Oil markets rattled as Iran signals readiness to prolong war

An Israeli airstrike and tank shelling killed six Palestinians, including two women and a girl, in separate attacks in Gaza City on Sunday, the deadliest incidents in Gaza since the US-Israeli assault on Iran began a week ago, health officials said.

Such attacks have declined since the start of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran, although Israeli forces have killed several Palestinians over the past week.

In a statement on Sunday, the Israeli military said the strike had killed two Hamas members who had been preparing to attack Israeli soldiers, without providing evidence.

No militant group has claimed any of the men as members. [Reuters]

The G7 nations have yet to decide whether to release emergency stocks of oil in response to surging crude prices triggered by the was in Iran, the French finance minister has said.

"We are not there yet," said Roland Lescure, after finance ministers from leading industrialised countries, including UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves, gathered to discuss the economic impact of the conflict.

The oil price reached nearly $120 a barrel on Monday over fears of a lengthy disruption to supplies, sending global stock markets lower. [BBC]

Talks to advance President Donald Trump's plan to end the Gaza war have been on hold since last week when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran, sparking a broader Middle East war, three sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations said.

A Palestinian official close to the mediation effort — said Hamas had been expected to hold talks with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators on the day the war erupted, but the meeting was scrapped and no new date has been set.

A Hamas official confirmed that talks on Trump's Gaza plan had been frozen for now, but declined to elaborate. Israel's government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read the full story here...

France is deploying about a dozen naval vessels, including its aircraft carrier strike group, to the Mediterranean, Red Sea and potentially the Strait of Hormuz as part of defensive support to allies threatened by the conflict in the Middle East.

Speaking in Cyprus, President Emmanuel Macron sought to reassure his Cypriot counterpart after drones were intercepted heading towards the island last week.

European states have been largely sidelined in the conflict.

But with shipping lanes in the Middle East impacted and the price of oil heading well above $100 a barrel, European powers are grappling with the issue of how to defend their interests.

Read the full story here...

The US military identified the seventh service member killed in the Iran war as 26-year-old Army Sgt. Benjamin Pennington.

Pennington, from Glendale, Kentucky, died Sunday after he was injured a week prior at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia. The military announced Pennington’s death on Sunday. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 1st Space Brigade, a unit within Army Space and Missile Defense Command. [CNN]

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway through which 20% of the world’s oil travels via tankers. Iran has threatened to attack any tanker transiting the strait. That has led to a standstill in oil pickups and deliveries in the region.

The estimated 20% of disrupted supply is roughly twice as big as the record set during the Suez Crisis of 1956-1957, according to historical data from Rapidan Energy Group.  [CNN]

"In addition to the challenges of transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a substantial amount of oil production has been curtailed in Arab countries. This is creating significant and growing risks for the market," the IEA chief told the gathering of G7 finance ministers.

"IEA member countries currently hold over 1.2 billion barrels of public emergency oil stocks, with a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks held under government obligation," said Fatih Birol, executive director at International Energy Agency (IEA).

If reserves are released it would be the first time since 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. [BBC]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found evidence Israel used white phosphorus in residential areas of southern Lebanon earlier this month, in violation of international humanitarian law.

In a new report released on Monday, the New York-based rights group said it confirmed the authenticity of seven photos from 3 March.

Ramzi Kaiss, a Lebanon researcher with HRW, said, “The incendiary effects of white phosphorus can cause death or cruel injuries that result in lifelong suffering.”

Read the full story here...