Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump announced a pause in the two-day-old “Project Freedom” to guide ships through the Strait, after a flare-up with Iran strained a fragile ceasefire.

US media reports on Thursday said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto Saudi leader, talked directly to Trump and refused to let US forces use Saudi airspace and bases for the operation.

However, two informed Saudi sources on Friday said US access to Saudi airspace and bases continues for other uses.

“Saudi Arabia was against the operation because it felt it would just escalate the situation and would not work,” one of them told AFP.

On Friday morning, Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy Rayed Krimly said the kingdom “maintains its position supporting de-escalation and negotiations efforts”, in a post on social media.

The comments came as US President Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was still in place despite an Iranian attack on three American destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz.

The US military said it carried out strikes on Iranian military targets in response, although Tehran charged that it was Washington that had initiated the exchange of fire.

It said the Barbados-flagged tanker was carrying Iranian oil and “was trying to harm and disrupt oil exports …. by exploiting regional conditions”.

The oil tanker - which has been under the US sanctions since February - was escorted to the southern coast of Iran and handed over to the judicial authorities, according to state media.

US warplane disables vessel in Gulf of Oman attempting to violate blockade, military says

The seizure came after U.S. and Iranian forces clashed in the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.

Iran has largely closed the narrow waterway, a conduit for about a fifth of the world’s oil flows, before the US-Israeli war on Iran broke out on February 28.

“The UAE air defence systems engaged 2 ballistic missiles and 3 UAVs launched from Iran, resulting in 3 moderate injuries,” the defence ministry said on X.

The UAE has reported multiple missile and drone attacks from Iran this week, the first since a ceasefire came into effect last month.

Iran had previously denied launching recent attacks on the UAE.

Rubio is in Italy for a two-day trip aimed at easing ties with Pope Leo after unprecedented attacks on the pontiff by Trump, while also addressing Washington’s frustration over Italy’s refusal to support the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Meloni had been one of Trump’s firmest supporters in Europe, cultivating close ties with him and presenting herself as a natural bridge between Washington and other EU states that had no natural political affinity with the Republican U.S. leader.

But that alignment has come under increasing strain in recent months, as the Iran war has forced her to balance loyalty to the United States against Italian public animosity to the war and the growing economic cost of the conflict.

Italy’s Meloni visits Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE amid Gulf tensions, energy worries

Before heading to the prime minister’s office, Rubio met Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who said the talks had been positive.

“I am convinced that Europe needs America, Italy needs America, but the United States also needs Europe and Italy,” Tajani told reporters.

Meloni and Rubio were expected to discuss the situation in the Gulf, as well as Russia’s war on Ukraine, U.S. tariffs on European goods and the outlook for Cuba, which Washington is seeking to isolate both diplomatically and economically.

Trump’s attacks on Pope

The Italians will also be keen for a readout on Rubio’s meetings at the Vatican. Trump’s recent attacks on Pope Leo crossed a sensitive line in overwhelmingly Catholic Italy and prompted Meloni to call them “unacceptable.”

Italy urges push for peace talks, reopening of Hormuz Strait

Her criticism in turn drew a sharp rebuke from Trump, who said she lacked courage and had let Washington down. He subsequently threatened to withdraw U.S. troops from Italy.

Meloni said on Monday she would not support such a move, but acknowledged that the decision “doesn’t depend on me”.

Italy last month refused to allow U.S. aircraft to use the Sigonella air base in Sicily for combat operations linked to the Iran conflict. Italian officials have said Washington had not sought prior authorisation from Rome for the use of the site.

Marco Rubio to meet Pope Leo as Trump keeps up attacks on pontiff

Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, a close Meloni ally, later warned that the Iran war was putting U.S. global leadership at risk and said he feared the “madness” of nuclear escalation.

Pollsters say Meloni’s ties to Trump could prove a potential liability with voters ahead of national elections due next year.

The flare-up in fighting came as Washington awaited a response from Tehran to its proposal to end the conflict, which began with joint US-Israeli airstrikes across Iran on February 28.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday three US Navy destroyers were attacked as they moved through the strait, a conduit for around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows that Iran has all but closed since the conflict started.

“Three World Class American Destroyers just transited, very successfully, out of the Strait of Hormuz, under fire. There was no damage done to the three Destroyers, but great damage done to the Iranian attackers,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Trump later told reporters the ceasefire was still in effect and sought to play down the exchange.

Iran accuses US of violating ceasefire with new attacks

“They trifled with us today. We blew them away,” Trump said in Washington.

Iran’s top joint military command accused the US of violating the ceasefire by targeting an Iranian oil tanker and another ship, and of carrying out air attacks on civilian areas on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz and nearby coastal areas.

The military said it responded by attacking US military vessels east of the strait and south of the port of Chabahar. A spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said the Iranian strikes inflicted “significant damage,” but US Central Command said none of its assets were hit.

Iran’s Press TV later reported that, following several hours of fire, “the situation on Iranian islands and coastal cities by the Strait of Hormuz is back to normal now.”

The two sides have occasionally exchanged gunfire since the ceasefire took effect on April 7, with Iran hitting targets in Gulf countries including the UAE.

There were few details immediately available about the latest attack on the emirates.Since the war began,Iran has often targeted the UAE and other Gulf countries, which host US bases.

Oil prices rose in early trade in Asia on Friday, with Brent crude jumping above $100 a barrel after the latest clashes, while stock prices retreated after strong gains this week on hopes for a swift resolution to the conflict.

