Israel
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.
Israeli strikes kill at least two in Gaza, damage hospital medical stores day after Hamas deal
Israeli strikes killed at least two Palestinians in Gaza and destroyed medical supply warehouses next to a hospital, a day after Hamas said it had agreed to the latest stage of a US-brokered deal to end the war.
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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Nayax bets on North Macedonia’s cashless future
Israeli fintech company Nayax has launched its cashless payment services in North Macedonia, expanding its Balkan footprint.
Hamas agrees to disarm and surrender power in the Gaza Strip, Trump announces
US President Donald Trump announced that the Board of Peace reached a "historic" agreement with Hamas to disarm, with control of Gaza to be transferred to a technocratic government.
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Venezuela's rift with Iran marks end of anti-Western foreign policy
Venezuela summoned Iran's ambassador on July 28 to deliver a formal protest over remarks by Tehran officials, in a rare public rupture between two countries that had been staunch anti-Western allies for more than two decades.
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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.
Iran, US trade strikes across Iraq, Jordan as war truce collapses
Iran's IRGC fired missiles at US forces and a base in Jordan on July 29, ending a days-long lull in the US-Iran war, as the US and Saudi Arabia hit Iran-aligned militias in Iraq and the Strait of Hormuz stays closed.
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Netanyahu and Trump praise White House meeting as US and Saudi forces strike IRGC-backed militias
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump lauded their White House meeting during the early hours of July 29, while US and Saudi forces struck IRGC-backed militias in Iraq.
Iran says European warships near Hormuz are legitimate targets
Any European warship approaching the Strait of Hormuz is a legitimate target, Iran's deputy foreign minister for legal affairs has said, adding that Tehran's policy is that the waterway will never return to its pre-war condition.
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.
Netanyahu to present Trump with evidence of Iranian nuclear materials
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will present US President Donald Trump with intelligence indicating that Iran has transferred nuclear centrifuges to the "Pickaxe Mountain" facility.
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.”
Iran denies US talks as Washington says diplomacy under way
Iran says it holds no talks with the US and will never let Washington set the timing of war and peace, foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said, hardening Tehran's stance after the collapse of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding.
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's Araghchi warns Ukraine over Caspian strike that killed sailor
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that a Ukrainian strike killing a sailor aboard an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea would not go unanswered, after Kyiv claimed a wave of drone attacks on Russian energy and military targets.
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.
Iran's Ghalibaf presses Iraq on unity against Israel in Tehran talks
IranianParliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf urged cooperation with Iraq against Israel at talks with Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in Tehran, closing a visit that produced four bilateral agreements.