Saudi Arabia is seeking to build an international coalition to protect shipping in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks, two people familiar with the deliberations said on Wednesday. The composition of the coalition has not yet been finalised and is being discussed with dozens of countries, the sources said. The Saudi Center for International Communication did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Iran-aligned Houthis said on July 20 they would impose a naval blockade on [Read more]

Prime Minister Mark Carney on Wednesday played down the idea of curbing oil supplies to the United States to gain leverage in a trade war, saying that would harm Canada's reputation. President Donald Trump, who has already imposed a raft of tariffs against Canada, on Tuesday said he did not care about renewing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade deal. He is also threatening another round of punitive measures later this month. Last week Carney said he and Trump had agreed to intensify trade [Read more]

U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explored all paths to curb Iran's nuclear project in their meeting, including diplomacy, economic pressure and force, a senior Israeli official said on Wednesday. Netanyahu did not tell Trump that Israel's preference was for an attack on Iran, the official said in a briefing with reporters after the two men met in the White House on Tuesday. "In the end, it's his decision," the official said of Trump. Trump has three [Read more]

The United States and Saudi Arabia jointly struck Iran-backed groups in Iraq on Wednesday, and President Donald Trump vowed to "beat the fucking shit" out of Iran for firing on U.S. troops just days after he suspended airstrikes. Iran confirmed late Tuesday that it had fired on U.S. bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and also spurned an Omani proposal to jointly manage the strait. "We'll be hitting them hard," Fox News quoted Trump as saying. "We're going to beat the fucking [Read more]

U.S. commercial oil inventory drew more than expected last week as refineries stepped up processing and exports climbed, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, as the war between the United States and Iran escalated. Crude inventories, excluding stocks in the U.S. government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 7.2 million barrels to 404.5 million barrels, the in the week ended July 24, the EIA said, the lowest level since 2018. That compared with analysts expectations in a [Read more]

The MERA Oil consortium of U.S. and Saudi Arabian companies is advancing plans for a $5 billion integrated refinery and export corridor in the Gulf aimed at boosting regional energy infrastructure, its partners said on Wednesday, as the Iran war continues to disrupt energy flows. * Texas-based energy development company MWG Group, the Patel Family Office and PWS, an associate company of Saudi industrial conglomerate AHQ Group, have entered the final stage of site selection for the refinery, [Read more]

The United States on Wednesday issued another round of Iran-related sanctions, taking aim at Iran's efforts to "monetize the Strait of Hormuz" with designations of 10 entities and eight more tankers, the U.S. Treasury Department said. Six of the entities targeted for sanctions were based in China, it said. The sanctions followed a vow by U.S. President Donald Trump earlier on Wednesday to hit Iran hard, according to an interview with Fox News, after the U.S. military said it had [Read more]