“Despite ongoing hostilities and still-elevated oil prices, markets are pricing a limited duration,” said Marija Veitmane, head of equity research at State Street Markets.

Trump urges negotiated end to war

Trump suggested ongoing talks with Tehran remained on track despite Thursday’s hostilities, telling reporters, “We’re negotiating with the Iranians.” Before the latest strikes, the US had floated a proposal that would formally end the conflict but did not address key US demands that Iran suspend its nuclear work and reopen the strait.

Tehran said it had not yet reached a decision on the emerging plan.

Even so, Trump said Tehran had acknowledged his demand that Iran could never get a nuclear weapon, a prohibition he said was spelled out in the US proposal.

“There’s zero chance. And they know that, and they’ve agreed to that. Let’s see if they are willing to sign it,” Trump said. Asked when any deal might be reached, Trump said, “It might not happen, but it could happen any day. I believe they want to deal more than I do.”

Responding to a query on Project Freedom, Trump said that Pakistan asked the US “not to do it” during negotiations.

“Pakistan has been fantastic. Their leaders have been fantastic; the field marshal and the prime minister,” he said. “We’ll go back to it if we have to. They asked us not to do it during the negotiations,” he said.

The war has tested Trump’s relationship with his US base of supporters, after he had campaigned against involving the United States in foreign wars and promised to bring down fuel prices.

Average US gasoline prices have climbed more than 40% since late February, rising by about $1.20 a gallon to more than $4, according to data from the American Automobile Association, as disruptions to oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz pushed crude oil prices higher.

The US ⁠targeted “an Iranian oil tanker ​traveling from Iran’s coastal waters ​near Jask toward the Strait of Hormuz, as well as another vessel ​entering the Strait of ​Hormuz near the Emirati port of Fujairah,” ‌a ⁠spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said in a statement carried by state ​media.

Oil prices jump on renewed US-Iran hostilities

“At the ​same ⁠time, with the cooperation of some regional ​countries, they carried out ​air ⁠attacks on civilian areas along the coasts of Bandar Khamir, ⁠Sirik, ​and Qeshm Island.”

The explosion happened at around 4:40 p.m. (0840 GMT) on Monday in Hunan’s Liuyang, known as China’s fireworks capital because it manufactures 60% of the domestic supply of the devices and about 70% of exports.

Xinhua said on-site research and rescue work has been completed and 51 people are being treated at hospitals. An investigation into the incident has been launched and police have summoned eight people for questioning on suspicion of causing the deadly explosion, state media said.

The probe is under supervision of China’s top prosecutors while Hunan has ordered the suspension of operations for all fireworks plants in the city for safety inspections.

In June, an explosion at a fireworks factory in Hunan killed nine people.

In 2019, a chemical plant blast in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu left 78 people dead.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Thursday that Moscow had declared a ceasefire from midnight on May 8 until May 10 for its World War Two commemorations.

Zelenskiy this week had proposed an open-ended ceasefire starting on May 6, which he said Russia has violated.

Countries worldwide are tracking passengers on the virus-hit ship to prevent further spread of the hantavirus. Three people - a Dutch couple and ​a German national - have died in the outbreak on ​the MV Hondius, while eight people are believed ⁠to have contracted the virus.

Hantavirus is usually spread by rodents ​but can in rare cases be transmitted person-to-person.

The two residents ​of Singapore, men aged 67 and 65, have been isolated at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases. They were onboard the MV Hondius ​when it departed from the Argentinian port of Ushuaia ​on April 1, the CDA said in a statement.

Monkeypox: expert underscores need for greater awareness

“One has a runny nose ‌but ⁠is otherwise well, and the other is asymptomatic. The risk to the general public in Singapore is currently low,” the CDA said.

If they test negative for hantavirus, the men ​will be quarantined ​for 30 ⁠days from the date of last exposure and if they test positive, they will remain ​hospitalised for monitoring and treatment.

Both had disembarked ​from the ⁠ship and were also on the same flight as a confirmed hantavirus case from St Helena to Johannesburg on April ⁠25. ​The confirmed case did not travel ​to Singapore and has since passed away in South Africa, the agency said.

Also read: Iran says it forced US warship back from Strait of Hormuz, US denies missile strike

“Following the attack by the US military on an Iranian tanker, the enemy units in the Strait of Hormuz came under Iranian missile fire and were forced to flee after suffering damage,” the broadcaster IRIB reported, citing a military officer.

Oil prices jump on renewed US-Iran hostilities

The emerging plan centres on a short-term memorandum rather than a comprehensive peace deal, underscoring deep divisions between the two sides and signalling that it would be an interim step.

Hopes that even a partial deal could lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz have already moved markets, with global stocks approaching record highs on Thursday and oil prices nursing steep losses on bets that supply disruptions could ease.

READ MORE: Iran says it is reviewing new US proposal after sources say sides closing in on deal

Tehran and Washington have scaled back ambitions for a sweeping settlement as differences persist, particularly over Iran’s nuclear programme — including the fate of its highly enriched uranium stockpiles and how long Tehran would halt nuclear work.

Instead, they are working toward a temporary arrangement set out in a one-page memo aimed at preventing a return to conflict and stabilising shipping through the strait, the sources and officials said.

“Our priority is that they announce a permanent end to war and the rest of the issues could be thrashed out once they get back to direct talks,” a senior Pakistani official involved in mediation between the two sides told Reuters.

The proposed framework would unfold in three stages: formally ending the war, resolving the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz and launching a 30-day window for negotiations on a broader agreement, according to the sources and officials.

