Oil prices fall sharply after Iran strikes US base in Qatar
Crude oil prices fell around 7 percent on Monday, after Iran said it had launched a missile attack on a US base in Qatar. Investors appeared to take the retaliatory action as being limited, following days of uncertainty over whether Tehran would close the Strait of Hormuz. US President Donald Trump later said that Iran had given the US advance notice of the attack. Earlier, Washington also called on China to pressure Tehran not to close the vital waterway.
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LeMonde
17 minutes ago
- LeMonde
After 12-day war between Israel and Iran, many questions, few certainties
The sound of sirens and explosions has been replaced by a fog of questions over the consequences of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran: the solidity of the ceasefire announced by Donald Trump, the conditions for upholding it, the guarantees given to the warring parties, the room left for diplomacy, and the potential impacts on the war in Gaza – and, in fact, far beyond. "The dust has not yet settled," summed up Yossi Shain, a professor at Tel Aviv University. From the perspective of Israel, there are more questions than answers at this stage regarding the new balance of power in the Middle East. But there is certainty that the tectonic impact of this war is significant and that the last few days have profoundly shifted the diplomatic landscape in the Middle East. On a regional scale, Iran has just suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of its historic enemy and seen its deterrent capabilities weakened. "Thanks to this war, Israel managed to weaken Iran's nuclear program, its launch capabilities, but also its military industry and other strategic assets," said Ram Yavne, reserve brigadier general and former head of strategic planning for the General Staff. "The campaign against Iran ended without [Lebanese Shiite movement] Hezbollah firing even a single rocket in Israel's direction. An unimaginable achievement," wrote Tamir Morag, diplomatic correspondent for Channel 14 – whose target audience is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's base –on X. Iran, whose deterrence was partly based on the fear of retaliation, from its proxies, has found itself isolated.
Euronews
31 minutes ago
- Euronews
'We've listened to Trump' on defence spending
The EU has 'listened to President Trump' and 'everyone is doing more' to boost European defence spending, High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas told Euronews Today as NATO leaders gather in the Hague on Wednesday for a landmark summit. Kallas was asked by Euronews' Shona Murray to comment on NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte's pre-summit message to the US president, lavishing praise on his handling of the Western alliance and the conflict in Iran. "You are flying into another big success in The Hague this evening. It was not easy but we've got them all signed on to five percent," Rutte wrote, in a message posted by Trump on social media, referencing the target for GDP expenditure that Trump has called for from NATO members. 'Mark Rutte is speaking Trump, I think he's speaking the language that President Trump definitely understands and he needs to get this across,' Kallas said. 'I think it very important that everyone is doing this 5% and agreeing to this.' 'President Trump has been calling for this for quite some time - that everybody should do more for their own defence, and Europe is stepping up, we definitely have listened to President Trump and everyone is doing more,' she said. Asked if the US was diverging from the other NATO members in its approach to Ukraine, Kallas said, 'when member states agreed to spend more on defence, that also means that they have more means to help Ukraine'. 'When it comes to Europe we have agreed that we will support Ukraine militarily, and we will also put more pressure on Russia so that they would also want peace in order end this war so it is very clear for us,' she said. She said security throughout the world 'is very much interlinked', citing North Korean soldiers being active in Ukraine, support that Iran is giving to Russia, and sanctions circumvention by some countries, 'so if we don't push back aggression in one place, it just is a call to use aggression elsewhere', Kallas said. Increased defence spending is the best path to deflect Russian President Vladimir Putin's aggression, Kallas said. 'I don't see into Putin's mind but looking back how he has been working, he understands strength,' she said, adding: 'If we invest more into defence, we are stronger so it doesn't provoke him." "Weakness provokes him: if he thinks that he's stronger, he can take up this war, then he will take up war, but if he sees that we are strong, then he doesn't look our way, and that's what we are doing.'
Euronews
35 minutes ago
- Euronews
MEPs vote for Parliament to sue Commission over €150bn defence scheme
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