Closing summary
We’re shutting this live coverage now but you can read our full report as the Middle East returns to the brink of full-scale war. Below is a summary of the latest events. Thanks for joining us.
The US military said it fired on Iranian forces and sank six small boats targeting civilian ships as it moved to reopen the strait of Hormuz on Monday and Tehran sought to reassert its blockade.
The US-allied United Arab Emirates came under repeated attacks from Iran for the first time since a ceasefire took hold in early April. One sparked a fire at a key oil facility in Fujairah and wounded three Indian nationals, authorities said.
Donald Trump said Iran would be “blown off the face of the earth” if it attacked US vessels trying to reopen a route through the Hormuz strait under a US military operation titled Project Freedom.
Two American-flagged merchant ships had successfully transited the strait on Monday as part of the project, the military said.
Earlier, Iran’s military central command warned that it would strike any US naval vessel approaching the strait, and claimed to have struck a US frigate in the area with two missiles. US Central Command denied that claim, saying no US Navy ships had been struck and US forces were continuing to enforce the naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the US and the UAE “should be wary of being dragged back into quagmire”. He also said there was “no military solution” to the crisis.
In Oman, two people were injured by an attack on a residential building in Bukha, along the coastline of the strait of Hormuz, an Omani state news agency reported.
The British military reported two cargo vessels on fire off the UAE.
Stocks sank on Tuesday amid the fresh spike in Middle East tensions.
Japan took delivery of its first stockpile of oil from Russia since global supplies were choked off by the Hormuz strait’s closure, reports said.
A fire onboard a South Korean-operated vessel in the strait of Hormuz that had an explosion has been extinguished, ship operator HMM said. South Korea’s foreign ministry said no casualties were reported, while Trump blamed Iran for the attack.
The UK and Saudi Arabia both called for de-escalation after reported barrage of Iranian attacks on the UAE. British PM Keir Starmer said: “Iran needs to engage meaningfully in negotiations to ensure the ceasefire in the Middle East endures, and a long-term diplomatic solution is achieved.”
Inflation is picking up and the global economy could face a “much worse outcome” if the war in the Middle East drags into 2027 and oil prices hit about $125 a barrel, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned.
Updated
First Russian oil arrives in Japan since Iran war – reports
Japan has taken delivery of its first stockpile of oil from Russia since global supplies were choked off by the closure of the strait of Hormuz at the start of the Iran war, reports said.
A tanker carrying crude that was produced as part of a Sakhalin-2 natural gas development project reached the coast of Imabari in western Japan on Monday, reported the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, TV Tokyo and other media, citing unnamed officials of wholesaler Taiyo Oil.
Japan, which depends on the Middle East for about 95% of its oil imports, has tried to diversify sources of energy procurement since Tehran effectively shut the strait in late February.
The project in Russia’s Sakhalin region is not subject to global economic sanctions against Moscow that were put in place after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, AFP is reporting.
Taiyo Oil received a request from the economy ministry to take in the petroleum, the reports said. Officials of the company could not immediately be reached to confirm the reports.
The global oil supply squeeze is inflicting an “enormous impact” on the Asia-Pacific region, Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi said on Monday after talks with Australia’s prime minister.
Japan and Australia would respond urgently to secure stable energy supplies, she said.