The Philippines, current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has pushed to expedite approval of a regional oil-sharing framework agreement.

Economic ministers at the meetings in the Philippine city of Cebu “identified practical, concrete response measures” on strengthening energy and food security and committed to intensify coordination, the chair said in a statement.

“ASEAN needs to strengthen our crisis coordination and institutional readiness,” said Ma. Theresa Lazaro, the Philippine foreign affairs secretary.

Diplomats and analysts say the energy issue will prove a test of the Philippines’ skills as chair, forcing it to shape a rare regional response while preventing ASEAN’s own conflicts from slipping down the agenda.

These include Myanmar’s civil war and last year’s deadly and still unresolved border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, where a fragile ceasefire has held since late December.

The Treasury Department accused Iraq’s minister Ali Maarij Al-Bahadly of abusing “his position to facilitate the diversion of oil to be sold for the benefit of the Iranian regime and its proxy militias in Iraq.”

The department is also sanctioning three senior leaders of Iran-aligned militias Kata’ib Sayyid Al-Shuhada and Asa’ib Ahl Al-Haq, it said.

“Treasury will not stand idly by as Iran’s military exploits Iraqi oil to fund terrorism against the United States and our partners,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

The sanctions freeze any US assets of those targeted and generally bar Americans from dealing with them.

Leo and Rubio “renewed the shared commitment to fostering good bilateral relations,” the Vatican said in a statement after the first meeting between the pope and a Trump cabinet official in nearly a year, amid an atmosphere of tension with Washington.

Leo, the first US pope, drew Trump’s ire after becoming a firm critic of the US-Israeli war on Iran and the Trump administration’s hardline anti-immigration policies.

Trump has kept up an unprecedented series of public attacks on the pope in recent weeks, drawing a backlash from Christian leaders across the political spectrum.

Rubio’s meeting with Leo is a sign of a “strong” relationship between the Vatican and the US, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.

Rubio spent 2-1/2 hours at the Vatican before driving away in a convoy under tight security. He also met with senior Vatican officials, including top diplomat Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

The US embassy to the Holy See said on X that Leo and Rubio had discussed “topics of mutual interest in the Western Hemisphere”.

The Vatican statement said the two had “exchanged views” on the world situation and spoke about “the need to work tirelessly in favour of peace.”

The meeting appeared to have run longer than planned. The pope arrived 40 minutes late for a subsequent meeting with Vatican staffers and thanked them for being patient.

Vatican video from the beginning of the closed-door encounter showed Leo shaking hands with his guest and addressing him formally as “Mr. Secretary”, to which Rubio, a Catholic, responded: “Great to see you.”

Rubio was also seen giving the pope a small crystal football. He joked that he knew that Leo, originally from Chicago and known as a fan of the White Sox, was more of a “baseball guy”.

Members of a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit expressed criticism of the government’s efforts to censure Kelly, a retired Navy captain and Arizona Democrat, over more than an hour of questioning.

“These are people who serve their country. Many of them put their lives on the line,” Circuit Judge Florence Pan told a Justice Department lawyer. “You’re saying that they have to give up their retired status in order to say something that is a textbook example — taught at West Point and the Naval Academy — that you can disobey illegal orders?”

Kelly spoke outside the courthouse in downtown Washington after the hearing. “This was a day in court not just for me, but for the First Amendment rights of millions of us,” Kelly said.

The Pentagon and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Kelly sued the Pentagon in January, alleging the move by Republican President Donald Trump’s administration to demote him and reduce his retirement pay was retaliatory and violated the US Constitution’s First Amendment protection of free speech. The Pentagon appealed after US District Judge Richard Leon issued a preliminary injunction blocking the administration in February from pursuing its campaign to censure Kelly. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth moved to sanction Kelly, a former astronaut, after Kelly took part in a November 2025 video amid rising criticism of the Trump administration’s deployment of the National Guard in US cities and authorization of lethal strikes on suspected Latin American drug smuggling boats. In the clip, Kelly stated: “Our laws are clear: you can refuse illegal orders.” The government’s lawyer told the appeals court on Thursday that the Constitution does not protect speech by military officers who urge disobedience to lawful orders, even if the officer is retired. “It’s very clear that this is about a pattern and totality of conduct, not any one line or any one statement taken in isolation,” Justice Department lawyer John Bailey told the court.

Retired officers remain part of the armed forces, are subject to recall to active duty and can influence service members, the Trump administration argued.

Kelly’s lawyers countered that the Pentagon’s actions amounted to retaliation against protected political speech on matters of public concern. “The punishments imposed on Senator Kelly are textbook retaliation against disfavored speech,” Kelly’s lawyer, Benjamin Mizer, argued to the appeals court.

This was the first time a Chinese oil tanker has been attacked, a person with knowledge of the matter told Caixin on Thursday.

Traffic through the vital strait, through which 20% of the world’s oil and gas supplies pass, has been at a virtual standstill since the Iran conflict began on February 28.

The unnamed vessel’s deck caught fire and the ship was marked “CHINA OWNER & CREW,” according to Caixin. It was not clear if any of the vessel’s crew were injured. China remains a key buyer of Iranian oil, which has been targeted by a US blockade in the Gulf of Oman. China’s foreign ministry did not respond to an out-of-hours request for comment.

Trump said on Monday the US would begin efforts to assist ships stranded in Hormuz, though he suspended it a day later, after Iran responded by launching drones and missiles at several ships and at its neighbours, particularly the UAE.

