Saudi Arabia condemns attacks on UAE, Qatar and Kuwait 🚨
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs has railed against the attacks earlier today reported in Qatari, Kuwaiti and Emirati territories.
Riyadh demanded an “immediate halt to the blatant attacks on the territories and territorial waters of the Gulf states, and to any attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz”, the ministry said in a statement.
The UAE said its air defences intercepted two drones that were launched from Iran, while Kuwait reported “hostile drones” in its airspace this morning. Qatar said a cargo ship was targeted in its territorial waters.
Netanyahu spoke with Trump on Sunday, sources say 🚨
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with President Donald Trump on Sunday evening, according to an Israeli official and an Israeli source familiar with the call, as Iran submitted its response to the latest US ceasefire proposal.
Video posted on social media showed Netanyahu excusing himself from a meeting with Druze and Circassian community leaders, saying that he needed to have a call with Trump.
Trump and Netanyahu have been in regular contact as the US has tried to advance ceasefire negotiations with Iran. In an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes set to air on Sunday, Netanyahu said there is “work to be done” on Iran.
The Israeli prime minister also said that Trump agreed with him on the importance of removing Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which has been one of the key issues the US has tried to address.
🇨🇳🇧🇷 BRICS forges new era of deeper Brazil-China cooperation - expert
Brazil and China found in BRICS a strategic environment that reduced political mistrust and expanded opportunities for long-term collaboration, China-Brazil specialist Evandro Menezes de Carvalho tells Sputnik.
🔸 The New Development Bank is the clearest example: emerging economies creating their own mechanisms to finance infrastructure without depending on Western-led institutions
🔸 BRICS reinforced that development and has no single universal model — diversity in political systems and economic strategies is seen as a source of new approaches, not an obstacle
🔸 The bloc accelerated the shift toward a more multipolar world, where Global South nations gain greater autonomy, voice, and new forms of cooperation
China's growing engagement with Brazil isn't just about trade or investment. It's about new institutional architectures and South-South cooperation — with BRICS at the center, the expert concludes.
Here is the global oil crisis — country by country — as of today:
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka — RATIONING. Nationwide QR-code fuel system for cars & motorcycles. Public offices & schools/universities on conservation schedule. 🇵🇰 Pakistan — CRISIS. 4-day work week for public & private sectors. Unprecedented price surge. Remote work pushed & markets closing early. 🇮🇳 India — VULNERABLE. SPR ~6–10 days left. Total stocks ~60 days cover but panic growing. Govt scrambling for emergency imports. 🇰🇷 South Korea — CLOCK TICKING. Odd-even driving rules (mandatory for public sector, voluntary for private with discounts). Fuel price caps in effect. 🇯🇵 Japan — RELEASING. Claimed 230+ days. Extra strategic reserves now being tapped (second major release started May 1). 🇬🇧 UK — PRICE SHOCK. Targeted aid packages for heating-oil users. Windfall tax talks & anti-gouging measures active. 🇩🇪 Germany — TAX RELIEF. Petrol & diesel tax cut extended. Employer fuel bonuses rolled out. 🇫🇷 France — AID LAUNCHED. Targeted fuel discounts & allowances for high-mileage drivers, transport, fishing & agriculture. Energy vouchers accelerated. 🇿🇦 South Africa — LEVY EXTENDED. Fuel levy slashed to ease pump prices. Citizens still reporting pressure & queues at stations. 🇹🇷 Turkey — TAX CUT. Special consumption tax on fuel lowered to cushion consumers. 🇧🇷 Brazil — SUBSIDIES. Diesel taxes scrapped & subsidies for producers/importers in place. 🇦🇺 Australia — VOLUNTARY CUTS. “Every Little Bit Helps” campaign + excise duty halved. Business support loans active. 🇺🇸 USA — SPR DRAWDOWN. Part of IEA’s largest-ever coordinated strategic release. State-level gas tax relief active. 🇨🇳 China — STOCKPILED & LOCKED. Massive reserves held back. Refined-oil export ban & domestic price controls still enforced.
