Israel

Naim Qassem, the Hezbollah leader, urged Saudi Arabia on Friday to "turn a new page" and put aside past disputes in order to create a united front against Israel. This comes after years of hostility which strained Riyadh’s ties to Lebanon. Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States designated Shi'ite Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in 2016. Riyadh, Washington, and Hezbollah rivals in Lebanon have been pressing the Lebanese Government to disarm Hezbollah, which has been severely weakened since last year's conflict with Israel. Qassem, in a Friday televised speech, said that regional power should view Israel and not Hezbollah...

Israel attacked the Hamas leadership in Qatar, where this Palestinian Islamist group had long been based. Here are some comments from state and national leaders in response. ISRAELI PREMIER MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU "Today's operation against top terrorist leaders of Hamas is a completely independent Israeli operation. Israel is fully responsible for the event, as it was Israel who initiated, conducted and conducted it. "Qatar condemns the cowardly Israeli assault that targeted the residential buildings in Doha, the Qatari capital where several members of Hamas' Political Bureau resided." This criminal attack is a flagrant violation of international law and norms and...

Israel attacked the Hamas leadership in Qatar, where this Palestinian Islamist group had long been based. Here are some comments from state and national leaders in response. ISRAELI PREMIER MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU "Today's operation against top terrorist leaders of Hamas is a completely independent Israeli operation. Israel is fully responsible for the event, as it was Israel who initiated, conducted and took full responsibility." "Qatar condemns the cowardly Israeli assault that targeted the residential buildings in Doha, the Qatari capital where several members of Hamas' Political Bureau resided." This criminal attack is a flagrant violation of international law and norms...

Israel attacked the Hamas leadership in Qatar, where this Palestinian Islamist group had long been based. Here are some comments from state and national leaders in response. ISRAELI PREMIER MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU "Today's operation against top terrorist leaders of Hamas is a completely independent Israeli operation. Israel is fully responsible for the event, as it was Israel who initiated, conducted and orchestrated it. "Qatar condemns the cowardly Israeli assault that targeted the residential buildings in Doha, the Qatari capital where several members of Hamas' Political Bureau resided." This criminal attack is a flagrant violation of international law and norms and...

Investors bought traditional safe-haven investments on Tuesday. Gold briefly reached a record high after the Israeli military claimed it had attacked Hamas leaders in Qatar. This marked an escalation in the conflict in this region. The Japanese yen, Swiss franc and oil prices all rose by about $1 per barrel. COMMENTS: MICHAEL BROWN SENIOR RESEARCHER, PEPPERSTONE LONDON. The immediate reaction to the spike in crude benchmarks, and a slight increase in spot gold is logical. Qatar's response immediately shows that it is not looking to escalate tensions or retaliate. "I'd expect the rally in crude to fade relatively rapidly, as...

The Colombian president Gustavo Petro threatened on Tuesday to unilaterally change Glencore's contract with the government if it continued to export coal to Israel. However, the company claimed that the shipments had already stopped in accordance with a presidential order. Petro, who spoke at an event organized by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States for CELAC on energy, said: "I'm willing to unilaterally alter the concession contract." The president warned that, if Glencore refused to comply with his order to suspend the shipment of coal from the mine, he would call on the local communities to blockade the...

The wholesale gas price in the Netherlands and Britain fell by more than 10% Tuesday morning, following the news that Iran had agreed to a ceasefire with Israel. This removed the premium for risk the market had built into the market due to potential disruptions of oil and gas supplies. The benchmark Dutch front month contract at the TTF Hub fell by 4.86 euro to 36.38 Euros per Megawatt Hour (MWh), which is $12.38/mmBtu by 0939 GMT. It had traded as low 35.45 Euros/MWh earlier, LSEG's data showed. The British front-month contracts was down 13.72 pennies at 84.85 cents per...

Five trading sources said that Egypt wants to buy more fuel oil in order to meet its electricity generation needs. Fuel oil has been purchased in greater quantities by the country this year to ease a gas shortage that resulted from the loss of gas pipelines connecting Israel and Egypt. According to trading sources, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation is looking for about 900,000.0 metric tons (tonnage) of fuel oil in its latest tender. One source said that the tender will be closed on July 2, and valid until July 10. The Egyptian Petroleum Ministry didn't immediately respond to an...