Maritime security sources said the Chinese vessel that was damaged was believed to be the Marshall Islands-flagged oil products and chemical tanker JV Innovation, which had reported a fire on its deck to nearby ships on Monday.

The incident took place off the United Arab Emirates coast in the Gulf close to Mina Saqr, the report said. Due to the ongoing conflict between the US and Iran, hundreds of ships and 20,000 seafarers remain trapped inside the Gulf, with traffic through Hormuz paralysed after renewed attacks on ships this week.

The two strikes come less than a fortnight after a large-scale, coordinated offensive by jihadists and separatists on junta positions, which plunged the west African country into a fresh security crisis.

“At least 35 people were killed on Wednesday in near simultaneous attacks” on the villages of Korikori and Gomossogou, a youth official said.

A security and an administrative source both reported more than 30 dead in the assaults, claimed by the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).

WAMAPS, a group of west African journalists specialising in Sahel security, said the provisional toll was more than 50 villagers killed and several still missing.

“Villages have been looted and some properties set on fire,” the group added.

The Malian army said on Thursday it had carried out “a targeted operation against terrorist armed groups” in the area and around a dozen fighters were “neutralised”.

It did not give further details.

The devastating assaults on April 25 and 26 by the JNIM and the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), an ethnic Tuareg separatist movement, targeted strategic towns including Kidal in the desert north, and Kati, a garrison town near the capital Bamako.

Defence Minister Sadio Camara, the 47-year-old architect of Mali’s military alliance with Russia, was killed by a car bomb at his residence.

Kidal and other towns and villages in the north were captured and are now under the control of the FLA and the jihadists, who have since imposed a blockade on Bamako.

On Wednesday, security, legal and family sources told AFP that several opposition figures and military personnel had been detained or abducted following the attacks.

They are the harshest sentences that Beijing has meted out on high-ranking military officials as part of Xi’s sweeping anti-corruption purge since coming to power in 2012.

The sentences against Wei Fenghe, 72, and Li Shangfu, 68, will be “commuted to life imprisonment” after a two-year reprieve, the Xinhua state news agency reported.

The ex-ministers, who served between 2018 and 2023, were also former members of China’s powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) , which oversees the military and is headed by Xi.

They also appeared regularly on television along with other officials.

Wei was convicted of accepting bribes and Li was convicted of accepting and offering bribes, Xinhua said.

The pair were also stripped of their political rights for life as well as their personal property.

Adam Ni, editor of China Neican, a newsletter on Chinese current affairs, said the ruling against Wei and Li was “pretty extraordinary”.

“A death sentence with a two-year reprieve is actually the strongest punishment China gives to its high level leaders nowadays,” he told AFP.

“It’s a loud message from Xi.”

Wei and Li are the latest military officials to fall in Xi’s anti-corruption purge that has focused on the armed forces in recent years, with several top generals removed.

Critics say the crackdown allows the Chinese president to eliminate potential political rivals.

In January, Beijing’s defence ministry said it was investigating China’s most powerful general Zhang Youxia, a vice chairman of the CMC — the highest-ranking military figure to be brought down in recent decades.

The same probe is targeting Liu Zhenli, chief of staff of the CMC’s joint staff department, which oversees combat planning.

Xi praised the fight against corruption within the army a few days after that investigation was announced.

In another high-profile case in 2016, former CMC vice-chairman Guo Boxiong was jailed for life, also for corruption.

China Neican’s Ni said the sentences served as a “deterrence” to ensure “military leaders know what awaits them if they continue to engage in serious corruption, which has been an epidemic in the PLA (People’s Liberation Army)”.

Wei served as China’s defence minister from 2018 to 2023, with Li serving briefly as his successor.

Both were expelled from the ruling Communist Party over corruption allegations — a fate synonymous with political death in China.

Another sick passenger from the MV Hondius landed in Europe earlier in the day, as the vessel headed to a Spanish island and health officials scrambled to map the outbreak of the potentially deadly human-to-human strain.

The fate of the Hondius sparked international alarm after three people travelling on it died, though health officials have played down fears of a wider global outbreak from the rat-borne virus, which is less contagious than Covid-19.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists in Geneva that five confirmed and three suspected cases had been reported overall, including the three deaths.

“Given the incubation period of the Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it’s possible that more cases may be reported,” he said, referring to the rare strain detected aboard the Hondius, which can be transmitted between humans.

His prediction was proved swiftly correct, with the Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands announcing later on Thursday another patient had tested positive.

But the WHO’s emergency alert and response director Abdi Rahman Mahamud insisted: “We believe this will be a limited outbreak if the public health measures are implemented and solidarity shown across all countries.”

People thought to have contracted the virus are being treated or isolating in Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and South Africa.

“This is not the start of an epidemic. This is not the start of a pandemic,” WHO epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director Maria Van Kerkhove insisted. “This is not Covid.”

Hantavirus is a rare respiratory disease that is usually spread from infected rodents and can cause respiratory and cardiac distress as well as haemorrhagic fevers.

There are no vaccines and no known cure for it, meaning that treatment consists solely of attempting to relieve the symptoms.

A passenger is thought to have contracted the virus before boarding the ship in Argentina and eventually infected others on board as it sailed across the Atlantic.

Three evacuees were whisked away from the ship on Wednesday and a fourth landed on Thursday in Amsterdam, said the vessel’s operator, Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions.

“No symptomatic individuals are present on board” the ship at the moment, as it sails toward the Spanish island of Tenerife, it said in a statement.

