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Dem confronts Hegseth over Iran threats: ‘that’s murder’
5:38 • Source: CNN
Dem confronts Hegseth over Iran threats: ‘that’s murder’
5:38
• Oil price surge: Brent crude oil prices, the global benchmark, surged above $126 per barrel Thursday morning after setting a new wartime high, as US President Donald Trump lays the groundwork for an extended blockade of Iranian ports. Iran’s oil minister, meanwhile, urged Iranians to cut consumption.
• Defense hearing: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slammed opposition to the Iran war during a congressional hearing Wednesday, describing lawmakers who criticize the effort as “the biggest adversary.” The hearing marks the first time he has testified since the conflict began and comes as the White House seeks roughly $1.5 trillion for its defense budget.
• Peace talks: Pakistan could receive Iran’s revised peace proposal by Friday, sources say, as Trump responded to the current deadlock in peace talks by warning Iran “better get smart soon,” posting a mocked-up image of himself holding a gun on his Truth Social platform.
• Trump-Putin call: Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed the Iran ceasefire and other topics in a 1.5-hour call. Trump said afterward that Putin had offered to help with Iran’s uranium stockpiles.
China has found 225 new oil and gas fields within its borders over the past five years, Beijing officials said Thursday, a potential boost as the world is battered by energy shortages and cost increases.
Among the newly discovered sites are 13 oil fields holding more than 100 million tons and 26 gas fields with reserves exceeding 100 billion cubic meters, the Natural Resources Ministry said.
Though it didn’t specify how much of that fossil-fuel bounty is currently available, it said the country’s natural gas production could increase year by year and oil production was holding steady at 200 million tons per year, “thanks to the significant increase in the newly discovered energy reserves.”
Officials vowed to “resolutely safeguard our energy security,” and push ahead with oil and gas exploration.
The ministry said it has invested over 450 billion yuan ($66 billion) to almost double China’s known crude oil and natural gas reserves, compared with a decade ago.
The move comes as the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint in the transit much of the world’s oil, has led to a global energy shortage.
China is the world’s biggest energy importer. It imports around 10% of its oil from Iran and so isn’t insulated from the shocks. But it is so far faring better than most major economies due to a long-running energy self-reliance drive.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week called on cadres to “systemically address the challenges posed by external shocks, enhance the security of energy and resource supplies, and counter various uncertainties with the certainty of high-quality development.”
Mohsen Rezaei, the senior military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said Iran “will not tolerate” an extension of the US’s naval blockade, according to state media.
“If the blockade continues, Iran will respond,” Rezaei said in a televised interview, Iran state broadcaster IRIB reported early Thursday.
His comments came as US President Donald Trump mulls an extended blockade of Iranian ports.
Rezaei also urged the public not to listen to rumors about status of Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard from since he was announced as Iran’s new supreme leader more than six weeks ago.
“The Supreme Leader is young, healthy, and energetic, and is managing the affairs of the country,” Rezaei said, according to IRIB.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday the US “has indications” that Khamenei is still alive, though he said it’s not clear how much credibility the new supreme leader has in Iran.
While tensions in the Middle East centered on Iran, Israeli forces intercepted an aid flotilla in international waters bound for Gaza.
In a post to X, the Global Sumud Flotilla said military speedboats self-identified as “Israel” approached it, with personnel on the speedboats pointing assault weapons at the flotilla members, telling them to move to the front of the vessel.
“As part of their aggression, Israeli navy intercepted vessels, jammed communications, including distress channels, and aggressively abducted civilians,” Global Sumud wrote in a statement. It accused Israel of operating with “impunity, far beyond its own borders, with no consequences.”
The incident took place in the waters east of the Greek island of Crete, nearly 700 miles (1130 kilometers) from the coast of Israel.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on X that it boarded a “PR stunt flotilla” and alleged that it found “condoms and drugs” on board. Flotilla spokesperson Gur Tsabar called the Israeli claim and an accompanying video “misinformation” and said it was not related to the flotilla’s vessels.
A video from the flotilla filmed from inside one of its vessels shows a radio with a voice emanating from it identifying itself as the Israeli navy.
“Please change your course and return to your port of origin,” it says.
Greenpeace confirmed that its affiliated vessel Arctic Sunrise received the radio warning and that contact had been lost with several flotilla vessels after communication channels were jammed.
The flotilla set sail from Barcelona on April 12, as a “carefully structured civilian intervention at a moment of escalating violence and humanitarian crisis,” according to its website.
