The Latest: Key oil price spikes over $100 as Iranian attacks hit shipping

The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, spiked back over $100 as Iranian strikes hit ships and the American-Israeli war with Iran showed no signs of slowing.

Thursday’s major developments include Iran’s attacks against commercial ships around the Strait of Hormuz and Iraq’s port of Basra, escalating its defense strategy of pressuring the U.S. by squeezing the oil-rich Gulf region to threaten global economic stability. The first week of the war cost the United States $11.3 billion, according to the Pentagon.

The Israeli military also is striking Iran and moving troops to fight Iran’s militant ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, where more than 800,000 people have been displaced by the fighting. The U.N. refugee agency says up to 3.2 million people in Iran have been displaced by the ongoing war.

And while Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei hasn’t been seen publicly or made a statement since being chosen to succeed his father, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian suggested that for the war to end, the world would need to recognize Iran’s “legitimate rights,” pay reparations and guarantee against future attacks.

Here is the latest:

“It’ll happen relatively soon, but it can’t happen now,” Wright said in an appearance on CNBC. “We’re simply not ready.”

Wright said the U.S. is currently focusing military assets “on destroying Iran’s offensive capabilities and the manufacturing industry that supplies their offensive capabilities.”

Secretary Chris Wright offered the assessment as oil prices surged in morning trading in the U.S. after more oil tankers were attacked by Iran and the critical Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed.

“We’re in the midst of a significant disruption in the short term to fix the security of energy flow for the long term,” Wright added.

He added the world will face “short term pain to solve long term problem” as the U.S. and Israel try to “defang” Iran.

The emergency controls Thursday are in response to global market turmoil caused by the war. Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said the measures take immediate effect through June 30, capping profit margins mostly at 2025 levels.

The controls affect retail and business sales of gasoline and diesel, as well as a list of household products including food, cleaning supplies and personal hygiene items.

Marinakis separately announced a government working group to study the feasibility of adopting microreactor technology. Earthquake-prone Greece has previously avoided investing in nuclear power but now views emerging modular technology as safer and a potential complement to renewable energy for price stability and decarbonization.

Some commercial ships near or in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf have declared themselves as China-linked since the Iran war began, marine traffic data show, as their operators apparently try to reduce risks of being targeted in attacks.

At least eight vessels in or near the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman changed their declared destination signals to short messages such as “CHINA OWNER” or “CHINA OWNER&CREW,” according to data on the ship tracking platform MarineTraffic analyzed by The Associated Press.

“The main goal of vessels publicly identifying themselves as ‘Chinese’ while transiting the Gulf or the Strait of Hormuz is primarily to reduce the risk of being attacked rather than to facilitate passage through the strait itself,” said Ana Subasic, a trade risk analyst at data and analytics firm Kpler, which owns MarineTraffic.

Iran and affiliated groups have generally avoided targeting ships linked to China, Subasic said, given China’s relatively neutral stance and stronger economic ties with Iran.

Thailand’s Foreign Ministry conveyed its “strongest protest” to the Iranian ambassador in Bangkok after a Thai cargo ship was struck and set ablaze in the Strait of Hormuz. Thailand requested a statement of apology from the Iranian authorities.

The deputy permanent secretary for foreign affairs, Sirilak Niyom, also requested clarification of facts surrounding the incident, according to the ministry’s statement. The ambassador, Nassereddin Heidari, “expressed his condolences and gave assurances to promptly convey Thailand’s protest to the capital,” the statement said.

A search is still ongoing for three crew members while 20 others were rescued on Wednesday without serious injuries but might need psychological support, Thai officials said.

Qatar’s Defense Ministry said the missile was intercepted on Thursday.

The Israeli military said Thursday it struck a nuclear facility in Iran in recent days.

Israel had destroyed the “Taleghan 2” site in an airstrike in October 2024. Earlier this year satellite photos raised concerns that Iran was working to restore the facility.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it hit the facility again in recent days.

An airstrike on a base of an Iran-aligned Iraqi militia known as the Popular Mobilization Forces killed at least 14 fighters in western Iraq early Thursday.