Two people who returned to the UK from the ship have been advised to self-isolate, the UK Health Security Agency said, adding they were asymptomatic and insisting the risk to the public was “very low”.

Israel is widely believed to have developed nuclear weapons in the 1960s but keeps a deliberately ambiguous policy by neither confirming nor denying its arsenal, which is is not subject to any international monitoring.

Some 30 Democratic lawmakers led by Representative Joaquin Castro said that the United States needed clear answers after President Donald Trump joined Israel in a war against Iran, launched in part over charges that Tehran has been seeking to build a weapon through its nominally civilian nuclear program.

READ MORE: Israeli strike kills top Hamas official’s son in Gaza: hospital

“We cannot develop coherent nonproliferation policy for the Middle East, including with respect to Iran’s civil nuclear program and Saudi Arabia’s civil nuclear ambitions, while maintaining a policy of official silence about the nuclear weapons capabilities of one party central to the ongoing conflict in which the United States is a direct participant,” they wrote in the letter made public late Wednesday.

“We ask that you hold Israel to the same standard of transparency that the United States expects from any other country that may be pursuing or retaining nuclear weapons capability.”

The lawmakers asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to reply by May 18 to explain Israel’s nuclear capabilities as well as its nuclear doctrine, including whether Israel could use the ultra-destructive weapons in Iran.

They also asked for an assessment of risk for US citizens of any future Iranian strike on Israel’s secretive Dimona nuclear research center. Iranian missiles injured dozens nearby in March, stunning residents of the tightly guarded desert town.

It is highly unlikely the administration will respond on Israel’s nuclear program, on which administrations across party lines have long refused to comment.

In 2006, then defense secretary Robert Gates indirectly appeared to confirm Israel’s nuclear program in testimony to Congress while discussing Iran.

Prominent Democrats who signed the letter include representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ro Khanna.

The intervention comes amid escalating criticism of Israel from Democrats. The party has almost universally condemned Trump’s decision to join the Iran war, with many lawmakers saying their former president Joe Biden should have been tougher on Israel over its relentless military campaign in Gaza.

The volumes are a fraction of the UAE’s typical exports before the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran but they demonstrate the risks the producer and buyers are willing to take to free up oil sales. The other Gulf producers - Iraq, Kuwait, and Qatar - have either halted sales, deeply cut prices to entice uninterested buyers or are shipping only through the Red Sea in the case of Saudi Arabia.

In April, the UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Co managed to export at least 4 million barrels of its Upper Zakum crude and 2 million barrels of Das crude on four tankers from terminals inside the Gulf, according to three sources, shiptracking data from Kpler and an analysis of satellite data from SynMax.

Iran sets up new mechanism to manage vessel transit through Hormuz

The shipments were either unloaded by ship-to-ship (STS) transfer to a vessel that later carried the oil to a Southeast Asian refinery, unloaded into storage in Oman or sailed directly to South Korean refineries, according to the three sources, one with direct knowledge of the matter and two familiar with ADNOC’s operations, and the Kpler and SynMax data.

Reuters is reporting this system of exports for the first time.

ADNOC declined to comment on the shipments.

Tehran responded to the U.S.-Israeli attacks that began on February 28 by effectively shutting the Strait of Hormuz to exports other than its own, bottling up a fifth of global oil and gas supply. The closure and a U.S. blockade that has halted Iranian exports in recent weeks has pushed global oil prices over $100 a barrel.

ADNOC has had to cut exports by more than 1 million barrels per day since the start of the war, from the 3.1 million bpd it shipped last year, Kpler data showed. Most of its exports are its Murban grade exported by pipeline from onshore fields to Fujairah.

Iran says it forced US warship back from Strait of Hormuz, US denies missile strike

Risky sailing

ADNOC’s shipments risk attacks from Iran. This was highlighted by the UAE’s accusation on Monday Iran used drones to attack an empty ADNOC tanker, the Barakah, passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

The ships move with their automatic identification system transponders turned off, which reduces the chance they will be spotted by Iranian forces. The tactic is commonly employed by Iran to skirt U.S. sanctions on its oil exports.

It also makes it difficult to track the total volumes of ADNOC’s exports through industry shipping data, meaning the volumes it shipped from the Gulf in April could be higher.

Still, Kpler data showed the VLCC Hafeet loaded 2 million barrels of Upper Zakum inside the Gulf on April 7 and exited the strait on April 15.

Outside the strait, the cargo was transferred to the Greek-flagged VLCC Olympic Luck on April 17-18 and shipped to the Pengerang refinery in Malaysia, a joint venture of Malaysia’s state-owned oil company Petronas and Saudi Aramco, Kpler data and SynMax analysis showed.

US Treasury chief says Hormuz operation can ease oil shock

Hafeet is managed by the Logistics and Services unit of ADNOC, which declined to comment. Greece-based Olympic Shipping & Management, which manages the Olympic Luck, and Petronas did not respond to requests for comment.

Splitting up the oil by STS allows ADNOC to sell smaller cargoes and free up the VLCCs to move quickly back inside the Gulf to load again.

One of the broken up cargoes of Upper Zakum sailed to a Northeast Asian refinery and sold at a record premium of $20 a barrel over ADNOC’s official selling price, said the source with direct knowledge of the matter.

For Abu Dhabi’s Das crude, the VLCC Aliakmon I loaded 2 million barrels of the grade on April 27 and exited the strait on May 2, discharging at Oman’s Ras Markaz storage terminal on May 3, Kpler data showed.

