Oil prices up 4% on uncertain Iran-US ceasefire prospects
Oil prices jumped four percent Thursday after Iran vowed not to reopen the Strait of Hormuz so long as a US naval blockade remained in place despite a ceasefire extension.
At around 0025 GMT, the benchmark US oil contract West Texas Intermediate (WTI) climbed 4.06 percent to $96.73 per barrel. International oil benchmark Brent North Sea crude rose 3.62 percent to $105.63. Both eased back in the following minutes.
Lebanon will spare no effort in pursuing these crimes before relevant international bodies, says PM
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the targeting of journalists and the obstruction of relief efforts constituted
“war crimes.”
“Lebanon will spare no effort in pursuing these crimes before the relevant international bodies,” he said on X.
Body of journalist Amal Khalil found beneath rubble after Israeli strike, Lebanese military official says
Paramedics have recovered the body of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil hours after an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon.
Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, who works for the daily Al-Akhbar newspaper, reports near a destroyed bridge in Qasmiyeh, Lebanon, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Beirut to seek end to Israeli demolitions in Washington talks on Thursday
On the eve of talks in Washington between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Beirut’s envoy to Thursday’s talks, Lebanese Ambassador to Washington Nada Moawad, would seek a ceasefire extension and a halt to demolitions being carried out by Israel in villages in the south.
A Lebanese official said Beirut wants a ceasefire extension as a prerequisite for talks to expand beyond the ambassadorial level to the next phase, in which Lebanon would push for an Israeli withdrawal, the return of Lebanese detained in Israel and a delineation of the land border.
Iran must agree to turn over enriched uranium to US, Leavitt says
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday in an interview with Fox News that Iran must agree to turn over its enriched uranium to the United States as part of negotiations to end the war.
Iran must agree to turn over enriched uranium to US, Leavitt says
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday that Iran must agree to turn over its enriched uranium to the US as part of negotiations to end the war.
Trump has not set deadline for Iranian peace proposal, Leavitt says
US President Donald Trump has not set a deadline by which Iran must submit a peace proposal, the White House said on Wednesday.
“The president has not set a firm deadline to receive an Iranian proposal, unlike some of the reporting I’ve seen today. Ultimately, the timeline will be dictated by the commander in chief,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists at a briefing.
Leavitt added that Trump wants to see a “unified” response from Iran’s leadership to US proposals to end hostilities.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a television interview outside the White House, Wednesday, April 22, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Iran must turn over enriched uranium to US, White House says
Iran must agree to turn over its enriched uranium to the US as part of negotiations to end the war, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday.
Crew of tanker safe after attack in Hormuz
The management company of a container ship that was fired upon in the Strait of Hormuz early Wednesday says the Liberian-registered Epaminondas was “approached and fired upon by a manned gunboat” while transiting the strait about 20 nautical miles off the coast of Oman.
The Technomar company said all crew were “safe and accounted for” and no injuries were reported, but that preliminary inspections indicated the ship’s bridge had been damaged.
“Technomar remains in close contact with the crew and relevant authorities. Our priority remains the safety and well-being of our crew as we work with all relevant stakeholders to ensure their continued safety and investigate the incident,” the company said.
Iran’s seizure of ships did not violate ceasefire, White House says
US President Donald Trump does not consider Iran’s seizure of two container ships to be a ceasefire violation because the vessels are not American or Israeli, the White House said Wednesday.
“No, because these were not US ships, these were not Israeli ships. These were two international vessels,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News, when asked if Trump viewed it as a violation of the ceasefire that paused US-Israeli operations against Iran.
Iran judiciary says Trump remarks on women on death row ‘false news’
Iran’s judiciary on Wednesday described as “false news” remarks by US President Donald Trump that Iran had rolled back a decision to execute eight women, saying they had never faced the death penalty.
“Despite the claim from last night being exposed as a lie, Trump, just minutes ago in another post, claimed that the death sentences of eight protesting women who were supposed to be executed tonight in Iran have been cancelled, and thanked Iran!” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website posted on X.
