President Donald Trump said the United States will hit Iran “very hard over the next week,” shortly after issuing a partial 30-day waiver for purchases of sanctioned Russian oil, hoping to ease prices fueled by the US-Israel war on Iran.
Prices fell sharply due to Trump’s changing statements about the potential duration of the war, which prompted Iran to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.Trump had previously said the war was “total” and also promised to ensure the safety of ships in the strait. In an interview with Fox News broadcast on Friday, Trump said the United States would accompany shipping there “if necessary.” The price of Brent crude fell by about 0.6% to about $99.8 per barrel, and is still high by about 40% since the beginning of the war.
“Cuba is in its last moments of life”: Trump warns Havana | He watches
After nearly two weeks of war, 2,000 people have been killed, most of them in Iran, but many also in Lebanon and a growing number in the Gulf, which for the first time in decades of conflicts in West Asia finds itself on the front line.While Israeli warplanes bombarded the suburbs of Beirut with air strikes, the Lebanese Interior Minister said that the authorities were unable to absorb hundreds of thousands of people who had taken refuge in the capital.
Israel also dropped leaflets threatening widespread destruction in Gaza as it deploys more troops to fight Iran-backed Hezbollah and warned of further attacks on infrastructure in Lebanon.Iran fired more missiles and drones at Israel, and Iranian drones were reported flying in Kuwait, Iraq, the UAW, Bahrain, and Oman. A large explosion rocked a central square in the Iranian capital, where thousands gathered on Friday for an annual state-organized march to support the Palestinians and call for the demise of Israel.
Israel warned that it would target the area in central Tehran. Iran’s Press TV channel said a woman was killed in the airstrike. President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Security Chief Ali Larijani appeared in videos publicly participating in the demonstration in a gesture of defiance.
“People are not afraid of these attacks,” Judiciary Head Gholam Hossein Mohseni Eji said during the march. “As you can see, people came out in this rain and in light of these difficulties.”
“We will not back down in any way.”In Washington, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that more than 15,000 enemy targets had been struck. He also sought to address concerns about the actual closure of the Strait of Hormuz, saying: “We have dealt with it and there is no need to worry about it.”With gasoline and diesel prices rising around the world, the United States on Thursday issued a 30-day license for countries to buy Russian oil and petroleum products already at sea – where it is not uncommon for cargoes to be sold or to change buyers. Moscow welcomed the US concession of Russian oil, but it angered Kyiv and its allies. “Six G7 members expressed a very clear opinion that this was not the correct signal,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in Norway. “Then we learned this morning that the US government appears to have decided otherwise.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the move could provide Russia with $10 billion, adding: “It certainly does not help peace.”
” Trump said he thought Russian President Vladimir Putin might help Iran “a little bit” in the interview with Fox News Radio that aired on Friday. He added, “I think that maybe it (Iran) will help him a little, yes, I think so. And maybe he thinks that we are helping Ukraine, right?” Trump said on “The Brian Kilmeade Show.”