Worried

US demands Iran reopen the strait of Hormuz while Tehran rejects 45-day ceasefire proposal and insists it wants permanent end to conflictTalks to end Iran war appear to falter a day before Trump deadlineHello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran and its consequences for the region, the world and the global economy.Donald Trump said he was “not at all” concerned about committing possible war crimes as he again threatened to destroy Iran’s bridges and power plants if Tehran does not meet his Tuesday 8pm ET deadline to reopen the strait of Hormuz.The UN security council is expected to vote on Tuesday on a resolution to protect commercial shipping in the strait of Hormuz but in significantly watered-down form after veto-wielding China opposed authorising force, Reuters is reporting, citing diplomats.The Israeli military said early on Tuesday it had completed an “air strike wave” aimed at damaging Iranian regime infrastructure in Tehran and additional areas across Iran. It said soon after that missiles were launched at Israel from Iran and defensive systems were operating to incept them.Israel’s military also said it carried out strikes on three airports in Tehran, targeting several Iranian planes and helicopters.The World Health Organisation suspended medical evacuations from Gaza to Egypt via the Rafah crossing after a contract worker for WHO was killed in Gaza on Monday. Separately, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people outside a school housing displaced Palestinians in central Gaza, health officials said. Before the strikes some Palestinians had clashed with members of an Israeli-backed militia who they said attacked the school, Reuters cited medics and residents as saying.Oil prices extended their rises on Tuesday amid Trump’s heightened rhetoric against Iran. The head of the IMF, meanwhile, said the war would lead to “higher inflation and slower global growth”.The head of International Committee of the Red Cross said that “deliberate threats ... against essential civilian infrastructure and nuclear facilities must not become the new norm in warfare”. Mirjana Spoljaric said, without singling out any country or leader: “Any war fought without limits is incompatible with the law.”Israel said it struck Iran’s largest petrochemical complex on Monday. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the facility had been “destroyed” and his country was “systematically eliminating the Revolutionary Guards’ money machine”.The intelligence chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Maj Gen Majid Khademi, was killed in US-Israeli strikes at dawn on Monday, the Guards said.Saudi Arabia intercepted seven ballistic missiles launched towards its eastern region and debris fell in the vicinity of energy facilities, the defence ministry of said on Tuesday.Two blasts were reportedly heard near the Erbil airport – which hosts advisers from the US-led anti-jihadist coalition – in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, an Agence France-Presse journalist said. Continue reading...

Following the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, gas prices, grocery bills and mortgage rates have all climbed The US-Israel war against Iran has sent shockwaves through global markets, leaving many Americans grappling with a growing financial squeeze on everyday living costs.Following the US-Israeli strikes on Iran – prompting retaliatory attacks on US allies in the region and Iran’s decision to close the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime passage – costs have surged across the US. Gas prices, in particular, have spiked sharply, with the national average rising by roughly 30% over the past month. Grocery bills, mortgage rates and fertilizer costs have also climbed. Continue reading...

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