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It comes as oil prices hit $72.24 a barrel, lower than the day before Iran war began
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US secretary of state Marco Rubio has dismissed concerns raised by the UAE over an Iranian toll on the Strait of Hormuz as “semantics”.
“You can call it a toll, you can call it a fee, at the end of the day it’s all semantics,” Rubio said during a visit to Bahrain, where he is meeting the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
The UAE’s presidential adviser Anwar Gargash had previously warned that “geopolitical facts” cannot be imposed on Arab Gulf states as a result of “treacherous aggression against them”.
He said this would “sow seeds of discord and conflict for the future”, adding that this “is precisely what applies to the Strait of Hormuz”.
Washington has sought to reassure the region that no country, including Iran, will be allowed to charge tolls for shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Donald Trump claimed on Wednesday that Tehran had told the US that no tolls were being sought from ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.
Oil prices dropped to pre war levels ($72.24 per barrel) on Thursday after Trump threatened abandon talks with Iran if it tries to impose tolls on shipping through the strait.
India’s oil minister Hardeep Puri has said that he explored opportunities for New Delhi and Tehran to cooperate in the energy sector during his meeting with Iran’s Petroleum Minister Mohsen Paknejad in New Delhi.
India remains committed to enhancing energy security via dialogue, partnership, and a mutually beneficial engagement, Puri said in a post on X.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that it may never be determined who was responsible for a deadly strike on a girls’ school in Iran that killed scores of children on the first day of the Iran war, as questions continue over whether U.S. forces were involved.
The February 28 strike in Minab, southern Iran, killed more than 175 children and teachers, according to Iranian officials, triggering international outrage and renewed scrutiny of the U.S. military operation.
Trump, speaking to reporters, said the circumstances surrounding the attack may never be fully resolved.
“I don’t know that they are ever going to solve that problem,” Trump said, referring to questions over responsibility.
“I don’t know that they are ever going to solve that problem in terms of whose fault was it because there were missiles flying all over the place, and it’s horrible what happened but there were missiles flying all over the place,” he added.
Iranian state media is reporting on a phone call between the foreign ministers of Iran and Oman, in which they stressed the need for continued bilateral coordination on maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his Omani counterpart Badr al-Busaidi discussed recent regional developments, including maritime arrangements in the strait and temporary measures set for a 60-day period, a statement on Araghchi’s Telegram account said.
The two sides also welcomed recent talks held in Muscat and agreed to continue diplomatic consultations and technical coordination on issues of mutual interest.
Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Thursday that the US claims that Iran will spend its unfrozen assets to buy US agricultural products were false.
“The US only exports GMO soybeans, broken promises and trash talks,” Qalibaf said in a post on X.
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent echoed president Donald Trump on Wednesday and insisted that a large percentage of Iran’s unfrozen assets would be used to buy US foods and medicine even as Iran says it would determine its spending.
An Israeli drone strike on a car in southern Lebanon killed two people on Thursday, medical and security sources said.
It is the second consecutive day such an event occurred.
In a similar strike on Wednesday killed at least two people despite a ceasefire, Lebanese security and medical sources told the Reuters news agency.
President Donald Trump was more enthusiastic about buying “good maple trees” for the White House than discussing his recently-launched war with Iran when visited by two reporters in March, a new book claims.
In the latest advanced extract from Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, the authors recount an hour-long Oval Office meeting with the president in the early weeks of the conflict, a moment in which the Strait of Hormuz was newly-shutttered, driving up global oil prices.
Trump had attacked Haberman on Truth Social three days before the sitdown as a”SLEAZEBAG writer” but the pair found him in a buoyant mood.
Joe Sommerlad writes:
Donald Trump has said that Iran has agreed to indefinite nuclear inspections on its facilities accusing “fake news” media of distributing false rebuttals.
“Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future (Infinity!!!),” he wrote in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday.
“This will insure ‘Nuclear Honesty’. If they did not agree to this, there would be no further negotiations!”
Iran has denied that it will allow inspectors into its nuclear sites despite US vice president JD Vance also insisting that Tehran had agreed to the visits.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Tuesday that Tehran had agreed “no new commitments” on inspections, adding that Iran would continue its current obligations as a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and under its safeguards agreement with the IAEA.
Iran and India discussed strengthening energy cooperation and trade during a meeting between their oil ministers on the sidelines of a BRICS energy ministers’ gathering in India, the Iranian oil ministry’s news outlet Shana reported on Thursday.
Last week, Iran and the US signed an interim deal, after which Washington issued a temporary license for the export of Iranian energy products.
India has historically been an important buyer of Iranian crude, but suspended imports in 2019 following the re-imposition of US sanctions on the export of Iranian oil.
Some 57 ships carrying an estimated 1,100 sailors have passed through the Strait of Hormuz since June 23 under a United Nations evacuation plan launched this week, data from the UNs shipping agency showed on Thursday.
These are the first numbers to be released by the UN’s International Maritime Organization for the initiative, which will enable hundreds of ships with 11,000 sailors to leave the strait.
According to current IMO data, 12 ships sailed through during the morning of June 25, 32 during June 24 and 13 during June 23.
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