Day News Recap: Trump drops Hormuz cargo fee as Iran tensions rise and oil hits four week high

US President Donald Trump reversed a planned 20 percent fee on cargo moving through the Strait of Hormuz, saying Gulf states would instead make investment and trade, after earlier threatening a strike on Iran's deeply buried Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site and later saying the US military had reopened Hormuz for all but Iran.  🔗  🔗  🔗

Sponsored

Oil prices climbed to a four week high as renewed US Iran hostilities deepened fears over energy supplies through the waterway, while gold fell about 3 percent after the naval blockade announcement. The United Arab Emirates is also planning a new east coast deepwater port to help cargo bypass Hormuz altogether.  🔗  🔗  🔗

In Ukraine, the United Nations said June was the deadliest month for civilians in four years, with at least 293 killed and 1,990 injured, as Ukraine and nine European countries launched a new anti ballistic missile coalition in Paris. The EU also opened a second accession negotiation area with Ukraine, covering external relations, and separately opened the same cluster with Moldova.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

In the Middle East, Houthi attacks continued to disrupt aviation, with flights at Saudi Arabia's Abha airport hit after a claimed missile and drone strike, while a senior Houthi official threatened a siege on Saudi Arabia after the Sanaa airport attack blamed on Riyadh. Lebanon and Israel also resumed Rome talks on implementing a US brokered ceasefire framework.  🔗  🔗  🔗

Sponsored

In Africa, the World Health Organization warned the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo may be up to four times larger than official figures suggest, and a separate report said it had spread to two more provinces as a hospital staff strike disrupted response efforts in Ituri. In Sudan, a court in Port Sudan sentenced RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, to death over atrocities in West Darfur, while the EU banned gold imports from Sudan to cut off war financing.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

Europe saw several diplomatic and security moves, with the EU and Britain signing a Gibraltar treaty intended to end border checks between the territory and Spain, and the EU adopting sanctions on four individuals and five entities over surveillance abuses in Russia, plus 15 people and one entity over abuse of Ukrainian prisoners and detainees. The bloc also agreed EUR 120 million for Moldova air defence and its first European Peace Facility aid measure for the Philippines maritime security.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

Elsewhere, the UK is set to designate Iran's IRGC as a terrorist organisation and impose sanctions, while Andy Burnham secured backing from more than 85 percent of Labour MPs in a move that puts him in pole position to become the next British prime minister. In France, firefighters battled two wildfires in the Fontainebleau forest south east of Paris after the burned area grew beyond 1,300 hectares amid a heatwave.  🔗  🔗  🔗

Across Asia and the Pacific, Australia warned that Russian linked hackers are actively targeting critical industries, Japan said it must counter foreign espionage more rigorously after a report alleged Russia had used the country as a hub, and China's monthly car exports topped 1 million for the first time in June as trade surplus pressure built. India also responded to fresh developments in the Nijjar killing case and opposition parties demanded a rollback of the Election Commission's Form 6 change.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

Sponsored

In other developments, Thailand said 27 bodies were recovered after a bar fire in northern Bangkok, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev told a media forum in Shusha that peace remains achievable, the US refunded 81 billion dollars in tariffs after a Supreme Court ruling, and Marco Rubio said the United States would move to dismantle the International Criminal Court.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

#Trump #Iran #oil #Ukraine #markets #breakingrecap #recaprecap