Kpler and SynMax also found two Suezmax tankers - the Odessa and Zouzou N. - carrying 1 million barrels each of Upper Zakum, headed to South Korea after exiting the strait.

All three tankers are managed by Greece-based Dynacom Tankers Management. It was not clear who chartered the Dynacom tankers and the company did not respond to a request for comment.

CMA CGM vessel attacked in Strait of Hormuz as shipping halted by US-Iran war

ADNOC intends to continue to sell oil from inside the strait, notifying some customers in late April they could load Das and Upper Zakum crude from May via STS transfers at ports outside the Gulf including Fujairah and Oman’s Sohar.

The company is holding talks with Asian refiners to sell May-loading Das and Upper Zakum cargoes, said the source with direct knowledge of ADNOC’s plans, and an Indian refining source, who declined to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

Azzam Khalil al-Hayya, 23, the son of top Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, “was martyred after succumbing to wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike targeting him yesterday,” Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital said in a statement.

The city’s Al-Ahli hospital and a security source said on Wednesday that a strike on the Al-Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City in the evening killed one person and wounded 10 others, including Azzam Khalil al-Hayya.

READ MORE: Israeli strikes kill three Palestinians, including a child, in Gaza

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment on the incident.

Azzam Khalil al-Hayya is the fourth of Khalil al-Hayya’s seven sons to be killed in Israeli attacks, according to a Hamas source.

The third, Hammam, was killed in an Israeli strike targeting Hamas leaders in Doha in September, which killed six people.

Khalil al-Hayya is the head of Hamas in Gaza despite living in exile in Qatar. He is currently vying for the leadership of the movement.

He survived the strike on Doha.

In a statement, Hamas said that the killing of Azzam Khalil al-Hayya “came within the framework of attempts to exert pressure on the resistance leadership and its negotiating delegation, after the occupation’s failure to impose its conditions or achieve its declared objectives.”

But Gaza remains gripped by daily violence as Israeli strikes continue, with both the military and Hamas accusing one another of violating the truce.

At least 846 Palestinians have been killed since the truce began, according to Gaza’s health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

“Around 10 to 20 missiles struck every night. No one could sleep,” he told Reuters, describing conditions outside Iran’s port of Khorramshahr on his return home last week, after an arduous 15-day journey through Iraq, Armenia, and Dubai.

The 28-year-old had spent the previous six months working on the Iranian ship Ilda, carrying construction material to Dubai.

The vessel was one of 2,000 trapped in the vicinity of the 104-mile (17-km) waterway that normally carries a fifth of the world’s supplies of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Violence in the region has killed at least three Indian seafarers so far. Before the conflict began in February, about 138 ships passed through the Strait each day, the Joint Maritime Information Centre says.

As food ran out and communication links snapped, Chiranjeevi lost contact with his widowed mother at home in the southern port city of Visakhapatnam.

“They (our families) were very concerned,” he said.

A colleague, Anant Singh Chauhan, also worried whether he would be reunited with his parents, living in the town of Dewaria in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

“Sometimes, we used to feel we won’t be able to make it back home,” said Chauhan, who returned along with Chiranjeevi.

The South Asian nation is among the top three global suppliers of seafarers, government figures show, with a workforce 300,000-strong by September last year.

The Indian government says it has helped bring safely home about 3,000 sailors from the Gulf region, and at least 23 this week.

Both men said they borrowed money at exorbitant rates from relatives and moneylenders to pay fees of 450,000 rupees ($4,800) each to secure jobs on international shipping routes.

Despite running out of savings and facing mounting debt, Chauhan said he felt only relief on returning.

“It is like a rebirth for us,” he told Reuters in the financial capital of Mumbai, as he gazed at the city’s Gateway of India monument and the Taj Mahal luxury hotel standing by the water’s edge.

This voter trend highlights hardening religious polarisation in the officially secular nation, and the deep-seated ideological division between India’s two biggest political parties, analysts and political commentators say.

Modi adopted an unabashedly pro-Hindu platform to take power in 2014, and his Bharatiya Janata Party largely follows a Hindu-first ideology called Hindutva. Such voter fragmentation helps expand its dominance across the country because Hindus are nearly 80% of India’s 1.42 billion people compared with about 14% Muslims.

“The rise of the BJP has led to a consolidation of Muslim voters behind so‑called secular parties, particularly the Congress - a form of reverse polarisation is taking place,” said political analyst Rasheed Kidwai, visiting fellow with the Observer Research Foundation.

India’s Modi expands reach, clinching opposition stronghold

Muslim leaders and analysts say voters from that community are increasingly choosing Congress or other strong regional parties over smaller parties that focus on their interests but have struggled to be part of any governments in recent years.

Congress fared poorly in the elections held last month across four states and one federal territory, with results declared this week. Its alliance secured control of only one state, while a BJP-led coalition won three and a new regional outfit took the remaining contest.

The Muslim support for Congress was most evident in the BJP-ruled northeastern state of Assam, where 18 of its 19 newly elected lawmakers are from the community, up from roughly 16 in the previous assembly. The party had fielded 20 Muslim candidates and about 80 non-Muslims for the 126-member legislature, in which the BJP won 82 seats.

The Assam-based All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), which mainly draws Muslim support, saw its tally collapse to just two seats from 16 five years earlier.

In neighbouring West Bengal, which the BJP won for the first time with 207 lawmakers in a 294-member assembly, the two Congress legislators elected were Muslims.

The BJP did not field any Muslim candidates in either Assam or West Bengal. Party leaders in both states, including the prospective chief minister of Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, credited the victories to support from Hindu voters.

