Iran will consult with Russia on next steps, Araghchi says
'Punishment will continue': Iran's Khamenei delivers first remarks since US bombings
Trump says damage to Iran nuclear sites 'monumental'
US urges China to deter Iran closing Strait of Hormuz
UN Secretary General warns against 'rat hole of retaliation'
US State Department issues 'worldwide caution' travel alert
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The National
30 minutes ago
- The National
Egypt scrambles to secure energy sector as Israeli gas cut-offs disrupt power grid
Israeli gas supply to Egypt was cut off again on Sunday night as the war with Iran continues to intensify, two government sources overseeing the matter confirmed to The National on Monday. Supplies had resumed on Thursday following a six-day halt since June 13 when Tel Aviv launched an attack on Iranian nuclear sites and killed top Iranian military officials and nuclear scientists. Israel shut down two of its three gasfields on the day it attacked Iran. Israeli officials said this was a precautionary measure taken in anticipation of an Iranian retaliation, which came later the same day. The enemies have been exchanging missile and drone strikes since then with large-scale infrastructure destruction and casualties reported on both sides. Gas supplies to Egypt and Jordan were halted and prioritised for local use in Israel, and on June 13 the Egyptian government forced fertiliser factories to halt production nationwide given the large amounts of natural gas they use. The government said it was prioritising the energy requirements of power stations, especially because of the heavy use of fans and air conditioning units in Egypt in summer. Israeli gas supply to Egypt resumed on Thursday, though in much lower quantities, the two sources said. This was because only gas coming from the Tamar field resumed. The larger Leviathan field was ordered shut by the Israeli energy ministry – Chevron, which runs the field, has ceased all production there since. However, supplies to Egypt were halted again four days after resuming, the officials said, underscoring that the halt came after the US's contentious intervention in the Israel-Iran war on Saturday, when it launched a series of air strikes on Iranian nuclear enrichment sites. The move has stoked fears of an intense Iranian response and a long, drawn out war in the region. Before supplies were halted, Egypt was importing around 1 billion cubic feet per day from Israel, accounting for around 13 per cent of Cairo's total daily consumption of around 7.5 billion cfd, of which around 3.8 billion is produced locally. To counter the unexpected drop in supplies, Egypt made arrangements to use three floating regasification units, two in the Red Sea and one in the Mediterranean, according to one of the sources. These will receive shipments of liquefied natural gas, regasify it and then pump it through the national power grid. The vessels were acquired late last year to help mitigate power cuts this summer by diversifying the country's sources of energy, according to a speech on Saturday by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly in the Red Sea port city of Ain Sokhna. Mr Madbouly was there to witness the first of the three additional regasification units being connected to the power grid. It is the second such unit operating in Egypt after one was put into service last year to help with energy shortages at the time. The other two are expected to enter service by next month, he said. Each of the ships has the capacity to produce between 600 million and 750 million cfd, which would easily cover the drop in natural gas supplies from Israel, according to multiple officials, including the Prime Minister. One of the units was previously stationed in Aqaba, Jordan, under a 2024 agreement between Egypt and Jordan to optimise gas supply. The agreement allowed Jordan to access Egypt's floating storage and regasification units via the existing pipeline network between the two countries. The relocation of the unit to Ain Sokhna at Egypt's request earlier this month means that Jordan will get its share of gas through pipelines from Egypt rather than through its own grid at Aqaba. Jordan's share of LNG under the deal is 350 million cubic feet per day, but it is now receiving about a third of that due to shortages, the officials said. Shipments of LNG have continued to arrive in Egypt, according to Mr Madbouly, and several are waiting to be unloaded on the floating regasification units. A stopgap supply of LNG was provided to Egypt on short notice from Saudi Arabia's national energy company Aramco. Additionally, some shipments were provided by commodity trader Trafigura, according to data collected by Mohammed Ragab, a financial analyst. He praised the government's handling of the energy crisis this summer. Cost-saving measures In addition to the diversification of its sources of fuel, the Egyptian government has also introduced a number of cost-saving measures including shutting off street lights in residential neighbourhoods and closing government buildings by 8pm. Mosques and churches have been instructed to turn off their lights when prayers are finished and billboard lighting was also turned off, among other measures. Despite these measures, power cuts have been reported in various rural provinces over the past week, according to one of the government officials who spoke to The National on the condition of anonymity. Mr Madbouly addressed the matter during a speech last week and said that this was due to maintenance work in preparation for the summer season. However, the official said that 'while the outages were not directly caused by natural gas shortages, the whole mechanism has been deeply disrupted by Israel cutting off gas so abruptly'. He added that 'switching to different sources of fuel will require structural changes to the existing mechanism that might cause more power cuts down the line'. As power cuts in Egypt look more likely amid the recent escalation between Iran, Israel and the US, there are growing fears in Cairo that a prolonged war might cause much deeper damage to its already vulnerable economy, particularly because of its heavy reliance on imports and investment. 'Interbank data shows that large amounts of hot cash were withdrawn from Egyptian markets in the days following Israel's attack on Iran,' Mr Ragab told The National. 'Though these numbers have started to rebound slightly, a prolonged war could very well result in the exit of larger amounts of cash invested in Egypt's short debt markets which would cause a similarly disastrous inflationary wave as the one that took place in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.' As the region braces for the next phase of the Israel-Iran war, Egypt faces mounting challenges in safeguarding its energy security and economic stability. While government efforts to diversify energy sources and introduce cost-saving measures have provided some relief, the abrupt disruptions in Israeli gas supplies have exposed the fragility of its energy infrastructure.
