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FILE PHOTO: A vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Oman’s Musandam province, April 12, 2026. REUTERS/File Photo By Florence Tan, Mariko Katsumura and Jonathan SaulStrait traffic remains far below pre-war levels, industry sources reportChina calls US blockade ‘dangerous and irresponsible’, urges de-escalationWar-risk insurance costs remain high, with cover reviewed every 48 hours, industry sources say The first full day of a US blockade on vessels calling at Iranian ports made little difference to Strait of Hormuztraffic on Tuesday, with at least eight ships including three Iran-linked tankers, crossing the waterway, shipping data showed.US President Donald Trump announced the blockade on Sunday after weekend peace talks in Islamabad between the US and Iran failed to reach a deal. The blockade has created even further uncertainty for shippers, oil companies and war risk insurers. Traffic remains at only a fraction of the 130-plus daily crossings before the US and Israel’s war on Iran began on February 28, industry sources said on Tuesday. “During the first 24 hours, no ships made it past the US blockade,” the US Central Command said on X, adding that six vessels complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port.The three Iran-linked vessels that transited the strait were not heading to Iranian ports and were not affected by the blockade. Panama-flagged Peace Gulf, a medium-range tanker, is heading to Hamriyah port in the United Arab Emirates, LSEG data showed.The vessel typically moves Iranian naphtha, a petrochemical feedstock, to other non-Iranian Middle Eastern ports for export to Asia, Kpler data showed. Prior to this, two U.S.-sanctioned tankers passed through the narrow waterway.Handy tanker Murlikishan is heading to Iraq to load fuel oil on April 16, Kpler data showed. The vessel, formerly known as MKA, has transported Russian and Iranian oil. Another sanctioned tanker, Rich Starry, would be the first to make it through the strait and to exit the Gulf since the blockade began, data from LSEG and Kpler showed.The tanker and its owner, Shanghai Xuanrun Shipping Co, were placed under US sanctions for dealing with Iran. The company could not be reached for immediate comment. Rich Starry is a medium-range tanker carrying about 250,000 barrels of methanol, according to the data. It loaded the cargo at its last port of call, the UAE’s Hamriyah, the data showed. The Chinese-owned tanker has Chinese crew on board, the data showed.China’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that a US blockade of Iranian ports is “dangerous and irresponsible”, warning that it would only aggravate tensions. The ministry did not mention whether Chinese ships were passing the strait. SAILINGS THROUGH THE STRAITFive other vessels had sailed through the strait since the blockade began at 1400 GMT on Monday. These comprised two other chemical and gas tankers, two dry bulk vessels and the Ocean Energy cargo ship that docked at Iran’s Bandar Abbas port. A US military note sent to mariners and seen by Reuters said that humanitarian shipments would be exempt from the blockade.“The United States does not need to block every type of ship or enter the Strait of Hormuz; it can carry out an intermittent blockade,” said Fabrizio Coticchia, professor of political science at Italy’s University of Genoa. “Ships will not be attacked, but rather diverted,” Coticchia said, adding that US warships would be located outside of the strait in the Gulf of Oman. While the cost of war-risk insurance has not increased since the blockade began, it remains at hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional weekly costs, with cover typically reviewed by underwriters every 48 hours, industry sources said.“A return to ‘normality’ in the Middle East arguably now appears more distant than it did one week ago, especially given that the U.S. navy has started a blockade,” ship broker BRS said in a report.“It is anticipated that there will be little or no commercial traffic in the strait for the foreseeable future.” Source link
The Iran war was meant to deliver a defining victory over Tehran that would secure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s place in history. More than six weeks into the conflict, he has been unable to translate military might into political gain. Despite Israel’s overwhelming firepower, its enemies across every front have been weakened but not neutralised. Even after heavy Israeli-U.S. airstrikes and the loss of senior leaders, Iran remains intact and defiant.Tehran’s nuclear stockpiles endure, its missile capability is now proven and it holds sway over the Strait of Hormuz, the artery for a fifth of global oil flows. Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas has not been disarmed or dismantled in Gaza, and Iran-backed Hezbollah continues to fire rockets at northern Israel from Lebanon. “Netanyahu is not winning,” said Danny Citrinowicz, a senior researcher on Iran at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies. “This war is a strategic failure. There is a gap between what he promised at the start of the campaign and where we ended up.” A poster of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hangs along a corridor at the Grand Bazaar in Isfahan, Iran, March 24, 2026. REUTERS/Alaa…
SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB A father mourns next to the body of his three‑year‑old child, Yahya Al‑Malahi, who was killed in an…
Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud discussed with Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif the prospects for the close bilateral relations between the two countries, the existing aspects of cooperation, and opportunities for developing them in various fields.The two sides also discussed the latest regional and international developments, including the situation in the region and the latest developments related to the talks between the US and Iran hosted by Pakistan, and stressed the importance of continuing diplomatic efforts aimed at restoring stability to the region.The Saudi Crown Prince praised the efforts made by the Pakistani Prime Minister to promote growth in Pakistan and develop the strategic partnership between the two countries. Source link
Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) Anandita Philipose said that 1,355 women in Lebanon have been killed or wounded since the escalation of Israeli attacks on Lebanon last month.Speaking at a press conference for UN agencies in Geneva, Philipose explained that on Wednesday, April 8, 99 women and 31 children were killed across Lebanon, where more than 100 bombs were dropped in less than 10 minutes that day.She said, “families are still desperately looking for loved ones. New mothers cradle newborns, uncertain if safety will ever return. Healthcare workers already exhausted are working through their own trauma to save others. The loss is immense.””An estimated 13,500 displaced pregnant women need urgent maternal and reproductive health care, including 1,700 that are still in southern Lebanon, which is under constant attack,” Philipose added.Gender-based violence is threatening 620,000 displaced women and girls in Lebanon, the UNPFA representative said.The UN official noted that the Fund’s employees were directly affected by the repercussions of this crisis. She stressed that amidst the collective shock experienced by the UNPFA team, they continue to respond to the growing and unprecedented needs in the areas of health and protection, adding that their field teams are deployed inside and outside shelters, engaging deep into southern Lebanon and hard-to-reach areas.The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced Tuesday that the death toll from the ongoing Israeli aggression against the country since March 2 has risen to 2,124, with 6,921 more wounded. Source link
* Fighting in south Lebanon focused on Bint Jbeil town* Hezbollah against talks with IsraelIsraeli troops launched an attack yesterday to seize a key town in south Lebanon from Hezbollah fighters holed up there, pressing the war on the group on the eve of rare talks between Israeli and Lebanese government envoys. With the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the US set to meet today in Washington, Lebanon’s foreign minister said Beirut would use face-to-face negotiations to press for a ceasefire in the war, which has complicated wider diplomacy to halt the conflict in the Middle East. But the outlook for the meeting — an unusual, face-to-face encounter between countries formally in a state of war — is uncertain. Israel has said it will not discuss a ceasefire, while Hezbollah has objected to negotiations with Israel, reflecting sharply worsening political tensions in Lebanon. Destroyed buildings in Bint Jbeil, southern Lebanon, near the border, as seen from the Israeli side of the border in northern Israel, yesterday. (Reuters) In a televised speech yesterday, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said the Lebanese government should cancel today’smeeting, describing it as “pointless” and saying his group would continue confronting Israeli attacks on Lebanon. On the ground in south Lebanon, the Israeli military completed its encirclement of the town of Bint Jbeil just over the border and had begun a ground assault there, an Israeli military spokesperson and Lebanese security sources said. The Lebanese sources said Hezbollah fighters holed up inside were ready to fight to the death, citing the strategic and symbolic significance of Bint Jbeil, a Hezbollah stronghold, provincial capital, and gateway to surrounding villages. An Israeli military official said full operational control of Bint Jbeil would be achieved within days, and that only a small number of fighters remained in the area. Yesterday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said there had been a strike on a Red Cross centre in southern Lebanon’s Tyre. Lebanon’s state news agency said one person was killed in the strike. It did not identify the person. Israel’s military said it carried out a strike on a “Hezbollah fighter” in Tyre and was investigating reports the strike had caused damage to a Red Cross centre. The military did not further identify the individual it said that it had killed. Israel’s military separately said a Hezbollah rocket struck the northern Israeli city of Nahariyya. The country’s fire service said it hit a three-storey residential building, while the ambulance service said a woman was lightly injured by glass shattered in the blast. The Israeli military also said that it had intercepted more than 10 drones and rockets launched at Israel from Lebanon since the morning. A foreign security official based in Lebanon said seizing Bint Jbeil would give Israel better control over the entirety of Lebanon’s southeastern border strip, leaving just the western area of the border zone, which is largely forest and harder to clear. Hezbollah opened fire on Israel in support of Tehran on March 2, igniting an Israeli offensive that Lebanese authorities say has killed more than 2,000 people and displaced more than 1 mn. …