Two vessel tracking companies said that Iran maintains crude oil supplies by loading tanks one at atime and moving floating storage closer to China. The country is trying to keep its main source of income while being attacked by Israel. The conflict that erupted between Iran and Israel last week is a new obstacle for Iran. It uses a fleet of shadow tankers to hide their origins and avoid U.S. sanctions imposed in 2018 due to its nuclear program. Iran is the third largest producer of crude oil in OPEC. Most of its exports go to China. The trackers reported...

Israel's Energy Minister Eli Cohen announced on Wednesday that the country will resume natural gas exports once its military deems it safe. The air battle between Israel & Iran is now in its sixth day. Since June 13, two of Israel's three natural gas fields, Leviathan operated by Chevron and Karish owned by Energean, off its Mediterranean coastline that provides the bulk of the exports to Egypt & Jordan have been closed. The older leaves are still in use Field used mostly for domestic supply. Cohen stated that he had been in touch with Egpyt, Jordan and Jordan regarding the...

Reporters visiting the region found that U.S. troops have now withdrawn from two additional bases in northeastern Syria. This is part of a larger troop withdrawal, which, according to the commander of U.S. backed Syrian Kurdish Forces, has allowed a resurgence by Islamic State. Reporters who visited these two bases last week found that they were mostly deserted. They were both guarded only by a small number of Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish led military group Washington has supported in its fight against Islamic State since a decade. The razor wire that surrounded the perimeters of the bases occupied by...

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said that more pressure should be applied to Russia in order to secure a ceasefire. She urged G7 nations intensify sanctions to achieve this goal. The leaders of the largest industrial countries are meeting in Canada’s Rockies, along with European nations. They want to keep the conflict in Ukraine on the minds of U.S. president Donald Trump, despite the fighting between Israel and Iran taking place in the Middle East. The European Union has decided to adopt new sanctions against Russia. However, they have not been able to convince Trump, who...

Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi will meet officials from Britain France and Germany (the so-called E3) in Vienna, Iran’s state-run Nournews reported on Sunday. International sanctions against Tehran for its nuclear program are due to be reimposed by the end of the month. The agency did not give a date for the trip but said that the mutual negotiations and issues related to Iranian relations with Europe would be discussed. Last week, Iranian and European Ministers held discussions in an effort to avoid the reimposition sanctions against Tehran. According to two European and one Iranian diplomat, the talks failed to...

A senior U.S. official stated on Tuesday that Yemen's Iran aligned Houthi group will be a persistent issue for the U.S. even after Washington reached an agreement with the Houthis last month, ending a U.S. aerial campaign against the group. Air Force Lieutenant-General Alexus Grynkewich told lawmakers that the Houthis will likely be a persistent issue... with which we'll have to deal in the future. Grynkewich was nominated as the new commander of U.S. Military's European Command. Last month, Donald Trump announced that the U.S. was ceasing to bomb the Houthis who were firing on U.S. warships, as well as...

The Kremlin reacted to criticism on Tuesday that it hadn't done enough for Iran. It said it had taken "a clear position" in condemning U.S. Vladimir Putin condemned the "unjustified attacks" by the United States on Iranian nuclear sites, which he had signed a treaty of strategic cooperation with in January. He stated on Monday that Russia will try to assist the Iranian people. However, he did not give any specifics. Earlier this week, Iranian sources said that Tehran was not impressed by Russia's support. When asked about the comparisons with the overthrow of Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad last year,...

Since Israel's military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities on 13 June, the U.N. nuclear watchdog that polices the global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has been unable to conduct inspections in Iran. The International Atomic Energy Agency has a number of inspection powers. IS THE IAEA UNIVERSAL IN JURISDICTION? No. The IAEA has agreements with other countries that do not fall under its oversight. Iran is a signatory to the NPT, and is therefore subject to IAEA supervision. This includes inspections to ensure that nuclear material like uranium does not get "diverted", for example to be used in atomic weapons. Israel is...

