Iran intensifies attacks on Gulf energy sites after Israel struck its key gas field

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Iran intensified its attacks on oil and natural gas facilities around the Gulf on Thursday, raising the stakes in a war that is sending shock waves through the global economy. The strikes, in retaliation for an Israeli attack on a key Iranian gas field, sent fuel prices soaring and risked drawing Iran’s Arab neighbors directly into the conflict.

Intel leads the US stock market to more records

NEW YORK (AP) - A surge for Intel following a blowout profit report led the U.S. stock market to more records Friday, while oil prices kept yo-yoing in the wait for what's next with the Iran war. The S&P 500 climbed 0.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 79 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.6%.

Middle East War: The Latest Updates

Iran intensified its attacks on oil and gas facilities around the Gulf on Thursday in retaliation for an Israeli attack on a key Iranian gas field, dramatically raising the stakes in a war that is sending shock waves through the global economy. Brent crude oil, the international standard, spiked to as high as $118 a barrel, up more than 60%.

Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

BANGKOK (AP) – Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Friday during a visit aimed at strengthening the countries’ strategic partnership and expanding cooperation. The two agreed to strengthen collaboration in fighting transnational crime and cyberscams and other areas.

Reported attack hits South Pars natural gas field, an energy lifeline for Iran

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – Iran’s state media said Wednesday that Israel attacked its South Pars gas field – the largest in the world and one that is shared with Qatar to the south across the Persian Gulf. Facilities associated with the gas field near Asaluyeh on Iran’s Gulf coastline were on fire on Wednesday, state media reported.

US won't renew Iranian and Russian oil waivers, Bessent says

WASHINGTON (AP) – Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that the U.S. does not plan to renew a waiver allowing the purchase of Russian oil and petroleum products that are currently at sea. And, he said, a renewal of the one-time waiver for Iranian oil at sea is totally off the table.

Israel and Iran Attacks Energy Facilities, as Oil Prices Surge

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Israel kept up its campaign of targeting Iran’s leaders on Wednesday, killing the country’s intelligence minister, and an Iranian offshore natural gas field was struck in a sign of the war’s mounting pressure – from both sides — on the region’s economic lifeblood: energy.

Editorials from The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post and others

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

Global energy concerns mount as Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz

The ongoing American-Israeli war on Iran, for all its complexity and global effects, boils down to a single question: Who can take the pain the longest? A surge in oil prices points to what may be Iran’s most effective weapon and the United States’ biggest vulnerability in continuing the campaign: Damaging the world economy.