Millions of people in Sudan are surviving on just one meal a day, as the country’s food crisis deepens and threatens to spread, according to a report published on Monday by a group of non-governmental organisations.Sudan’s war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which enters its third year on Wednesday, has caused widespread hunger and displaced millions of people amid one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.“In the two areas worst hit by the conflict — North Darfur and South Kordofan — millions of families can only access one meal a day,” the report by Action Against Hunger, CARE International, International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps, and the Norwegian Refugee Council found.“Often, they miss meals for entire days,” the report stated, adding that many people have resorted to eating leaves and animal feed to survive.The army-aligned Sudanese government denies the existence of famine, while the RSF denies responsibility for such conditions in areas under its control.Some 61.7% of Sudan’s population — 28.9mn people — is acutely food-insecure, according to the 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan.The UN has reported widespread atrocities and waves of ethnically charged violence. In November, the global hunger monitor confirmed, for the first time, famine conditions in Al-Fashir, as well as Kadugli. In February, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification found that famine thresholds for acute malnutrition have been surpassed in Um Baru, where the rate of acutely malnourished children under 5 was nearly double the famine threshold, and Kernoi.The report, based on interviews with farmers, traders, and humanitarian actors in Sudan, details how the war in Sudan is driving communities towards famine conditions — due to disruptions to farming as well as the use of starvation as a weapon of war — including deliberate destruction of farms and markets. Communal kitchens are increasingly unable to meet rising needs, while major donor funding cuts are impeding aid agencies’ abilities to respond, the report said. Source link
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah held a telephone conversation today with UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.During the call, they discussed developments in the region, their repercussions, and the efforts being made to address them. Source link
Relatives and friends comfort each other during the funeral of 23-year-old Ali Majed Hamadneh in the village of Deir Jarir, northeast of the city of Ramallah…
Six weeks of conflict between the United States and Iran have left the Gulf’s energy landscape — one in five barrels lost — in a state of severe disarray, with the full extent of the damage only now beginning to come into focus as a fragile ceasefire takes hold.The scale of destruction stretches across the region. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has confirmed that strikes on the Manifa and Khurais oilfields each knocked out roughly 300,000 barrels per day (b/d) of output.Combined with disruptions to the vital East-West pipeline — which carries oil to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz — the kingdom’s overall production capacity has been trimmed by at least 600,000 b/d.Rystad Energy’s head of geopolitical analysis, Jorge León, warned that even a swift ceasefire and reopening of the strait would not normalise markets for at least six months, with some damage potentially taking considerably longer to reverse.Qatar has borne some of the most structurally significant losses. QatarEnergy said LNG facilities at Ras Laffan were hit by Iranian missiles, triggering fires that caused extensive damage, including to Shell’s gas-to-liquids plant, and the company declared force majeure on some long-term supply contracts.The damage is expected to affect roughly 17% of Qatar’s LNG exports and could take up to five years to fully repair. QatarEnergy had already announced a delay to its North Field East expansion project, now expected to start towards the end of 2026 rather than mid-2026, and a further delay of six to twelve months would remove significant volumes from a market where buyers had been anticipating lower prices.The UAE has suffered repeated blows. Abu Dhabi’s Ruwais refinery, one of the largest in the world, sustained multiple fires caused by falling debris from air-defence interceptions, while the Shah natural gas field was shut after a drone attack on March 16 caused a fire at the facility.The Habshan gas processing plant was also suspended twice during the conflict. The critical port of Fujairah, located outside the strait and normally a lifeline for UAE oil exports, has been periodically shut by drone strikes, disrupting flows of both crude and refined fuels.Kuwait’s two main refineries, Mina Al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah — significant pre-war suppliers of jet fuel to Europe and Asia — have each sustained serious damage, raising alarms about aviation fuel shortages in both regions in the weeks ahead. Iraq, which lacks alternative export routes, has been particularly hard hit by the strait’s effective closure, with output falling from 4.3mn b/d before the war to just 800,000 b/d last month.The International Energy Agency estimated that the closure of the strait has blocked exports of around a fifth of global oil consumption, averaging roughly 20mn barrels per day, most of which normally flows to Asia.Beyond oil and gas, the global fertiliser supply has taken a severe hit, with conservative estimates suggesting around 12% of global supply is now lost due to the blockage.With US-Iran talks continuing in Islamabad, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz remains the central condition for any meaningful recovery — though analysts caution that even the best-case outcome will not bring a quick return to normal. Related Story Source link