US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened Thursday to subject Iran to economic isolation “like the world has never seen before”, adding that new measures are expected next week. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.
Kushner to travel to Middle East to advance Gaza ceasefire plans
President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and negotiator Jared Kushner will travel to the Middle East next week to try to advance plans for an end to the conflict in Gaza after a deal recently announced by the Trump administration ran into Israeli opposition.
An official with the Board of Peace, the body Trump established to oversee the fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, said Kushner, board high representative Nickolay Mladenov, and executive board member and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would arrive in Israel on Sunday.
The group will then travel to Cairo, where meetings of a Palestinian technocratic group set to assume control of Gaza under a US-brokered ceasefire deal have been taking place for the past several months, the official said. The trip was reported earlier by Axios.
Vance says keeping oil prices low is top US priority in Iran war
Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the top US priority in the Iran war was keeping oil and petrol prices low for Americans, with preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon ranking second.
The remarks contrasted with President Donald Trump’s repeated framing of the fight: that entering the war had the sole objective of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, even if that meant short-term economic sacrifices for Americans.
Vance’s comments also underscored the growing reality that the war now centres on control of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has forced to the top of the negotiating agenda.
“I know that oil is down today and it’s way down from the highs in the early days of the conflict,” Vance said on Fox News. “That’s goal number one – keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country.”
UAE condemns Iranian attack on two ADNOC vessels in Hormuz
The United Arab Emirates on Friday condemned an Iranian attack it said targeted two vessels linked to state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) as they passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has imposed an effective blockade of the strait and wants to charge users for passage, which the US fiercely opposes. Iran is in talks with Oman over arrangements for the strait’s future management.
The UAE foreign ministry in a statement denounced what it called “the hostile Iranian attack that targeted two vessels affiliated with ADNOC as they transited the Strait of Hormuz, with no injuries reported”.
ADNOC confirmed “two of its vessels were attacked while transiting” the waterway on Thursday evening, adding the situation was “brought under control”, the official WAM news agency reported.
Oil prices edge higher as US threatens indefinite Iran blockade
Oil prices inched higher on Friday after the US threatened to maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely, reviving crude supply concerns, after prices fell in the previous session on a weaker global demand outlook.
Brent futures rose 9 cents, or 0.1%, to $87.16 a barrel by 0130 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 4 cents to $81.29 a barrel.
US threatens Iran with unprecedented economic isolation
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened Thursday to subject Iran to economic isolation “like the world has never seen before”, adding that new measures are expected next week.
“It will be a combination of economic isolation, like the world has never seen before,” Bessent told conservative television network Newsmax, adding that “the continued blockade in the Strait of Hormuz … will keep anything from going in or out of the Iranian ports.”
Welcome to the France 24 liveblog covering events in the Middle East. You can catch up on recent developments here.
Yesterday’s key developments:
• US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee denounced a siege by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank village of Qusra as a “horrific act of terror”.
• A spokesman for Iran‘s military command on Thursday called out US President Donald Trump‘s “lies and fabrications” after he claimed on social media that Washington had “total control over the Strait of Hormuz”.
