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Oil settles up on renewed US-Iran hostilities and threat of Red Sea closure

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Oil prices climbed more ​than 4% to their highest in more than a month on Friday after the U.S. and ‌Iran stepped up attacks across the Gulf, with shipping threatened by a potential Red Sea closure on top of the restricted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude futures settled $3.87, or 4.59%, higher to $88.10 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose $3.54, or 4.48%, ​at $82.49. Both were at their highest since mid-June, Reuters reported.

For the week, both benchmarks gained about 16%, with Brent ​on track for a third consecutive weekly gain and WTI set for its second.

The two ⁠foes expanded fighting on Friday, with the U.S. striking bridges and an airport in Iran and Tehran hitting a power and ​desalination plant in Kuwait. Iran said it launched more strikes on U.S. facilities in the Middle East, including the first ​direct attack in Syria, after a sixth straight night of U.S. strikes on Iranian military facilities.

“The market is reacting to the increasing hostilities between Iran and the United States that have culminated this week with nightly attacks on Iranian infrastructure and retaliation by Iran on ​its neighbors’ infrastructure,” said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. “If more tankers come under fire and become damaged, ​we’re going to see oil prices continue to move up as shipowners simply refuse to enter the Persian Gulf.”

The collapsed truce between ‌the U.S. ⁠and Iran has resulted in a sharp decline in oil flows in the strait as Iran targets vessels transiting through it. Before the Iran war, about 20% of global oil supplies flowed through the waterway. Iran has pressed the Houthis to close the Red Sea route if the U.S. attacks Iran’s power infrastructure.

“Given that so much of Saudi Arabia’s exports have ​been redirected to the port ​of Yanbu via the East-West ⁠Pipeline to avoid Hormuz, any such development is a threat indeed,” Tamas Varga, analyst at PVM Oil Associates, wrote in a note.

Saudi Arabia has diverted more than 70% of ​its normal daily crude exports to the Red Sea port of Yanbu since the ​beginning of the ⁠war. Shipments from Yanbu averaged 4 million barrels per day in recent weeks, up from around 973,000 bpd in the same period last year.

Qatar’s defence ministry said its armed forces thwarted an Iranian missile attack early on Friday and the interior ministry said ⁠a ​child was wounded by shrapnel resulting from interception operations.

In a different conflict ​zone, Ukraine’s military said it struck a Russian oil refinery in the Yaroslavl region on Thursday.

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Trump says he is talking to Russia and China about denuclearization

Trump’s comments ​come months ​after the ⁠Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty expired earlier this year.

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US President Donald Trump said on Thursday Washington is holding talks with ​Moscow and Beijing aimed at denuclearizing ‌the countries with the biggest stockpiles of nuclear weapons.

Russia has the most stored nuclear warheads followed by ​the United States and China, according to ​the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The ⁠US outpaces Russia on its number of ​deployed warheads.

During an interview with Newsmax, Trump said ​he expects China to “catch up” with the US within the next five years.

“The whole thing is a shame, ​because I’d love to denuclearize if possible, ​but we’re actually talking to Russia about that, and ‌we’re ⁠talking to China about that denuclearization,” Trump told the outlet.

Newsmax reported that Trump had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping about denuclearization.

Trump’s comments ​come months ​after the ⁠Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty expired earlier this year.

The New START treaty signed ​in 2010 allowed one single extension, which ​was ⁠agreed by former President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin for five years. Any ⁠new ​extension would require an executive ​decision to voluntarily extend the limits of the treaty.

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Ukraine’s Zelenskiy says it is ‘painful’ when Trump chooses a different side

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview on Wednesday ​that it was “painful” when Donald ‌Trump took another side in Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia, after the US President said ​Zelenskiy should be replaced.

Zelenskiy told ​Piers Morgan Uncensored: “It’s painful when President Trump ⁠chooses one side, not our side.”

He ​also said that he was OK ​with Trump being in the middle of Ukraine and Russia, but added: “If you are in the ​middle, you have to stay in ​the middle.”

Asked if he felt betrayed by Trump, ‌who ⁠at the weekend called for Ukraine to get a new president having agreed to lift sanctions on Russian diesel exports, Zelenskiy ​replied: “Really, yes … ​but it’s ⁠a little bit more complicated than just my emotions or ​my feelings.”

“It’s a pity we ​are ⁠losing (a) strong partner,” he added.

Zelenskiy also said: “We are not selling our country … it’s ⁠not ​about business for us, ​it’s just our life and this is our country.”

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Yemen hospitals overwhelmed by surge in war casualties, Red Cross warns

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Hospitals across Yemen are struggling to cope with a sharp rise in war casualties ​as intensified fighting along multiple front lines ‌strains its already fragile health system, the Red Cross said on Wednesday.

Front-line hospitals in areas including Marib, Taiz ​and Yemen’s Red Sea coast were seeing unprecedented ​numbers of weapon-wounded patients, with some facilities ⁠admitting more than 700 casualties in a single ​week, according to the humanitarian agency, Reuters reported.

More than 200,000 people ​have been displaced from their homes since fighting in the country began in recent weeks, sparked by renewed fighting between ​the Iran-backed Houthi group and Saudi-backed government ​forces in Yemen, according to the United Nations’ International Organization ‌for ⁠Migration.

“Trauma care staff are under enormous pressure,” ICRC health coordinator Feras Abusamra said in a statement. Only a small proportion of Yemen’s functioning health facilities ​are capable ​of providing ⁠comprehensive trauma care, he said, while hospitals face large numbers of wounded people amid ​shortages of surgical supplies, anesthesia, oxygen ​and medicines.

Yemen’s ⁠health services, battered by more than a decade of conflict, economic crisis, displacement and disease outbreaks, ⁠may ​have limited capacity to absorb a ​new surge in mass casualties if fighting intensifies further, the ​ICRC warned.

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