significantly better” than pre-ceasefire, but that Israeli forces “have to retaliate” against Hezbollah sending rockets. “Every time we see a threat, we take action,” he said.

“I think the main question is whether the Lebanese government is capable of enforcing a ceasefire or a peace agreement or actually applying sovereignty over southern Lebanon,” he added.

Jeanine Pirro, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, has said that two oil tankers seized by US forces were pursued due to warrants issued by her office, Al Jazeera reports.

Pirro, who was appointed to her role by Trump, said that the two ships M/T Majestic and M/T Tifani were both carrying “approximately 1.9 million barrels of Iranian oil” when they were seized.

“We will continue to relentlessly investigate, track, and pursue these cases, using every lawful authority to hold sanctioned actors and those who support terrorism accountable, and to deny them of any ability to profit from illicit maritime activity,” Pirro said in a statement shared on social media.

Lebanon’s ambassador to the US, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, has briefly spoken to reporters after leaving a meeting at the White House with Trump and the Israeli ambassador to the US, Al Jazeera reports.

“We expressed Lebanon’s position regarding stopping the Israeli violations and stopping the destruction in the south, and we promised President Trump to make Lebanon great again,” Moawad told Lebanon’s LBCI broadcaster.

Gold holds steady, but is on track for a weekly drop as elevated oil prices fuel fears of inflation and higher-for-longer interest rates amid stalled US-Iran peace talks, Reuters reports.

Spot gold was up 0.1 per cent at $4,697 per ounce, as of 01:05 GMT (6:05am PKT). The metal is down 2.6pc so far this week after a four-week winning run.

Oil prices have risen this morning over fears of renewed military escalation in the Middle East after Iran released footage of commandos boarding a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz and on reports Tehran’s air defences had engaged “hostile targets”.

Brent crude futures rose $1.23, or 1.17 per cent, to $106.3 a barrel by 01:07 GMT (6:07am PKT), while West Texas Intermediate futures were up $1.07, or 1.12pc, at $96.92.

Gulf oil production, sharply curtailed by the Iran conflict, is likely to mostly recover within a few months after the Strait of Hormuz fully reopens, but could take significantly longer, Goldman Sachs says according to Reuters.

The bank estimated about 14.5 million barrels per day of Gulf crude output around 57 per cent of pre-war supply was offline in April, largely due to precautionary shutdowns and stock management rather than physical damage to oilfields.

Goldman said in a research note that a safe and sustained reopening of the strait in the absence of renewed attacks on oil infrastructure would allow production to return relatively quickly, supported by spare capacity in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

However, any recovery will be constrained by logistics and well performance. Available empty tanker capacity in the Gulf has dropped by about 130m barrels, or 50pc, limiting how quickly producers can move oil once exports resume, the bank said.

Navy Secretary John Phelan was fired after conflicts with senior Pentagon leadership over shipbuilding, US President Donald Trump says according to Reuters.

“He’s a hard charger, and he had some conflicts with some other people, mostly as to building and buying new ships,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“Got to get along, especially in the military, got to get along, you know. And some people liked him, some people didn’t, and that’s usually the truth about everything.”

The United States will not exclude Iran from the football World Cup tournament it is hosting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said, reports AFP.

“The problem with Iran, it would be not their athletes. It would be some of the other people that we want to bring with them,” Rubio told reporters, denying Washington had asked the Iranian team not to come.

US President Donald Trump has said he expects to have a three-way meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun soon.

US President Donald Trump says he expects the Israeli and Lebanese leaders to meet with him over the next couple of weeks and voices hope for a permanent peace deal this year, reports AFP.

“I think there’s a very good chance of having peace. I think it should be an easy one,” Trump told reporters as he met the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to announce an extension of a shaky ceasefire.

US President Donald Trump has announced that an Israel-Lebanon ceasefire will be extended by three weeks, despite sporadic fighting on the ground, reports AFP.

“The Ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by THREE WEEKS,” Trump said in a social media posting as he met envoys of Israel and Lebanon.

Hezbollah has said it fired a rocket salvo at Israel’s Shtula in response to Israel violating the ceasefire, reports Reuters.