Key events
Asian shares were mostly lower on Friday, tracking Wall Street losses, while oil prices hovered around $100 per barrel as anxiety remained over the Iran war and its impact on supplies of crude oil and gas.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index slipped 1.1%, while South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.3%. Australia’s ASX 200 was up 0.1% and Taiwan’s Taiex was trading 0.7% lower.
Oil prices held steady. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 0.6% to $97.22 per barrel. It topped $100 on Thursday, days after jumping to near $120 earlier this week.
On Thursday, Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in his first public statements, vowed Iran would keep fighting. And that it would continue to use the strait of Hormuz – a crucial waterway for oil and gas transport which has been effectively closed amid significant traffic disruptions – as leverage against the US and Israel.
Macron says French soldier killed in attack in Iraq
Emmanuel Macron has confirmed on social media that a French soldier has been killed in an attack in Erbil in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region – marking the first French military death of the Middle East war.
The French president named him in a post on X as Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion of the 7th Battalion of Chasseurs Alpins from Varces, saying he “died for France”.
To his family, to his brothers in arms, I want to express all the affection and solidarity of the Nation.
Macron also said in the post that several French soldiers had been wounded. He added:
This attack against our forces engaged in the fight against Daesh [Islamic State] since 2015 is unacceptable. Their presence in Iraq is part of the strict framework of the fight against terrorism. The war in Iran cannot justify such attacks.
As mentioned, France’s army said earlier that six French soldiers in training with Iraqi partners had been wounded and taken to medical centre after a drone attack in the region.
US and Israeli strikes hit parts of Tehran on Friday, Iranian media reported, adding that homes shook from the blasts.
“The intensity of the explosions was such that residents of these areas reported their houses shaking. No further details have been provided about the extent of damage or possible casualties,” Iran’s Fars news agency reported.
Iran laying mines in strait of Hormuz surprised Trump administration – reports
Robert Mackey
Iran started to lay mines on Thursday in the strait of Hormuz, a crucial Gulf passage for 20% of the world’s oil supply, US officials told the New York Times.
While Donald Trump has boasted that the US military has destroyed Iran’s navy, officials said Iran had started using smaller boats to place mines and enforce the closure of the strait it had imposed on its Gulf neighbours, sending oil prices sky high.
Iran’s move to close the narrow passage has long been an expected move by war planners in previous administrations but apparently took the Trump administration by surprise.
CNN reported on Thursday that senior Trump administration officials told lawmakers in recent classified briefings that they did not plan for the possibility of Iran closing the strait in response to strikes by the US and Israel.
“Planning around preventing this exact scenario … has been a bedrock principle of US national security policy for decades,” a former US official who served in Republican and Democratic administrations told CNN. “I’m dumbfounded.”
Welcome summary
Hello and welcome to our ongoing live coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran and the impact it is having on the region and the global economy.
Here are the latest developments:
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US Central Command said it was carrying out rescue efforts after it lost a military refuelling aircraft in “friendly airspace” in Iraq, while saying neither hostile or friendly fire were to blame. A statement said “rescue efforts are ongoing” after an incident involving two planes, the second of which landed safely.
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The KC-135 aircraft that crashed had at least five crew members onboard, according to US official, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. US central command said the crash was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.
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Israel launched fresh strikes on Tehran and Beirut.
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Donald Trump said his war on Iran was “moving along very rapidly” and “doing very well”. He called Iran “a nation of terror and hate” and said it was “paying a big price right now”.
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Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a veiled threat to kill Iran’s new supreme leader, saying he “wouldn’t take out life insurance policies” on Iran’s new ayatollah or the leader of Hezbollah. Using his first press conference since the start of the war to defend his joint military assault with the US against Iran, he said Israel aimed to stop Iran from moving its nuclear and ballistic projects underground, and that some Israeli strikes had killed top Iranian nuclear scientists.
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The US Navy, perhaps with an international coalition, will escort vessels through the strait of Hormuz when it is militarily possible, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent told Sky News. The plan to escort ships would go ahead as soon as the US has “complete control of the skies and … [Iran’s] rebuilding capabilities for the missiles completely degraded,” he said.
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French president Emmanuel Macron said a French soldier had been killed in an attack in Erbil in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region – marking the first French military death of the war. Several other soldiers were wounded, he said. The French army said earlier that French soldiers had been engaged in training with Iraqi partners during the drone attack in the region.
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Trump said the Iranian national football team was “welcome” to participate at this summer’s World Cup but added: “I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.” The US president didn’t elaborate on the nature of the risk at the Cup, which is taking place in the US, Canada and Mexico.
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A base housing UK and US forces and also in Erbil, northern Iraq, came under attack from an Iranian drone last night but there were no significant injuries and all American soldiers stationed there remained on duty, a US defence official told BBC News. No British soldiers were injured in the attack either, the broadcaster understood.
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A ballistic missile fired from Iran hit an open area in central Israel, causing no injuries, the Israeli military’s home front command said, as quoted by Haaretz.
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Saudi Arabia’s defence forces said it intercepted a drone heading towards the Shaybah oil field – an area drones have been targeting regularly this week – as well as a ballistic missile and three drones launched towards the country’s eastern region.
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Qatar’s defence ministry said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles, one cruise missile and multiple drones launched from Iran.