The Global Sumud Flotilla has made previous attempts to get aid to Gaza. In October of last year, it was intercepted by Israeli forces. On that occasion the navy boarded vessels and detained hundreds including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
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Brent oil prices surge above $125 after setting new wartime high
4:36 • Source: CNN
Brent oil prices surge above $125 after setting new wartime high
4:36
Brent crude oil prices, the global benchmark, surged above $125 per barrel on Thursday morning, as US President Donald Trump mulls an extended blockade of Iranian ports.
June contracts for Brent crude had already hit a wartime high, but jumped above $125 per barrel, up more than 12%, as of 12:39 am ET Thursday. WTI crude, the US benchmark, was up more than 3%, sitting above $110 per barrel.
The surge in global oil prices came as US gas prices reached a four-year high, and as face-to-face negotiations between the US and Iran broke down, keeping the Strait of Hormuz – a critical oil and gas shipping channel – effectively shut still.
The hike in prices follows a meeting betweenTrump and his top advisers, during which the President said he wanted the US naval blockade of Iranian ports to continue, sources familiar with the talks told CNN, and his team has begun laying the groundwork for such an extension, including a longer-term closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
With the June Brent contract set to expire at the session’s end, trading volume has shifted to the July futures. That more active contract pushed above $113 a barrel Wednesday night.
As the White House lays the ground work for an extended blockade of Iranian ports, Asian nations will be bracing for further fallout.
The price of oil is surging again after US President Donald Trump said he will maintain the naval blockade on Iran’s ports and vessels unless Iran agrees to curb its nuclear program.
Asian nations, which are heavily reliant on energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz, have borne the brunt of the economic pain from the war that has stretched into its 9th week. Everything is in short supply, from crude and natural gas to plastics and fertilizers.
Brent crude is now trading at $123 a barrel. On Thursday, oil prices surged with Brent crude up more than 12%, hitting $126 at one point. Before the war, 80% of the crude oil and gas that flowed through the Strait of Hormuz headed to Asia.
With the price of jet fuel more than doubling, regional carriers are under pressure and scrambling to cope. Carriers including Qantas, Air New Zealand, Vietnam Airlines and AirAsia have already cut flights.
Asia, also home to major copper and nickel producers, has been hit by a shortage of sulfur – a key Gulf energy by-product that’s been effectively trapped by the conflict. Indonesia, the world’s largest nickel producer, is now trimming output.
To safeguard its major energy-consuming industries and consumers, South Korea is diversifying energy supply away from the Strait of Hormuz and increasing imports from the US, Algeria, Oman and elsewhere.
China has been able to weather the Iran energy shock better than its Asian neighbors thanks to its vast strategic reserves, embrace of coal, and diversified power grid. But the economic giant is vulnerable to surging prices and slowing demand for its exports as a result of the ongoing conflict.
Rising fuel costs have affected the lives and livelihoods of scores of people across the region from farmers in Thailand to drivers in the Philippines. As disruptions linger, the human suffering across Asia will deepen.
According to a UN report released earlier this month, around 8.8 million people in the Asia-Pacific region are at risk of falling into poverty because of the war.
All eyes are on Tehran as the United States awaits Iran’s revised peace proposal, which could come by Friday, according to sources familiar with the mediation.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that negotiations to end the war with Iran are happening “telephonically” because “we’re not flying anymore” for 18-hour flights to Islamabad after the first round of in-person talks ended without a deal, and the second ended up canceled.
Trump said his response to any proposal from Iran will depend on how far they go on its nuclear program, saying “there will never be a deal unless they agree that there will be no nuclear weapons.”
Remember: Iran’s earlier proposal, which Trump rejected, called for ending the war first and dealing with Iran’s nuclear weapons at a later stage.
Catch up on the latest between the US-Iran:
- Iran’s response to Trump: Iran’s key negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Trump is trying to force Iran to “surrender” by applying economic pressure and exploiting internal divisions, Iranian media outlets reported. Ghalibaf said Iran’s adversaries were trying to weaken the country from within through what he described as “siege tactics and media manipulation.”
- Trump’s ramped up rhetoric: In another response to the current deadlock in peace talks, the US president posted a mocked-up image of himself holding a gun and wearing aviator sunglasses on his Truth Social platform, alongside the warning: “NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!”
- Vance on military readiness concerns: On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance told Fox News that it is his job to stay vigilant, while dismissing a report from The Atlantic that alleged he raised concerns about missile depletion amid the war with Iran. “Nobody who’s close to me was speaking to that reporter,” he said.
- Hegseth slams lawmakers: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slammed opposition to the ongoing war with Iran during a congressional hearing Wednesday, saying “the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans.”
