Headlines

France has drafted a U.N. Security Council resolution on setting up an international mission to restore movement in the Strait of Hormuz and could submit it if conditions are right, the foreign ministry said on Friday, as Washington struggles to bring to a vote a text Russia and China may say is biased against Tehran. Control of the narrow waterway, a vital artery for global energy trade whose virtual closure has led to spiralling oil prices, is a major obstacle in talks to end the [Read more]

Iran's publication of a new map asserting its control over the Strait of Hormuz risks extending an already punishing ordeal for thousands of mariners trapped on ships in the Gulf. More than 20,000 sailors are stuck on around 2,000 vessels in the Gulf, many of them unable to leave ship, lacking adequate supplies of food and fresh water, and fearful of an uncertain future at sea in a war zone. Sailors interviewed by Reuters in recent weeks have described the hardships and anxieties of their [Read more]

Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday stressed Alberta's importance to Canada, a day after the oil-rich province announced a non-binding referendum on whether its residents want to remain in the country. The largely symbolic move could pose a major challenge for Carney, who is pushing for national unity in the face of U.S. tariffs and President Donald Trump's talk of annexation. "Canada is the greatest country in the world, but it can be better...we're working with Alberta on making it [Read more]

Canada's oil-rich province of Alberta will proceed with a non-binding referendum in October on whether its residents want to remain part of Canada, Premier Danielle Smith said Thursday, a largely symbolic move that could still pose a major challenge for Prime Minister Mark Carney. The ballot box question will not trigger separation, Smith said, but will instead ask residents if the Alberta government should start the legal process that is constitutionally required in order to hold a binding [Read more]

Barclays is maintaining its 2026 average Brent crude oil price forecast at $100 a barrel though risks are skewing higher, the bank said in a note on Friday. In trading on Friday, Brent futures were at about $105 a barrel as investors doubted the prospects of a breakthrough in U.S.-Iran peace talks, while the key Strait of Hormuz stayed closed. Around 20% of global energy supplies transited the strait before the war, and the conflict has removed 14 million barrels per day of oil - or 14% of [Read more]

As prices for physical crude oil hit all-time highs of over $160 per barrel last month, analysts and traders alike rushed to predict a market Armageddon if the U.S.-Iran war dragged on and the Strait of Hormuz stayed closed. Five weeks later, with the strait still largely shut and peace talks at an impasse, prices have not risen but have instead fallen to $100-$110 a barrel. The fall was driven by several factors: Chinese refiners slashed refining runs and also reduced imports and instead [Read more]