War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

A French aircraft carrier is heading south of the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea in preparation for a possible defensive mission aimed at restoring safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera reports.

The French Ministry of Armed Forces said the nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle was en route to the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20 per cent of the world’s traded oil transited prior to the war.

Egypt’s net foreign assets plummeted by $6.07 billion in March, the first full month after the United States and Israel began their attack on Iran, to $21.34bn, central bank data showed, Reuters reports.

The Iran war has sent Egypt’s energy import bill shooting up, weakened tourism and prompted the outflow of billions of dollars in portfolio investments by nervous foreigners.

In February, net foreign assets fell by $2.12bn from a record high of $29.54 billion at the end of January.

Israeli strikes on the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh and its outskirts have killed one person and injured several others, Al Jazeera reports citing Iran’s National News Agency (NNA).

A raid on the al-Maslakh neighbourhood of Nabatieh destroyed a residential building, according to the state-run agency, while a drone struck in proximity of the nearby Evangelical School.

Several airstrikes targeted the the area of the school minutes later, damaging several buildings and causing the closure of the main road to Nabatieh al-Fawqa.

European governments’ blanket measures to shield households and businesses from high energy prices could have a significant impact on their public finances if they grow, a senior Fitch Ratings analyst said, Reuters reports.

Federico Barriga-Salazar, the rating agency’s head of Western Europe sovereign ratings, told a webinar the measures so far were “tiny”, ranging from 0.3 per cent of output in Spain to less than 0.01pc of output in France and Britain, reflecting tighter budgets in the latter countries.

Israel’s army has again ordered Lebanese residents flee for their lives in three new areas of southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reports.

The forced evacuation orders were for the towns of Deir al-Zahrani, Bafroa, and Habush.

“In light of the terrorist group Hezbollah’s violation of the ceasefire agreement, the [military] is compelled to take decisive action against it,” the army said in a statement.

“Anyone who remains near Hezbollah operatives, facilities, or combat equipment is putting their life at risk,” it said.

South Africa’s Gold Fields expects its costs to increase as the Iran war has driven the prices of inputs such as fuel and explosives higher, it said, Reuters reports.

“The forecast impact of this, assuming an oil price of $100 per barrel, is between $40 to $50 per ounce on a portfolio level,” it said in a quarterly update.

Gold Fields did not change its cost guidance for the year, however, saying measures, such as more fuel-efficient, high-capacity haulage systems at its mines, should contain costs.

The jump in diesel prices triggered by the Iran war is expected to accelerate electrification of China’s heavy truck fleet this year, analysts and automakers say, and speed a decline in fuel demand in the world’s largest oil importer, Reuters reports.

Electric heavy truck sales grew over the last two years from a niche market to nearly a third of new heavy truck purchases in 2025 thanks to government subsidies, cheap refuelling and expanding charging infrastructure.

Last year’s growth was particularly weighted in the fourth quarter because buyers also thought the trade-in subsidy programme would be ending soon.

New-energy heavy truck sales, which are mostly electric, began this year with the same kind of pop, growing 45 per cent year-on-year to 44,000 units and accounting for more than a quarter of the segment, up from less than 20pc of sales a year earlier.

China and Hong Kong stocks closed higher, led by artificial intelligence and tech shares, as risk sentiment improved on hopes of a US-Iran peace deal, Reuters reports.

China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.5 per cent each. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng was up 1.6pc.

Shipping group ⁠Maersk beat first-quarter profit forecasts but kept its full-year earnings guidance unchanged, warning that the US-Israel war on Iran has left freight rates and costs uncertain, Al Jazeera reports.

Maersk, ⁠often seen as a bellwether for global trade, still projected global container volume growth of 2 to 4 per cent this year, but said that the situation remained volatile.

“The outlook for global container demand in 2026 is highly uncertain. Higher energy ‌prices and constraints on trade in the Upper Gulf region, which in 2025 accounted for around 6 percent of global container trade, pose downside risks to the growth momentum,” the company said in a statement.

Vietnam’s largest refinery, Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical LLC, is considering quarterly tenders and spot cargo procurement to secure sufficient crude oil for its operations as the crisis in the Middle East continues to disrupt supplies, the company said, according to Reuters.

The 200-barrel-per-day refinery, which processes crude oil sourced almost entirely from Kuwait, has suffered crude oil supply disruptions since March due to the war.

Egypt has signed an agreement with Lebanon to rehabilitate its gas pipelines and infrastructure amid ongoing efforts to support the crisis-hit country’s energy sector, Anadolu Agency reports.

According to a statement by the Egyptian Cabinet, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly attended the signing ceremony at the government headquarters in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital, east of Cairo.

The agreement was signed by Egyptian Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi and Lebanese Energy Minister Joe Saddi.

Madbouly said the deal reflects the outcomes of his visit to Beirut last December and underscores Cairo’s commitment to supporting Lebanon in the energy sector and rehabilitating its infrastructure.

The French government is preparing to provide financial aid for airlines hit by jet fuel price hikes, Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot has said, AFP reports.

Tabarot said the government and airlines had made progress in a meeting on aid, including deferrals of social security contributions, extended tax payment deadlines and flexibility on fuel loads.

“Airlines are facing a major shock. The government is fully committed to supporting them and helping them get through this difficult time,” he said.

The Israeli military says Hezbollah launched several rockets towards its soldiers in southern Lebanon over the past few hours but caused no casualties, Al Jazeera reports.

The army said it attacked 15 Hezbollah positions, including weapons storage facilities.

The conflict in the Middle East has already led to a loss of about 120 billion cubic meters of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply over the 2026-2030 period, Reuters reports, citing Gergely Molnar, a gas analyst from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Molnar told the Budapest LNG Summit that the conflict was altering the medium-term gas outlook and tighter market conditions “could persist for longer than previously expected”.

Emirates airline posted a record full-year net profit despite the impact of the Iran war, as the carrier cited strong travel demand throughout most of the period, Reuters reports.

The Gulf carrier said in a statement its profit after tax rose to $5.4 billion in the 12 months to the end of March, up from $5.2bn in the same period a year earlier, as higher passenger yield offset a slight decline in the number of passengers Emirates carried to 53.2 million.

US-sanctioned, cargo-empty tankers are continuing to arrive in Iran-linked shipping routes, according to maritime analytics group Tanker Trackers.

In a post on X, the group said a tanker identified as VINA/VALLEY , which it described as regularly involved in transporting Iranian LPG to Yemen, entered what it called a “blockade perimeter” while transmitting AIS signals.

British energy giant Shell announces a 19-percent increase in net profits for the first quarter as the Middle East war sent oil and gas prices soaring in volatile trading, according to AFP.

Profit after tax increased to $5.69 billion in the January-March period from $4.78 billion in the first quarter of 2025, Shell has said in an earnings statement.

“Shell delivered strong results enabled by our relentless focus on operational performance in a quarter marked by unprecedented disruption in global energy markets,” says chief executive Wael Sawan.

Iran denies attacking a South Korean cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz this week, as US President Donald Trump has said a deal to end the war was “very possible” but warned Washington would resume bombing if talks failed, according to AFP.

Tehran’s embassy in Seoul says it “firmly rejects and categorically denies” allegations that its armed forces were behind a blast aboard the Panama-flagged HMM Namu, which caught fire on Monday while transiting the strategic waterway with 24 crew members on board.