“Trump’s empty hand in the field has led him to fabricate achievements from false news,” it said, in response to the US president’s remarks that Iran had halted alleged plans to execute eight women arrested over anti-government protests, after he urged Tehran to release them to help peace negotiations.
President Donald Trump speaks during an event for NCAA national champions in the State Dining Room of the White House, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Hezbollah says its drone targeted Israeli military vehicle in Qantara ‘in response to ceasefire violations’
Trump’s ‘high-stakes political theatre’: Iran ‘winning asymmetrical war’
FRANCE 24 spoke to Dr William Lawrence, Senior Academic and Research Fellow-in-Residence and the Director of the North African Area Studies Program at the National Council on US-Arab Relations. As a former US diplomat in the Muslim world, he views what we are witnessing as a deliberate embrace of chaos and unpredictability as a coercive tool.
“He [Trump] thinks he can force Iran to the table by being hyperbolic, apocalytic and chaotic. Iranians respond with so much mockery and so much bravado because it’s political theatre with high stakes”, he says.
Israeli drone dropped grenade on rescuers trying to retrieve wounded journalist in southern Lebanon, official says
An Israeli drone dropped a grenade on rescuers trying to lift a wounded journalist from rubble in
Tayri, in southern Lebanon, a senior Lebanese military official told Reuters on Wednesday.
The official said the Lebanese army asked the Israeli military through a US-led mechanism to allow rescuers to retrieve the wounded journalist.
US breach of commitments, blockade of ports main obstacles to ‘genuine negotiation’, Iran’s Pezeshkian says
The US breach of commitments and its blockade of Iranian ports and threats are the main obstacles to “genuine negotiations”, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on X Wednesday.
“The world sees your endless hypocritical rhetoric and contradiction between claims and actions,” he said, one day after US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire extension.
Hormuz reopening ‘not possible’ amid US naval blockade, Iran’s top negotiator says
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X Wednesday that Iran would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz as long as the US naval blockade remained in place, calling it a “blatant violation of the ceasefire”.
Oil, gas disruptions costing Europe €500 million per day
The European Union’s top energy official is warning that the massive energy crisis sparked by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran is set to hit prices for months, even years, to come.
EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen said Wednesday that “this is not a short-term, small increase in prices. This is a crisis that is probably as serious as the 1973 and the 2022 crises combined.”
Jørgensen says the war is costing Europe around 500 million euros ($600 million) each day and that “we are looking into some very difficult months, or maybe even years” ahead.
“Even in a best-case scenario, it’s still bad,” he told reporters.
RSF calls on international support to help rescue journalist injured after Israeli strike in Lebanon, official says
Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, called on the international community on Wednesday to immediately pressure the Israeli army into allowing the rescue of journalist Amal Khalil, who works for the daily Al-Akhbar.
RSF added that Khalil is currently trapped near the southern Lebanese village of al-Tiri following an Israeli airstrike close to her vehicle.
“Her life is in danger right now! Continued Israeli airstrikes are preventing rescuers from reaching her,” RSF said.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun called on the Lebanese Red Cross to work on the rescue of Khalil, along with another journalist, Zeinab Faraj, who was with her.
Aoun requested the Lebanese Red Cross to coordinate with the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers “to carry out the rescue operation in the shortest possible time.”
UK’s FTSE 100 closes lower and inflation rises over supply chain pressures
Official data showed British consumer price inflation rose to 3.3% in March from 3% in February, underscoring the Iran war’s impact on price levels.
“The CPI figures confirm that the supply chain and energy pressures are beginning to bite, and the Bank of England’s room for manoeuvre is narrowing fast,” said Nick Saunders, CEO of Webull UK, in a note.
Iran foreign ministry says ‘appreciates’ Pakistan’s efforts to end war
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on Wednesday that the Islamic republic appreciates Pakistan’s efforts to end the Middle East war, without commenting on a ceasefire extension announced by the United States.
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported that Baqaei was asked by journalists to comment on the truce extension, which US President Donald Trump said he approved following a request by Pakistani mediators.
“While appreciating Pakistan’s efforts to end the imposed war and establish peace”, Baqaei stressed that Tehran “is taking the necessary measures to safeguard Iran’s national interests and security”.