Bahrain
Bahrain faces devaluation or default risk from Hormuz closure
Bahrain risks a currency devaluation or sovereign default if the Strait of Hormuz stays shut, Capital Economics warns, with central bank reserves down from $6bn in March to just over $2bn by June and no alternative export route.
Iran's Pezeshkian says Tehran does not seek to widen regional tension
Iran does not want tension and insecurity to spread across the region but will act with full force to defend its security and territorial integrity, President Masoud Pezeshkian said at the launch of a national family-medicine programme.
Iran ties Hormuz reopening to end of US strikes and naval blockade
Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz while US military action and its naval blockade continue, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said, calling a safe-passage deal with Oman necessary but not sufficient.
Iran says talks with Oman on new Strait of Hormuz shipping route nearing conclusion
Iran says talks with Oman on a new Strait of Hormuz shipping route are nearing conclusion, but stresses any deal would not by itself reopen the waterway.
Iran issues Gulf-wide energy hit list if Trump carries through on threats to destroy Iran’s energy sector
US President Donald Trump threatened to destroy Iran’s energy sector in a joint operation with Israel, prompting Tehran to issue a hit list of some of the most valuable assets in the Gulf if he carried through with the threat.
Iran's foreign ministry defends Hormuz blockade, tanker strikes as lawful self-defence
Iran's foreign ministry has defended its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and strikes on tankers as lawful self-defence against US aggression, citing the UN definition of aggression. The US military rejects Iran's claim to control the strait.
Emerging-market ratings have absorbed the Iran war so far, but the buffers are thinning - Fitch
Emerging-market sovereign ratings have proved largely resilient to the US-Iran war in the first half of 2026, Fitch Ratings finds in its Global Emerging Markets Credit Brief for 3Q26 even though the outlook for a third is deteriorating.
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UPDATE: Iran's IRGC says it struck two tankers attempting to cross Strait of Hormuz
Iran's IRGC says it struck and stopped two oil tankers attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz under US air escort, with four others turning back. The claim could not be independently verified, and the US military has given a competing account.
One war, three continents and total slippage
A drone hit on a US gas carrier at Damietta puts the Iran war on the Mediterranean shore. From the Caspian to the Gulf of Aden, one conflict now spans three continents. It is wide but not yet deep, and widening is its own escalation.
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Hormuz squeeze on ammonia draws foreign bidders to Odesa Port Plant
Hormuz squeeze on ammonia draws foreign bidders to Odesa Port Plant Four companies from the US, Asia and the Middle East are studying data on Ukraine's war-damaged fertiliser plant as the Strait of Hormuz blockade tightens global ammonia supply.
Ukraine's scam call centres earn $1bn a month, study finds
Ukraine's scam call-centre industry generates as much as $1bn a month, according to a new report by the Geneva-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), which estimates that around 60,000 Ukrainians work in the trade.
Ukraine's Caspian Sea strikes merge the Iran and Ukraine wars
“Zelensky bombed the Iranian vessel on the Caspian for the same reason his people paid Loomer to come to Kyiv and interview him: a PR campaign to try to win over Trump.”
Kuwait signs $16bn pipeline deal with Blackstone, Brookfield and KKR despite Iran attacks
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said on July 25 that its subsidiary Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has signed a $16bn lease-and-leaseback agreement covering its entire crude oil pipeline network with a consortium of Blackstone, Brookfield and KKR, in wh
Brent tops $100/bbl as Middle East tensions build, ING says gold struggles for safe-haven bid
Oil prices surged this week, with ICE Brent breaking above $100/bbl for the first time since May, as escalation in the Persian Gulf and fears of a widening conflict put a significant amount of supply at risk, ING said
Vance, Caine warn Trump against Iran escalation as US pauses air strikes
The US military had not announced new air strikes on Iran as of July 26, the first pause since Washington's bombing campaign began nearly two weeks earlier, after Vice President JD Vance and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen.
Iran war closes Hormuz, Bab al-Mandeb simultaneously for first time ever
For the first time since records began, both of the Middle East's great oil chokepoints are shut at once for the first time ever. The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed since February 28, and now Bab al-Mandeb Strait is also shut.
EU condemns Yemeni attack on Saudi tanker in Red Sea
A fire broke out aboard the Saudi tanker Encelia after it was struck by a projectile 70 nautical miles southwest of Al Shuqaiq. The Houthis claim attacks on two vessels for breaching their blockade. All crew are reported safe.
Iraq's al-Zaidi to visit Tehran with offer to host Iran-US talks
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi is set to visit Tehran late this week with an offer to host direct or indirect talks between Washington and Tehran, in a bid to stop the latest US-Iran confrontation widening into a regional war.
Qatar, Egypt and Pakistan propose 10-day truce between Iran and US
Regional mediators including Qatar, Egypt and Pakistan have proposed a ten-day truce between Iran and the US covering a ceasefire and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, as both sides weigh the offer.
Iran hits targets in three Gulf countries and Jordan as seventh night amid American strikes
Iran struck US military targets in four countries, hitting a fuel pier in Kuwait and an air base in Bahrain, as a seventh night of American strikes on Iran's Gulf coast cut water supplies and destroyed bridges.