Iran war is a 'wake-up call' for Southeast Asia's energy sector, report says
The war in Iran has exposed major risks for Southeast Asia that could cost the region many billions of dollars if it does not diversify sources of energy more quickly, according to an International Energy Agency report released Tuesday.
An overreliance on oil and gas transported through the Strait of Hormuz left the region particularly vulnerable to shocks from the Iran war, a "stark wake-up call" for its energy security, the report says.
It notes that rising sales of electric vehicles, a renewed interest in nuclear power and a boom in rooftop solar and other renewable energy installations show the war is spurring change.
But more sweeping reforms are needed. Otherwise, Southeast Asia’s energy import bill could rise to $245 billion by 2035, tripling from $80 billion in 2024, the report warns.
Drone strike hits Iranian opposition camp near Iraq's Erbil, security sources say
- Israel must withdraw from 'occupied areas' in Lebanon, Iran's top negotiator says
- Trump may release US-Iran agreement before Friday, Vance says
- Iran FM says talks on final agreement with US 'likely' to start Friday
- Iran FM says ending war in Lebanon 'most important issue' in US deal
- Oil dips to lowest price since March on talk of Hormuz reopening
Iran military threatens 'harsh response' to Israeli attacks in Lebanon
Iran's military threatened on Tuesday to respond to Israel after strikes in southern Lebanon killed four people despite a deal between Tehran and Washington ending the Middle East war, including in Lebanon.
"If the child-killing army of the Zionist regime does not put an end to its acts of aggression in southern Lebanon, it should await a harsh response from the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran," said the Iranian military's central command Khatam al-Anbiya.
It added that Israel had violated the ceasefire in Lebanon "84 times" since the deal was announced.
Pope Leo says 'thanks be to God' for interim deal to end US-Iran conflict
Pope Leo on Tuesday praised the interim deal between the United States and Iran to end the regional war in the Middle East, saying "thanks be to God" that the two powers are set to formalize their accord on Friday.
Leo, who drew the ire of US President Donald Trump after criticising the Iran war, said he hoped the deal will end the conflict for good.
"There will still be several points to settle, but it is always better to do so through dialogue, through negotiations, and not by returning to war," the first US pope told journalists outside his residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy.
"I hope that it truly is a solution to the war, that the war really is over, and that we can move forward," he said.
US lawmakers say they're in the dark on Iran deal
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was willing to send his interim deal to end the war with Iran for review by the US Congress, as lawmakers, including many of his fellow Republicans, said they were largely in the dark about the pact.
The US-Iran memorandum of understanding announced on Sunday has spurred optimism that a conflict that has killed thousands and disrupted the global economy will soon end, but the text's details remain unclear and it has not been released or sent to Congress.
"It's been two days since Trump claimed he had reached an 'understanding' with Iran and he still hasn't released any details... about what it actually is," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said as he opened the Senate session on Tuesday.
Schumer called on the Trump administration to hold a classified briefing for Congress's "Gang of Eight", a group of intelligence committee and congressional leaders typically briefed on major national security developments.
Schumer also said officials should brief the entire Congress, and inform the American people.
No plans for any such events have been released.
Iran deal includes $300 billion fund, more than half of which already committed, source says
A $300 billion private fund designed to trigger investment into Iran is outlined in the US-Iran framework agreement and more than half that sum has already been committed, a source with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters.
The fund is designed to give both sides an economic incentive to conclude a final deal, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not yet been announced as Washington and Tehran prepare to sign on Friday.
The new fund is a private investment vehicle, not a reconstruction or reparations program and will not include any government money or grants, the source said, adding that companies based in the US, the Gulf Arab states, Asia, South America and Africa have agreed to commit financing.
Investments pledged span energy, logistics, manufacturing and transport, the source said.
Ships still wary of passing through Hormuz
US will allow Iran to immediately sell oil, fuel under deal to end war, WSJ reports
The US will allow Iran to immediately begin selling oil and fuel under the memorandum of understanding the two sides reached to end war, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the agreement.
Israeli minister strips Palestinians of control over Hebron holy site
Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Tuesday he had stripped Palestinians of authority over the site of the Cave of Patriarchs, known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque, in the occupied West Bank.
The move to transfer management of the site to an Israeli committee controlled by the far-right minister, drew swift condemnation from the Palestinian Authority.
In a statement posted on his Telegram channel, Smotrich said the site will no longer be administered by the municipality authority in the West Bank city of Hebron.