“It was a victory for Hindutva,” Adhikari said.

Reverse polarisation

“In the future - depending on local political dynamics - if Muslim voters increasingly consolidate behind Congress, dominant Hindu voters may also regroup more strongly around the BJP,” said political columnist Radhika Ramaseshan.

Congress has capitalised on the fear and insecurity felt by many Muslim voters under BJP rule where they feel marginalised and their citizenship questioned, said Badruddin Ajmal, chief of the AIUDF in Assam.

“The argument being made is that only a party with the strength to fight the BJP at the centre can ultimately address these concerns. This is not true but voters believe it because they are scared.”

After the BJP accused Congress of becoming a “new Muslim League”, Congress said Muslims account for about 12% of its 664 state legislators nationwide, compared with roughly 78% who are Hindus, in line with India’s religious makeup.

“I am embarrassed to talk about these things in the 21st century,” said Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera, stressing that his party, which has ruled India for 54 years since independence in 1947, had broad support.

“We have always stood by the weak and the oppressed and will continue to do so, irrespective of their religion and caste.”

The BJP too has often reached out to Muslim voters, although it did not field any Muslim candidate in the 2024 general election.

Modi however has denied playing the religious card to win votes.

“The day I start talking about Hindu-Muslim (in politics) will be the day I lose my ability to lead a public life,” he said while filing his candidature to the election two years ago. “I will not do Hindu-Muslim. That is my resolve.”

But Ramaseshan, the columnist, said communal rhetoric, especially closer to elections, has become much more marked under Modi than in past BJP regimes.

“The BJP and the larger Sangh (the party’s ideological parent) are shaping a new idea of India as a ‘Hindu rashtra (nation)’ — and that narrative has increasingly embedded itself in public consciousness,” she said. “In the years ahead, we may see a complete overturning of the very idea of India.”

An Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson cited by Iran’s ISNA news agency said Tehran would convey its response, while Iranian lawmaker Ebrahim Rezaei, a spokesperson for parliament’s powerful foreign policy and national security committee, described the proposal as “more of an American wish-list than a reality.”

“They want to make a deal. We’ve had very good talks over the last 24 hours, and it’s very possible that we’ll make a deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, saying later “it’ll be over quickly.”

Trump has repeatedly played up the prospect of an agreement to end the war that started on February 28, so far without success.

The two sides remain at odds over a variety of difficult issues, such as Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its control of the Strait of Hormuz, which before the war handled one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply.

Trump pauses Hormuz operation: PM Shehbaz says ‘grateful’ for courageous leadership

A Pakistani source and another source briefed on the mediation said an agreement was close on a one-page memorandum that would formally end the conflict.

That would kick off discussions to unblock shipping through the strait, lift US sanctions on Iran and set curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme, the sources said.

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf appeared to mock reports that indicated the two sides were close, writing on social media in English that “Operation Trust Me Bro failed.”

Qalibaf said such reports amounted to US spin following its failure to open the Strait of Hormuz.

Deal hopes drive oil down, shares rise

Reports of a possible agreement caused global oil prices to tumble to two-week lows on Wednesday, with benchmark Brent crude futures falling about 11% to around $98 a barrel at one point before rising back above the $100 mark.

Global share prices also leapt and bond yields fell on optimism about an end to a war that has disrupted energy supplies.

“The contents of the US-Iran peace proposals are thin, but there is an expectation in the market that further military action will not take place,” said Takamasa Ikeda, a senior portfolio manager at GCI Asset Management.

Trump on Tuesday paused a two-day-old naval mission to reopen the blockaded strait, citing progress in peace talks.

NBC News, citing two unnamed US officials, said Trump’s abrupt reversal came after Saudi Arabia suspended the US military’s ability to use a Saudi base for the operation.

Saudi officials were surprised and angered by Trump’s announcement that the US would help escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, leading them to tell Washington they would deny the US permission to fly military aircraft out of a Saudi base or through Saudi airspace, NBC reported.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

The US military has kept up its own blockade on Iranian ships in the region. US Central Command said forces fired at an unladen Iranian-flagged tanker on Wednesday, disabling the vessel as it attempted to sail toward an Iranian port in violation of the blockade. 

No mention of key us demands

The source briefed on the mediation said the US negotiations were being led by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner. If both sides agreed on the preliminary deal, that would start the clock on 30 days of detailed negotiations to reach a full agreement.

While the sources said the memorandum would not initially require concessions from either side, they did not mention several key demands Washington has made in the past, which Iran has rejected, such as the restrictions on Iran’s missile programme and an end to its support for proxy militias in the Middle East.

The sources also made no mention of Iran’s existing stockpile of more than 400 kg (882 pounds) of near-weapons-grade uranium.

The largest US bank offered $1 million to settle the allegations, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter, adding the former banker rejected it and asked for more money.

The plaintiff, who in the lawsuit has the placeholder name John Doe, last week sued JPMorgan and leveraged finance executive Lorna Hajdini, alleging that he was subjected to sexual assault and racial harassment at the bank.

The lawsuit was refiled on Monday in New York state court after being taken down previously.

A lawyer for John Doe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“While we cannot comment on confidential discussions, we did try to reach an agreement to avoid the time and expense of litigation and to support an employee who was being threatened with the very reputational harm now unfolding,” a spokesperson for JPMorgan said.

“We continue to believe these allegations have no merit and new information raised as a result of the public filing only reinforces that conclusion.”