This is DAY 70 of the Hormuz blockade. 20% of global oil — GONE. 8 million barrels per day — GONE. IEA’s response: largest-ever strategic stock release in history. OPEC+ increases remain minimal relative to the hole.
Here is what nobody is telling you: They’re showing you “reserves are sufficient.” They’re NOT showing you India’s SPR at ~6–10 days, Pakistan on 4-day weeks with rationing, Japan quietly tapping extra reserves, or Sri Lanka’s QR-code fuel system. Empty pumps and demand destruction are already here in Asia. The real energy crisis hasn’t even started yet.
Tom Lee is sounding cautious on the S&P 500, saying 2026 could bring a sharp market pullback… followed by a powerful rally in 2027 that might be one of the biggest we’ve seen.
His concern comes from two risks hitting at the same time: A new Federal Reserve chair taking over during a weak economic phase… and possible global oil shortages pushing inflation higher again.
This mix could put serious pressure on markets. Rising energy costs would hit consumers, reduce company profits, and leave the Fed stuck in a tough position during a leadership transition.
But the key insight: The downturn may actually create the foundation for a major breakout later.
Smart investors are likely already looking past short-term volatility and preparing for the recovery phase before it becomes obvious.
The next couple of years could be a turning point for long-term market trends.
🚨 Iran is reportedly looking to take control over seven major undersea internet cables passing through the Strait of Hormuz, and a new update from The Kobeissi Letter shows how big this could get.
Under the plan, foreign operators would need Iranian permits, pay fees, follow Iranian laws, and use only local Iranian companies for all management and maintenance of the cables.
These lines carry massive internet and data traffic between Europe, Asia, and the Gulf. This goes way beyond money — the IRGC has already threatened to target these same cables before, which raises real questions about global infrastructure security.
With tensions in the region running high, Iran seems to be positioning itself for leverage not just over energy, but over the key digital connections that link much of the world.
Trump renews criticism against Tehran as negotiations continue 🚨
Donald Trump today offered renewed criticism against Iran, shortly after the country submitted its response to the US peace proposal via a Pakistani mediator.
“Iran has been playing games with the United States, and the rest of the World, for 47 years (DELAY, DELAY, DELAY!),” Trump said in a post on social media.
It’s not clear if the US has been able to review Iran’s latest proposal, and president did not directly reference it in his post. Trump went on to say that Iran “will be laughing no longer!”
The US laid out a “very clear red line” in its latest proposal, US ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said earlier today. “President (Donald) Trump has been clear they will never have a nuclear weapon and they cannot hold the world’s economies hostage,”
Qatar’s state minister meets adviser to German chancellor in Doha 🚨
Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al Khulaifi, state minister at Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has met with Gunter Sauter, political and security affairs adviser to Germany’s chancellor, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry says in a statement on X.
“During the meeting, they reviewed the relations of cooperation between the two countries and ways to support and enhance them, and discussed developments in the situation in the region, particularly those related to the ceasefire between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the efforts aimed at de-escalation that contribute to enhancing security and stability in the region,” the statement reads.
Democratic senator says munitions ‘depleted’ weeks into war on Iran 🚨
Mark Kelly, a Democratic senator from Arizona, says it may take “years” to replenish US munitions following the war on Iran.
“It’s shocking how deep we have gone into these magazines, because this president got our country into this without a strategic goal, without a plan, without a timeline.”
“We’ve expended a lot of munitions, and that means the American people are less safe,” the senator added. “Whether it’s a conflict in the western Pacific with China or somewhere else in the world, the munitions are depleted.”
Kharg Island oil spill would be ecological ‘disaster’ 🚨
Any oil spill near Iran’s Kharg Island would immediately trigger an environmental and geopolitical crisis.
Satellite imagery reported by Reuters last week appeared to show a large slick west of Iran’s main oil export hub in the Gulf. Iran has denied that a leak occurred.
“Even if if turns out to be limited, it still highlights how fragile energy infrastructure” in the Gulf “has become amid escalating military tension”, Chuk Okereke, a global governance and public policy professor at the University of Bristol.
Because the Gulf is an “ecologically sensitive and semiclosed body of water”, Okereke said, oil pollution can persist much longer than in the open ocean, threatening fisheries, mangroves and marine diversity.