According to two officials from the PMF, 36 other fighters were injured in the Akashat area. It was the biggest loss suffered by the force since the start of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.

The officials said the airstrike targeted a site belonging to the 19th Brigade of Ansar Allah al-Awfiya in the desert area near Iraq’s western border. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the attack, which was also reported by the Iraqi military. The officials accused the United States and Israel of being behind the strike.

The PMF is a coalition of Iran-aligned militias under the control of the Iraqi army. Iraq has been drawn into the latest fighting, with some PMF factions targeting U.S. bases in Iraq, including in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region in recent days.

— By Qassim Abdul-Zahra

It said Thursday that most have fled from Tehran and other major cities toward the north of the country or rural areas.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that cooperation between Russia and the United States could be a “very important factor” helping stabilize global oil markets.

Peskov made the statement when asked to comment on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev discussed the possible easing of U.S. sanctions against Russian oil during his talks Wednesday in Florida with President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Peskov said “it’s too early to talk about any effective cooperation yet,” but added without providing details that “the issue is certainly being discussed.”

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed attacking a vessel off Iraq, with a video showing the moment it was struck.

The footage showed explosions striking the Safesea Vishnu, flagged in the Marshall Islands, overnight.

In the footage, a man can be heard shouting: “Allah is the greatest! The destruction of an American tanker in the northern district of the Persian Gulf! I obey you Khamenei! Hail be the Islamic Republic of Iran! Soldiers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy!”

Israel Katz held a security assessment with military officials Thursday in the army’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, after the largest attack yet by Hezbollah in the Iran war.

He warned Lebanon that if its government does not prevent Hezbollah from attacking, Israel “will take the territory and do it ourselves.”

In a video statement released by his office, Katz said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the military to prepare for “an expansion” of its activity in Lebanon “and to restore calm and security to the northern communities.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine seeks to sign a major agreement with the United States on drone production but requires White House approval.

The deal would cover various types of drones and air defense systems operating as a single system capable of protecting against hundreds or even thousands of Iranian-designed Shahed drones and missiles, Zelenskyy said on Telegram Thursday.

Zelenskyy says he hopes U.S. officials may be more inclined to support such an agreement in light of Middle East security challenges.

The Iran war has shifted global attention from Ukraine’s fight with Russia’s larger army, prompting Kyiv to promote battlefield technology that could help the U.S. and its allies defend against Shahed drones.

Russia has earned nearly $7 billion in fossil fuel exports during the Iran war.

The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air found Russia’s daily revenues have averaged 14% higher than in February. The Europe-based think tank tracks Russian fossil fuel export revenues in real time.

The analysis was published Thursday by Urgewald, a German nonprofit that campaigns against fossil fuel financing.

The organization is seeking tougher sanctions on Russia’s fossil fuel exports as the Trump administration weighs easing them.

Australia will provide humanitarian assistance to members of the Iranian women’s soccer team who have been granted asylum there, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said.

Marles said during a visit to Jakarta on Thursday that it was a “a sensitive issue” since Australia granted asylum to seven team members. One changed her mind and departed Australia with the remainder of the team.

“From here, those six people have stayed and they will be given all the assistance that people on humanitarian visas in Australia are given,” Marles said.

Hezbollah launched some 200 rockets at Israel’s north and deeper into the country overnight, the Israeli military says.

Many rockets were intercepted and no serious injuries were reported.

Sirens started blaring Wednesday evening across the north and continued almost nonstop for hours, warning of incoming attacks from Lebanon and Iran.

“The noise was extraordinary, it was really scary,” said Naama Porat, a resident of rural Klil, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Lebanese border.

The explosions and interceptions overhead were so loud that Porat dashed outside with her son and spent the night there, she said.

Northern residents repeatedly have heard from Israel’s leaders that Hezbollah was dealt a devastating blow in the previous conflict.

“They have stocks of weapons and it just doesn’t end. We don’t know how much and what to expect,” Porat said.

Iran’s Parliament speaker said Thursday that any invasion of Iran’s islands will “make the Persian Gulf run with the blood of invaders.”

It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf’s comments, which again escalate the rhetoric surrounding the ongoing Iran war.