In his lawsuit, John Doe claimed Hajdini allegedly used her seniority to coerce him into non-consensual sex acts.

He also alleged the leveraged finance team directed racial slurs at him.

The complainant, a man of Asian descent residing in New York, joined JPMorgan’s leveraged finance group in March 2024 as a senior vice president, according to the suit.

In May 2025, the plaintiff filed an internal complaint at JPMorgan, alleging he had been subjected to race- and gender-based discrimination and sexual abuse.

John Doe was placed on administrative leave after the complaint was lodged, according to the suit.

JPMorgan has said it did not find any merit to the claims after an internal investigation including numerous employees. The complainant refused to participate in the investigation, according to the bank.

Lawyers for Hajdini have denied the allegations and said the two never had any sexual or romantic relations. “She maintains that his false claims are entirely fabricated and tarnishing her reputation,” Hajdini’s lawyers said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a resounding victory on Monday in the eastern state of more than 100 million people, taking 207 of the 294 assembly seats, for its first-ever state victory in West Bengal.

Chandranath Rath, 41, a close aide of West Bengal’s BJP chief Suvendu Adhikari was shot dead late on Wednesday near his home in Kolkata.

Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, now tipped to become the state chief minister, called it “cold-blooded murder”.

Motorbikes blocked Rath’s vehicle, before the attackers opened fire in a barrage of around a dozen shots, hitting Rath multiple times in the heart.

“The shooting happened at about 11 pm on Wednesday – the bikes that stopped Rath’s car have been seized,” West Bengal police chief Siddh Nath Gupta told AFP.

Four killed in post-poll unrest in India’s West Bengal

“The bikes had fake registration numbers, and we are looking for the assailants.”

Pritam Sengupta, a doctor at Apollo Hospital told AFP, that Rath was “brought dead with multiple bullet injuries in his chest.”

The killing brings the total killed since the results were announced on Monday to at least five.

West Bengal had been ruled by Modi’s fierce critic and adversary, Mamata Banerjee, as chief minister since 2011.

Banerjee, leader of the regional All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), also lost her seat in the polls and has rejected the results.

Analysts say the BJP’s victory in the largely Bengali-speaking state is one of its most significant since Modi was first elected prime minister in 2014, expanding its dominance beyond the Hindi-speaking heartland of north and central India.

The killing has added to political tensions in the state, with the BJP and TMC trading accusations over the deaths since the results.

“It was a planned murder,” BJP’s West Bengal president Samik Bhattacharya said.

“This is expected from Trinamool Congress,” he alleged. “They are responsible for this death”.

The TMC rejected any role in the shooting, but accused the BJP of targeting their supporters.

“We strongly condemn the brutal murder of Chandranath Rath,” the party said in a statement, adding that it also condemned attacks on TMC members “allegedly carried out by BJP-backed miscreants”.

The BJP said it will swear in its leader as chief minister on Saturday.

Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s national security adviser, was due to arrive at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace around 11:15 a.m. (0915 GMT) for the visit, the first between the pope and a Trump cabinet official in nearly a year.

The closed-door meeting is expected to last about a half-hour, after which Rubio will also meet the Vatican’s top diplomat, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

Leo, the first US pope, drew Trump’s ire after becoming a firm critic of the US-Israeli war on Iran and the Trump administration’s hardline anti-immigration policies.

The president has kept up an unprecedented series of public attacks on the pope in recent weeks, drawing a backlash from Christian leaders across the political spectrum.

US Secretary of State to travel to Vatican and Italy, newspapers report

On Monday, Trump falsely suggested the pope believed it was okay for Iran to obtain nuclear weapons and said Leo was “endangering a lot of Catholics” by opposing the war.

Leo told journalists after the latest attack that he was spreading the Christian message of peace. The pope also firmly rejected the idea that he supported nuclear weapons, which the Catholic Church teaches are immoral.

“The mission of the Church is to preach the Gospel, to preach peace,” said the pope.

“The Church has spoken out for years against all nuclear arms, on that there is no doubt.” 

US ambassador expects ‘frank’ conversation

 Leo, who on Friday marks his first year leading the 1.4-billion-member Church, has grown more outspoken on the world stage in recent weeks.

During a four-nation African tour last month he forcefully decried the direction of global leadership and said the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants”, in comments he later said were not aimed directly at Trump.

Rubio is Catholic, as is Vice President JD Vance.

The two met Leo a year ago after attending the pope’s inaugural mass.

Rubio said at a White House briefing on Tuesday that he expected to discuss Cuba and concerns over religious freedom around the world with Leo.

He was flying to Rome without any press accompanying him on his plane, which is unusual for a US secretary of state.

The US ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, told journalists earlier on Tuesday that the conversation between the pope and cabinet official was likely to be “frank”.

Rubio is visiting Rome for two days. He is due to meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has defended the pope from Trump, on Friday.

Meloni’s defence minister has also said the war in Iran puts US leadership at risk.

“I strongly believe that we want to de-escalate, not decouple. We want stability, we want mutual respect,” Senator Steve Daines, who is leading the bipartisan delegation, said in opening remarks at a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

White House quiet as China ramps up trade leverage before Trump-Xi summit

US President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to the Chinese capital to meet with President Xi Jinping on May 14 and 15.

The Republican senator said he hopes the leaders’ meeting would result in Boeing jet orders, even as he warned of both countries facing trade issues.

Trump sees swift end to war as Iran reviews US peace proposal

“It’s been about nine years since there was a purchase made of Boeing aircraft here,” he said, according to a media pool report.