“All of these systems will be at risk,” he warned.
Iran seeking full guarantees from US before discussing Strait of Hormuz 🚨
Iran is saying it has been attacked twice in less than a year in the middle of negotiations.
So right now, that’s what they’re focusing on: How to end this war, how to reach a full agreement with guarantees from regional countries and the Security Council, to reach a deal that this war is not going to happen again.
After that, they can jump to the other sticking point of the new reality in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s armed forces are tightening their control and creating a new body, a new mechanism, for how to safely pass through the strategic waterway.
At the same time, they’re saying that we have full sovereignty and full rights to control the strait.
Iran denies reports of oil leak near Kharg Island 🚨
Iran’s Oil Terminals Company has denied reports of an oil leak near Kharg Island, state media reported, after satellite imagery last week appeared to show a large slick west of the country’s main oil export hub in the Gulf.
The company’s chief executive said inspections had found no evidence of leaks from storage tanks, pipelines, loading facilities or tankers operating near the island. He added that the Marine Emergency Mutual Aid Centre (MEMAC), a regional body that monitors marine pollution, had also reported no sign of leakage in the area.
The official said Iranian teams had conducted additional field inspections and laboratory testing after the reports emerged and had not identified “even the smallest trace” of leakage.
Arab Parliament denounces attacks in Qatari waters, Kuwait airspace 🚨
The president of the Arab Parliament, Mohammed bin Ahmed Al-Yamahi, has condemned today’s attacks in Qatari and Kuwaiti territory.
As we’ve been reporting, Qatar said a cargo ship was targeted in its territorial waters, causing a minor fire without resulting in any injuries.
Kuwait’s defence ministry reported numerous “hostile drones” in its airspace at dawn.
In separate statements on social media, the Arab Parliament said Al-Yamahi views the attacks as violations of sovereignty and a “direct threat to the security and stability of the region”.
The Arab Parliament is the legislative body of the Arab League.
US considering a pause on federal gas tax amid high pump prices 🚨
The Trump administration is open to suspending the federal gas tax to lower prices at the pump, the top US energy official has said.
“All measures that can be taken to lower the price at the pump and lower the prices for Americans, this administration is in support of,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the NBC News programme “Meet the Press”.
Wright repeatedly said he couldn’t guarantee whether prices for gas or petrol could dip below $3 per gallon (3.8 litres) later this year – or rise above $5 – amid the US-Israel war on Iran, but claimed there was an “incredibly bright” outlook for energy production in countries such as Venezuela.
The average gas price in the US is currently $4.52 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA), with a federal tax of about 18 cents per gallon.
Macron says France ‘never considered’ Hormuz deployment, backs coordinated mission with Iran 🚨
French President Emmanuel Macron has said Paris has “never considered” deploying naval forces to the Strait of Hormuz, instead backing a coordinated security approach that includes Iran.
Speaking at a press conference in Nairobi, Kenya, Macron said France opposes any blockade in the waterway, regardless of whether it comes from the United States or Iran, and rejects the imposition of tolls in order to safeguard freedom of navigation.
He was responding to Iranian warnings of a “decisive and immediate response” to any French or British military deployment in the strait, after both countries announced plans to send vessels to the region.
“There was never any question of a deployment, but we are ready,” Macron said.
He added that France has helped build an ad hoc mission with the United Kingdom, bringing together around 50 countries and international organisations to support maritime security.
“We have built an ad hoc mission, co-piloted with the British, which has brought together 50 countries and international organizations to enable, in concert with Iran and by deconflicting the matter with all the countries of the region and the United States, to ensure as soon as conditions allow the resumption of maritime traffic,” Macron said.
Israeli air raids hit Lebanese towns after evacuation threats 🚨
Israeli warplanes have carried out multiple air raids on southern Lebanon, striking towns shortly after issuing evacuation warnings, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
The agency reported that Deir Zahrani came under five separate strikes on Sunday evening, with one missile failing to detonate.
In Jarjouh, Israeli forces launched another air raid less than two hours after warning residents to leave the area.