Iran holds three islands it took from the United Arab Emirates before its formation in 1971.

There also has been speculation that the United States could target Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, Iran’s main oil terminal.

“Homeland or Death!” Qalibaf wrote on X. “Any aggression against soil of Iranian islands will shatter all restraint. We will abandon all restraint and make the Persian Gulf run with the blood of invaders. The blood of American soldiers is Trump’s personal responsibility.”

Missiles or drones hit Italy’s Camp Singara in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, late Wednesday, Italian authorities said.

There were no injuries reported.

“The type of threat is still being ascertained, whether it was a drone or a missile, and it hit the Italian base and caused some damage to the base’s infrastructure and equipment,” Colonel Stefano Pizzotti, commander of the Italian National Contingent, told Italian news channel Sky TG24.

“The personnel are safe, they were protected inside the bunkers. Everyone is fine,” Pizzotti said, adding that the Italian military is assessing the damage.

Italy trains local Kurdish troops by request from the Iraqi government.

Israel says it has launched another “wide-scale” round of airstrikes across Iran.

Israeli settlers graffitied the name of a synagogue on a mosque outside Nablus and set it ablaze, the village of Duma and the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Religious Affairs said Thursday.

The ministry called the attack part of a “systematic increase in attempts to burn mosques.”

Palestinian civil defense volunteers brought the fire under control around dawn.

The Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs said another Nablus area village’s mosque was set afire last month and 45 were vandalized or attacked in 2025.

Duma is among a cluster of villages in areas under Israeli military and civil control where Palestinian residents have weathered a spike in settler attacks.

Israel’s military did not immediately respond to questions about the fire.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has recorded 18 Palestinians killed by the army or settlers in the occupied West Bank so far this year.

Two Iranian drones targeted Dubai on Thursday without warnings from authorities.

The Dubai Media Office, which issues statements on behalf of the city-state’s government, reported a “minor drone incident” in its al-Badaa neighborhood, saying no one was hurt.

It later said interception fire downed a drone and shrapnel hit the facade of a building on Sheikh Zayed Road, the 12-lane highway that runs through the heart of the city. It said there were no injuries in that incident, as well.

Authorities had issued missile alert warnings earlier Thursday morning, but there had been no warning before these latest strikes.

Iranian drones hit Kuwait International Airport on Thursday.

The strike caused damage but there were no injuries, Kuwait’s Civil Aviation Authority said.

At least 19 commercial ships have been damaged so far in the war, figures showed Thursday.

Through Wednesday night, there had been at least 16 vessels attacked in the Persian Gulf and the wider region, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center, a coalition overseen by the U.S. Navy.

An oil rig separately was attacked off Saudi Arabia, as well.

Overnight, two ships were hit by Iranian fire at a port near Basra, Iraq. Another was attacked Thursday off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif left the country Thursday for a brief official visit to Saudi Arabia, officials said.

He was invited by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who will meet with Sharif to discuss regional security and review bilateral relations, according to Sharif’s office.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said Thursday that shrapnel falling onto six overhead power transmission lines across the country sent them temporarily out of service.

The debris was a result of interception efforts, the ministry said in a statement.

The incident resulted in limited power outage nationwide and power was swiftly restored, the ministry said.

In Dubai, the city-state reported a “minor drone incident” in its al-Badaa neighborhood, saying no one was hurt.

Bahrain sounded its missile alert siren late Thursday morning over detected incoming fire from Iran.

Israel said it identified more missiles launched toward the country from Iran Thursday morning.

Missile alert alarms sounded in Jerusalem, with explosions heard as the Israeli military sought to intercept the incoming fire.

A hard-line television presenter has threatened possible protesters against Iran’s theocracy.

Reza Mollaei, speaking Wednesday on the television program “Samt-e Khoda,” or “Towards God” in Farsi, said hard-liners were “waiting, when the dust of this unrest settles … (to) grab you by the collar, every single one of you. And that’s already happening.”

“Confiscating your properties in nothing, we will make your mothers mourn you,” Mollaei said. “Those of you who now have foolish ideas and think things are chaotic and something must be done, this message is for you, both inside the country and outside.”