(AFP) – The latest developments in the Middle East war:
**UAE’s OPEC pull-out**
The United Arab Emirates will withdraw from the OPEC and OPEC+ oil cartels to focus on “national interests,” in a bombshell announcement as energy prices soar over the Middle East war. The UAE, one of the world’s top oil producers which has previously chafed at OPEC production quotas, will pull out on Friday, a statement carried by the official WAM news agency said.
**Oil soars**
Oil prices jumped sharply on Tuesday, climbing back above $110 per barrel amid a lack of progress in re-opening the key Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude for June delivery rose 2.8 percent to $111.26 a barrel, while the benchmark US contract, WTI for June delivery, rose 3.4 percent to $99.62 per barrel.
**Iran steel export ban**
Iran has banned the export of steel products, Iranian media reported customs authorities as saying, after airstrikes targeted the country’s steel industry in the war with Israel and the United States. The Fars news agency reported a directive from the Islamic republic’s customs authorities “regarding the prohibition of the export” of steel products, effective from April 26.
**Qatar: no ‘frozen conflict’**
Qatar cautioned against the possibility of a “frozen conflict” in the Gulf, as talks between the United States and Iran for a peace deal appeared at an impasse. “We do not want to see a return to hostilities in the region anytime soon; we do not want to see a frozen conflict that ends up being thawed every time there is a political reason,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said at a press conference.
**Bahrain life sentences**
Five people were sentenced to life in Bahrain for plotting “terrorist and hostile acts” with Iran, which has bombarded the tiny Gulf state during the Middle East war.
**Israeli warning**
Israel’s military warned residents of more than a dozen villages and towns in southern Lebanon to immediately evacuate and head northwards, saying Hezbollah’s “violation of the ceasefire” was compelling it to act.
**LNG passes Hormuz**
A ship fully loaded with liquefied natural gas (LNG) has passed through the Strait of Hormuz for the first time since the Middle East war virtually closed the route in early March, marine tracking firm Kpler said. The LNG carrier Mubaraz, operated by the Emirati national oil company Adnoc, left the Gulf sometime in April with 132,890 cubic metres of LNG on board, having loaded at Das Island in the United Arab Emirates on March 2, according to Kpler data analysed by AFP.
**US mulls Iran proposal**
The White House said Monday it was examining Iran’s latest proposal to unblock the Strait of Hormuz, two months after a US and Israeli offensive sent shockwaves through the global economy. President Donald Trump met top security advisers to discuss an Iranian proposal after Tehran passed “written messages” to Washington via Pakistan, spelling out its red lines in negotiations including on nuclear issues and the Strait of Hormuz, the Fars news agency reported. The proposal was “being discussed,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told a White House briefing.
**Iran security guarantees**
Iran needs guarantees against another US-Israeli attack before it can ensure security in the oil-rich Gulf, Tehran’s envoy to the United Nations said Monday. “A durable and permanent cessation of aggression against Iran supplemented by credible guarantees of non-recurrence and full respect for the legitimate sovereign rights and interests of Iran” were needed, Amir Saeid Iravani told a Security Council session.
**Four dead in Lebanon**
Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes on the country’s south on Monday killed four people, including a woman, and wounded 51 others, three of them children, despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
© 2024 AFP