U.S. strikes on the Isfahan complex, which houses Iran's vast uranium-enriched stockpile, caused damage to the tunnels that store a portion of the uranium. The U.N. nuclear watchdog confirmed this Sunday. The International Atomic Energy Agency issued a statement saying that "we have established that the entrances to the underground tunnels on the site were affected." Isfahan is the site where officials have said that a large amount of Iran's highly enriched uranium is stored. Rafael Grossi, chief of IAEA, confirmed in a statement made to the U.N. Security Council shortly after the IAEA's statement that the tunnels were part...

Igor Sechin said that the OPEC+ group, which includes major oil producers around the world, could accelerate its production increases by a year compared to their initial plan. He said the decision of OPEC+ to increase output now looks far-sighted and justifiable in light of the conflict between Israel and Iran. In April, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies led by Russia shocked the oil markets by agreeing to a larger-than-expected increase in output for May, despite low prices and a slowing of demand. OPEC+ decided to increase prices by more than originally planned. "The...

The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned on Tuesday the continued Israeli attacks against Iran and said that a diplomatic solution could only be reached to resolve the conflict regarding Tehran's nuclear program. The ministry posted a statement on Telegram saying that "Israel's continued intensive attacks on Iran’s peaceful nuclear sites violate international law, create unacceptable threats to the international security of the world and lead to a nuclear disaster ...,"." The report said that the widespread condemnation of Israeli action showed that Israel only found support "from states that are actually co-participants, and who act for opportunistic purposes." The Ministry noted...

Israel and Iran attacked one another for the fifth day in a row on Tuesday. U.S. president Donald Trump called on Iranians to leave Tehran citing his country's alleged rejection of a nuclear arms deal. The White House announced that Trump would leave the Group of Seven Summit in Canada a day earlier than planned due to the Middle East crisis. Fox News reported that he would convene the National Security Council. French President Emmanuel Macron stated that Trump's early departure is positive because the immediate goal was to get Israel to agree to a truce with Iran. "Iran would...

The Kremlin announced on Monday that Russia is still ready to serve as a mediator between Israel and Iran. Moscow's proposal to store Iranian Uranium in Russia also remains on the table. Tehran claims it has a right to peaceful nuclear energy, but the rapid progress of its uranium-enrichment programme has sparked fears across the Gulf and the West that the country is trying to build a nuclear bomb. enriched uranium It is possible to ease the crisis by converting nuclear fuel from Iran into civilian reactor fuel. This proposal is still on the table and it is still relevant....

According to an interview that was broadcast on Monday, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi stated that Iranians warned him about a possible Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. This could lead Iran to become more determined to develop a nuclear weapon. Grossi stated in the interview published on the Jerusalem Post's website and broadcast on i24 TV on Sunday that a strike could have a compounding effect. It would solidify Iran's resolve - I say this plainly - either to pursue obtaining atomic weapons or to withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear...

The shares of U.S. Solar companies dropped sharply after the House of Representatives passed President Donald Trump's tax and spending bill. This could end many green-energy subsides that supported the renewable energy industry. Sunrun shares fell nearly 41% early in the morning, followed by SolarEdge Technologies, Enphase Energy, and Complete Solaria. Maxeon Solar shares fell by 9%. Emeren Group shares dropped by 5.2%. JinkoSolar shares declined 4.7%. First Solar and Canadian Solar both saw their share prices drop 5.4% and 6.4%. Trump's budget plan, which he calls "one beautiful bill", would eliminate funding under the Biden Administration Inflation Reduction Act...

Iranian state media reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi arrived in Moscow on Friday to deliver to Russian President Vladimir Putin a message sent by the Islamic Republic's supreme leader Ali Khamenei. U.S. president Donald Trump has repeatedly warned Iran of bombings and secondary tariffs, if Tehran fails to reach an agreement with Washington regarding its disputed nuclear programme. The United States have also moved additional warplanes in the region. Both sides characterized the U.S.-Iran talks held in Oman at the weekend as constructive and positive. Araqchi stated on Wednesday, ahead of the second round of negotiations that will...