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Lawmakers grill Hegseth on Iran’s nuclear capabilities
4:08 • Source: CNN
Lawmakers grill Hegseth on Iran’s nuclear capabilities
4:08
In other headlines:
- A 1.5-hour call with Putin: Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, discussed the Iran ceasefire and other topics during a 90-minute phone call on Wednesday. Trump said afterwards that Putin had offered to help with Iran’s uranium stockpile, and the president also told CNN the Ukraine and Iran wars could end “on a similar timetable.”
- Iranians to cut oil consumption: Tehran’s oil minister urged the public to cut consumption, calling “conservation and saving” a “religious duty” as he dismissed the impact of the US naval blockade.
- US troops in Germany: Trump said the US is considering reducing the number of troops in Germany, one day after he pushed back against German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s comments that the US was “being humiliated” by Iran.
CNN’s Nic Robertson, Sophie Tanno, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Alejandra Jaramillo, Donald Judd, Chris Isadore and Katrina Samaan contributed reporting.
Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton, who served in the Iraq war, talks to CNN’s Erin Burnett about US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s support of the US war with Iran.
“This is another war of choice in the Middle East that we’re in very grave danger of getting into further because there’s no exit plan,” the congressman said when asked about an equivalency between the Iraq and Iran wars.
Watch the interview below:
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Dem confronts Hegseth over Iran threats: ‘that’s murder’
5:38 • Source: CNN
Dem confronts Hegseth over Iran threats: ‘that’s murder’
5:38
Earlier Wednesday, Hegseth slammed opposition to the ongoing war with Iran during a congressional hearing and described lawmakers who criticize the administration as the “biggest adversary.”
Burnett and Moulton also discussed President Donald Trump’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In case you missed it, US gas prices jumped another 5 cents on Wednesday, to $4.23 for a gallon of regular, the highest price since July 2022, according to the latest reading from AAA.
What this means: Prices are up 21 cents, or 5%, in just the last week, the largest weekly gain for gas prices since March. And prices are up 42% since the start of the war in Iran.
Oil futures suggest gas prices could keep rising. US crude prices topped $100 a barrel in early trading, up about 3%. Those futures haven’t settled above $100 in the three weeks since the ceasefire was declared in Iran.
Gas prices fell for two weeks after the start of the ceasefire in the war in Iran, taking the average down to $4.02. But a breakdown in face-to-face peace talks left the Strait of Hormuz closed and prices shooting higher once again.
As the war in Iran enters its ninth week with no clear end in sight, shipping traffic in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz has been completely reshaped, heavily disrupting global markets and supply chains for oil, natural gas, fertilizer and other essential products.
Before the United States and Israel launched their attacks on Iran in late February, about 3,000 vessels typically passed through the Strait of Hormuz each month, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence. But since the war began, traffic has been reduced to a trickle, with just 154 vessels recorded crossing in the entire month of March, according to Kpler data.
The latest shipping data shows that most vessels that have transited the Strait of Hormuz in recent days have taken a route designated by Iranian authorities, and about half of them loaded their cargoes at Iranian ports in defiance of the US blockade.
Iran’s ports are typically far from the busiest in the Persian Gulf, and the ports of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates usually have much higher traffic. But those countries and other gulf allies have been forced to cut production amid the shipping disruptions and threats from Iran. Importing countries, particularly in Asia, are also suffering as they face fuel shortages.
Read CNN’s visual deep dive on the Strait of Hormuz here.
Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad urged the public to cut consumption, calling “conservation and saving” a general principle “and a religious duty,” as he dismissed the impact of the US naval blockade.
He said there was “no worry” about the steady supply and distribution of fuel, adding that oil industry personnel are working around the clock to prevent any disruption in services. “We saw during the war that many countries resorted to managing and reducing consumption due to fuel shortages,” Paknejad added.
The Iranian government has already started taking measures to avoid possible shortages of fuel and goods. Last week, it launched a broad energy-conservation campaign amid the blockade, Iranian media outlets reported.
Government offices across Iran have been instructed to cut electricity use by up to 70% after 1 p.m., while households are being encouraged to reduce consumption with incentives such as discounts on electricity bills for those who lower their usage.
Disruption to shipping, and therefore imports, has also hurt Iran’s already fragile economy, “placing 50% of Iranian jobs at risk and pushing an additional 5% of the population into poverty,” according to Hadi Kahalzadeh at the Quincy Institute, a foreign policy think tank.
Iran’s economy was in dire straits before the conflict. Income per person fell from about $8,000 in 2012 to $5,000 in 2024, hit by inflation, corruption and sanctions.
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