The National
34 minutes ago
- The National
Oil companies in Iraq evacuate foreign staff amid fears of spillover of Israel-Iran war
Several international oil companies operating in southern Iraq have evacuated their foreign employees amid fears of an expansion of the Israel-Iran war, sources told The National on Monday. The sources, some of whom are employees by the companies, added that workers started to leave straight after the first Israeli attack on June 13, but that they almost all left in recent days. They added that they left through Basra International Airport, the only airport operating in Iraq now, or by land to Kuwait. The evacuation has not had an impact on operation in these fields or Iraq's oil production, the sources said. Iraq is eager not to be drawn into the conflict and its government has asked the US and Iran not to turn the country into a battleground. However, there are fears Iran-backed militias in Iraq will spring into action now that the US has entered the war. Sources close to the Iraqi government said last week some of the most prominent militant groups have made it known that any US military intervention would trigger a response. The US, meanwhile, is keeping its embassy running in Iraq even as it enters the worsening air war nearby in Iran. Some American staff left Iraq last weekend, an embassy representative said, as part of an "orderly departure" that began 10 days ago, shortly before Israel attacked Iran. However, the US embassy in Baghdad and the consulate general in Erbil "remain open and operating", the official said. They said the US State Department "continues to closely monitor the security situation across Iraq".
The National
34 minutes ago
- The National
Have US strikes on Iran brought Netanyahu closer to declaring ceasefire?
As the region appeared to be heading for uncontrolled escalation after the US joined Israel in attacking Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the possibility of an end to hostilities, albeit with major caveats and no timeline. In a statement delivered on Sunday evening, the Prime Minister said Israel was close to achieving its goals in Iran and promised his country would not be dragged into a 'war of attrition'. 'We won't pursue our actions beyond what is needed to achieve [objectives] but we also won't finish too soon. When the objectives are achieved, then the operation is complete and the fighting will stop,' Mr Netanyahu said. 'We embarked on this operation to eliminate the two concrete threats to our existence: the nuclear threat and the ballistic missile threat. We are moving step by step towards achieving these goals. We are very, very close to completing them.' The confident assessment came after the US carried out overnight strikes on three key Iranian nuclear sites, including dropping "bunker bombs" on underground uranium enrichment facilities at Fordow and Natanz. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said those sites had been 'obliterated'. Mr Netanyahu said the US attack had inflicted "very serious damage" at Fordow. With Iran escalating its rhetoric after the attack and continuing major strikes on Israel, the urgent question now is whether the US and Israel are truly willing to work towards a diplomatic solution. Israel responded on Monday by attacking "regime targets and government repression bodies in the heart of Tehran with unprecedented force', including the internal security base of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the headquarters of the affiliated Basij volunteer militia, and Evin jail, where political prisoners are held, Defence Minister Israel Katz said. "Israel's endgame isn't straightforward," a senior regional security official told The National. "The security assessment in some Arab capitals is that Netanyahu's government of extremists feels emboldened by the US strikes and will continue the war with the help of the US and European countries until a dramatic change happens in Iran. "It's very hard to see him stopping the war now. This isn't about nuclear sites any more. It's about Netanyahu's legacy." Despite Mr Netanyahu long being accused by his many opponents in Israel of being willing to place the country in dangerous situations to ensure his political survival, there has been little such criticism over the attack on Iran, indicating widespread belief among Jewish Israelis that Iran is an existential threat. All but the most left-wing opposition politicians have had nothing but praise for the way the campaign against Iran has proceeded, especially the US decision to become involved. Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition and one of Mr Netanyahu's highest-profile critics, said only: 'Thank you President Trump for your historic decision. Israel, the Middle East and the world are now safer.' Democrat leader Yair Golan, who heads arguably the most dynamic party on Israel's beleaguered and dwindling left, described the US strikes as 'impressive, important and justified'. Israeli pollster Dahlia Scheindlin told The National that Israel's plans for the war with Iran seem far clearer than its war against Hamas in Gaza, now in its 21st month. 'There was clearly not only a bank of [Iranian] targets but also a bank of achievable aims that Israel will have decided once they are achieved, the war can be over in Iran'. Ms Scheindlin said she was 'watching very closely to see if [Mr Netanyahu's] language changes in that regard'. 'If I piece together what he has said and done, the plan was to define a clear set of achievable aims, with measures of how those are to be assessed. This is consistent with the longer-term history of him wanting to destroy these two [nuclear and missile] programmes and preferring short, definitive wars over ones that are dragged out, of the kind he got dragged into on October 7.' She added that, for now, Mr Netanyahu's campaign has vast support among Jewish Israelis: 'There's nothing clouding the sense of moral purity around the need to counter Iran. There's no occupation to spoil it and it doesn't tie into deep internal ideological divisions among the Israeli public, like Gaza does.'
