Breakfast News Recap: US Iran conflict widens as trade, shipping and diplomacy tensions mount

The biggest escalation came in the US Iran confrontation, with Donald Trump saying Iran will pay after multiple American service members were killed, while Tehran said it had targeted US radar and air defence sites in Kuwait and Bahrain as the Gulf standoff widened.  🔗  🔗

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That conflict is already feeding through to energy markets, with average petrol prices in the United States rising to $4.00 a gallon for a second straight week as tensions around the Strait of Hormuz pushed oil higher and traffic through the waterway thinned.  🔗

Maritime security across the wider region also deteriorated, as Yemen's Houthis объявed an immediate embargo on Saudi Arabia, and Cairo consultations involving Egypt, Somalia, Eritrea and a senior US envoy focused on Horn of Africa and Red Sea security.  🔗  🔗

In the Levant, Israel began withdrawing troops from occupied areas in southern Lebanon under a US brokered pilot zone plan, even as residents returned to some villages and the dispute over occupation and future control remained unresolved.  🔗  🔗

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Gaza remained politically and economically strained after Hamas elected Khalil al Hayya as leader, but many Palestinians said daily hardship mattered more than the change at the top.  🔗 Israel was also exposed by an internal file showing officials had gathered data on more than 150 charities and humanitarian groups over alleged BDS links.  🔗

Elsewhere in the Americas, Trump ordered new 50 percent tariffs on many Canadian goods, deepening the trade dispute with Ottawa, and he also said he had discussed UK ties, North Sea oil, trade and possible Hormuz Strait demining with the new British prime minister Andy Burnham.  🔗  🔗 Burnham is expected to unveil new cost of living support as his Cabinet meets for the first time.  🔗

In South Asia, India said it wants faster development of hydropower projects on the Chenab river and is ready to renegotiate the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, while opposition MPs prepared to march in New Delhi over the Delhi crackdown and President Droupadi Murmu began a state visit to Moldova for talks on UN reform and counterterrorism.  🔗  🔗  🔗

Ukraine faced pressure on both the battlefield and at home, after strikes hit Russian oil facilities in the Moscow region, Russian attacks killed two children and damaged aid warehouses, and army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi was widely expected to lose his job amid protests in Kyiv.  🔗  🔗  🔗 In Europe, Russian naval activity also drew attention after a frigate carried out a live fire exercise off Plymouth in international waters, while protests erupted in Bologna after a Moroccan man died during a police arrest.  🔗  🔗

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In other political developments, Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega said there would be no more elections soon, effectively cancelling the next scheduled vote, Senegal reversed course to back Macky Sall for the UN secretary general race, and the Trump administration was weighing whether to cut ties with the UN refugee agency.  🔗  🔗  🔗

There were also signs of continuing friction in Asia Pacific, with China and the Philippines trading blame after a clash near Second Thomas Shoal, and in North America three Mexico nationals pleaded guilty in a Canada to US alien smuggling case.  🔗  🔗

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