"The meaning of this decision is that many authorities previously granted in Hebron and at the holy sites -- including the very foundation of our existence, the Cave of the Patriarchs -- are no longer under the control of the Hebron Municipality," Smotrich said.
Smotrich posted his remarks as he attended an event marking the laying of the foundation stone of a new Israeli settlement near Hebron.
"This is much more than a planning step, it is a step... of practical sovereignty, of governance," Smotrich said, according to footage of the ceremony released by his party.
Hebron is the largest city in the West Bank, the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
China warns next phase of US-Iran talks will be 'more difficult'
China's top diplomat told his Pakistani counterpart on Tuesday that the next phase of negotiations between the United States and Iran -- which Pakistan has helped mediate -- will be "more difficult".
In a phone conversation ahead of the planned signing on Friday of a US-Iran memorandum of understanding to end their war, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Pakistan's Ishaq Dar that "it is foreseeable that, compared with the first stage, the second stage of negotiations will be more difficult".
Wang added that the United Nations Security Council "should also play a greater role" in supporting these talks, according to a statement from Beijing's foreign ministry.
"The current consensus is far from the final destination, rather it is a new starting point," Wang said.
Four killed in separate Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon, state media says
Israeli drone strikes targeted three vehicles in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least four people and wounding others, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.
Two people were killed in a double-tap strike, with a drone hitting a car in the village of Mayfadoun followed by a second strike after people had gathered at the scene.
Another drone strike on the town of Shoukin killed two other people, the agency said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the reported strikes.
What do we know about the interim US-Iran deal?
After three and a half months of war, the agreement to end the conflict in the Middle East looks set to be signed this Friday in Geneva by the United States and Iran. But what does it actually contain? And, above all, who comes out on top?
Israel must withdraw from 'occupied areas' in Lebanon, Iran's top negotiator says
Israel must withdraw from "occupied areas" in Lebanon, Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Tuesday in a call with Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, as Tehran and Washington planned
to sign a peace deal on Friday to end their war.
"The people of southern Lebanon must return to their homes", Qalibaf added in a post on his Telegram channel.
Signing of US-Iran deal to take place Friday at Swiss resort, Swiss foreign ministry says
Switzerland’s foreign ministry says a signing ceremony for a deal between the United States and Iran will take place Friday at the Bürgenstock resort near the city of Luzern.
Ministry officials said Tuesday that the location was proposed by Pakistani and Qatari mediators, along with the U.S. and Iran.
The ministry said it has been in close contact with the four countries about the possible signing of the memorandum of understanding that U.S. and Iranian officials announced over the weekend.
Iran deputy foreign minister says US naval blockade 'lifted'
An Iranian deputy foreign minister on Tuesday said the two-month US naval blockade on Iranian ports had been lifted ahead of the planned formal signing of a deal ending the war.
"The lifting of the blockade was something we had emphasised from the outset. It has now begun, and the blockade has been lifted prior to the formal signing" scheduled for Friday, said Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi, according to the government's website.
Oil dips to lowest price since March on talk of Hormuz reopening
Oil prices sank again Tuesday hitting $US80 per barrel for the first time since early March on the back of an announcement by Donald Trump of the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on Friday. It comes as the US and Iran are expected to formally sign a ceasefire settlement later this week and open negotiations about Tehran’s nuclear program.
Trump says 'soon we will be able' to reimpose sanctions on Russian oil
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the US will soon be able to reimpose sanctions against Russian oil, at the G7 summit where leaders are seeking to ratchet up pressure against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
"Soon we will be able to do that as the oil is now flowing" through the Strait of Hormuz after the deal with Iran to end the Middle East war, Trump said.
Washington had imposed and then extended a sanctions waiver for Russian oil cargoes already at sea, troubling European allies.
Trump to send deal to end war with Iran and open nuclear negotiations to Congress for review
Trump says he'll send agreement aimed at ending war with Iran and opening nuclear negotiations to Congress for review.
Yesterday's key developments:
• US President Donald Trump said a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iran has already been signed and that the text of the deal would be released sometime after a formal signing ceremony on Friday.
• The G7 group of leading powers met for a summit in France set to be dominated by scrutiny of US President Donald Trump's deal to end the war with Iran.
• Several points of the MoU remain uncertain, as the US, Iran and Israel have made competing claims surrounding issues like tolls for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz and Israel's ongoing presence in Lebanon.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AP and AFP)
