Tag - middle-east

 
 

MIDDLE EAST

Iranian missiles are launched from Tehran. Iran said it had carried out attacks against a U.S. base in Jordan and 21 other targets in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday in retaliation for American strikes around the Strait of Hormuz.
WORLD
Jun 11, 2026
Trump vows to strike Iran again Thursday if it holds out on deal
Trump has ordered multiple strikes as his frustration over the lack of progress in talks grows.
Vessels are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Jun 11, 2026
Oil surges as fresh U.S. strikes on Iran threaten fragile truce
Brent crude surged over 2% to trade above $95 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate advanced toward $93, before paring gains after the U.S. ended a brief campaign of strikes.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Malaysian leader Anwar Ibrahim pose for photographs ahead of their bilateral meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 10, 2026
Japan and Malaysia pledge to bolster energy supplies and maritime ties
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Malaysian leader Anwar Ibrahim reached a deal on energy security, including LNG supplies, during a summit in Tokyo on Monday.
Corporate goods prices rose again in May, signaling stronger inflationary pressure across Japan’s supply chains as the war in Iran keeps energy prices elevated, with input prices up 0.9% from a month earlier, the Bank of Japan said Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 10, 2026
Japan’s producer prices jump again on elevated energy costs
The measure of input prices for Japanese firms rose 0.9% in May from a month earlier, and April’s increase was revised higher, the Bank of Japan says.
The pharmaceutical industry is among the most strained sectors, with profits squeezed by drug price cuts and rising costs amid Middle East tensions, according to Shunji Horitani, president of the Japanese Federation of Energy and Chemistry Workers’ Unions.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 10, 2026
Wage gains at Japan’s smaller firms at risk as Iran war drags on
Many of such companies lack the pricing power to fully pass rising costs on to customers because of intense competition and entrenched business practices.
Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz near the beach of Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Monday
WORLD
Jun 10, 2026
U.S. launches new strikes on Iran after helicopter downed
Trump has repeatedly said Iran and the United States are close ⁠to an agreement, though there have ​been few signs of progress.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi says it is "more convenient to publicly recognize companies that cooperate" with releasing their inventory than to enforce anti-hoarding laws.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 9, 2026
Takaichi reluctant to resolve naphtha bottleneck by enforcing laws
With naphtha-made products still in short supply, the prime minister’s government is facing questions on using two laws to punish hoarders.
Security forces stand guard during a rally by supporters of the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Sanaa, Yemen, on May 18.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 9, 2026
Why Houthi threats on Red Sea shipping could mean more pain for oil markets
Yemen’s Tehran-aligned militant group said it would ban ships linked to Israel from the Red Sea after Israel renewed its ⁠military attacks on Iran.
Two men examine a fallen rocket half-buried in the ground on the outskirts of Jericho, Israel, on Monday, following Iranian and Iran-backed Houthi rebel attacks.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 9, 2026
Iran and Israel pledge to end attacks that threatened talks
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that his country had neither abandoned the battlefield nor the negotiating table.
A streak of light illuminates the sky during a missile attack from Iran as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 8, 2026
Israel hits Iran with new strikes despite Trump admonition
The U.S. president had said hours earlier that new strikes by Israel and Iran would not affect his administration’s peace talks with Tehran.
People attend the funeral procession of Pierre Moawad, an official of the Christian Lebanese Forces Party, and his wife Flavia, who were killed in an Israeli strike, in Yahchouch, Lebanon, on April 7.
WORLD
Jun 8, 2026
‘What will happen to us?’ southern Lebanese Christians ask
More than 400 Lebanese have been killed in Israeli strikes after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that began mid-April was largely ignored, lifting the death toll to at least 3,400.
A woman swims in a pool at the Anantara The Palm Dubai Resort in Dubai on Saturday.
WORLD
Jun 7, 2026
Dubai luxury hotels woo staycationers as tourists flee
The clientele is driven by hotels offering residents-only deals that have become a lifeline for Dubai’s luxury tourism.
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to his resort in Palm Beach, Florida, in December.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 7, 2026
Pentagon sees growing espionage threat from Israel
Israel and the U.S. have long known that each was spying on the other but recent Israeli efforts to learn about U.S. positions in talks with Iran may have crossed a line.
Officials inspect damage inside a terminal at Kuwait International Airport following a drone and missile attack, in Kuwait City on Wednesday
WORLD
Jun 7, 2026
U.S. eyes Iranian assets for Gulf allies’ reconstruction
The disclosure came a day after an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader said that a peace ‌deal hinged ‌on the release of $24 billion in Iranian assets frozen by the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a news conference after meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, last year.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 6, 2026
Trump’s ‘crazy’ rebuke undercuts Netanyahu at a critical moment
A leaked phone call this week laid bare the strains that have at times emerged between the two leaders.
Vessels are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Musandam, Oman, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Jun 6, 2026
U.S. attacks Iranian coastal sites after Iran launches drones in latest flare-up
U.S. forces struck Iranian coastal radar sites on Saturday after shooting down drones launched by Iran toward the Strait of Hormuz.
 Japan received 93% of its oil via the Strait of Hormuz prior to the Feb. 28 start of the Iran war.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jun 5, 2026
How Japan created its naphtha supply bottleneck
With no end in sight for the Iran war, supply chain bottlenecks for the oil-derived material are set to continue, prompting calls for government-enforced energy saving measures.
Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management warned that the Bank of Japan may need a larger or unscheduled rate hike, saying an expected increase this month may not be enough to halt the yen’s slide and weakness in government bonds.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 5, 2026
Mitsubishi UFJ says Japan may need jumbo rate hike to boost yen
Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management said a larger or out-of-cycle Bank of Japan rate hike can’t be ruled out, warning that an expected increase this month may not be enough to prevent further declines in the yen and Japanese government bonds.
A banner with a picture of Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, on a building during a rally in support of him in Tehran on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 5, 2026
Is Iran’s new supreme leader taking up the reins of power?
It remains to be seen whether Mojtaba Khamenei will replicate the rule of his father, who was all-powerful during his more than 3½ decades in power.
An F/A-18E Super Hornet launches from the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea on Feb. 15, shortly before the start of hostilities on Feb. 28.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 5, 2026
Is an honorable U.S. surrender to Iran inevitable?
The only path left may be what could be called an “honorable surrender” — a unilateral declaration of victory while ending the war without achieving its objectives.

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