Policemen walk in front of a huge banner showing Iranian flag at the Islamic Revolution square in Tehran, Iran.
| Photo Credit: AP

OPEC ⁠on Thursday (June 11, 2026) lowered its forecast for world oil demand growth in 2026 to 970,000 barrels per day, the producer group said in its ‌monthly report, marking the second straight downward revision.

The group continues to see a smaller impact on consumption ‌since the Iran war started than other forecasters such ‌as ⁠the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the International ⁠Energy Agency.

OPEC said consumption would rebound later and raised its demand growth forecast for 2027. The war has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important ‌oil routes, curbing millions of barrels of West Asia output. The resulting surge in fuel prices is hitting consumers and businesses around the world.

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Oil prices climbed more than $2 ⁠a barrel on Thursday (June 11) as Iran declared the critical energy chokepoint, the Strait of Hormuz, closed after the U.S. launched additional strikes against ‌Iran.

Brent futures rose $2.30, or 2.47%, to $95.40 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed $2.60, or ‌2.89%, to $92.63. U.S. crude futures gained more than $3 ‌earlier ⁠in the session.

Iran’s top joint military command ⁠announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, including oil tankers and commercial ships, saying any vessel that will attempt passage will be shot at.

However, ‌the U.S. military said on X on Wednesday that commercial ships continue to transit in and out of the strait.

-Reuters

The U.S. military said late Tuesday that it had “completed” its retaliatory strikes against Iran over the downing of an attack helicopter.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American forces in West Asia, said on X that it had “completed self-defence strikes against Iran.”

“CENTCOM forces struck Iranian air defence, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz with precision munitions from U.S. Air Force and Navy fighter jets,” the post said.

-AFP

Oil ⁠prices were up more than $2 a barrel on Monday (June 8, 2026) after Israel on Sunday (June 7) launched renewed strikes on Lebanon despite a truce between the two countries, eroding hopes ‌for an end to the wider war and a restart to crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. crude ‌futures were up $2.10, or 2.32%, at $92.64 per barrel as of 0013 ‌GMT, ⁠while Brent crude futures rose $2.33, or 2.5%, to $95.42 ⁠a barrel.

That erased most of the losses from Friday (June 5), when prices had fallen on mounting hopes of a de-escalation in the U.S.-Iran conflict, which started with U.S. and Israel strikes on Iran in February.

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Israel launched a massive series of airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday (May 16, 2026), despite an extension of the truce between the two countries.

Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah but the strikes were preceded by an evacuation warning covering nine villages.

And the continuing bombardment has only increased scepticism about the truce among the many thousands of Lebanese driven from their homes in the south.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported strikes on more than two dozen villages on Saturday, including one more than 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the border.

– AFP

After Iran threatened power plants across West Asia, news outlets published a list of such facilities, including the United Arab Emirates’ nuclear power plant.

The report by the semiofficial Fars news agency, close to its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, appeared to be an indirect threat to the sites, including desalination plants in West Asia.

The list also included the UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant, which has four reactors out in the western deserts of the country near its border with Saudi Arabia.

The judiciary’s Mizan news agency also published the list.

The threat by Tehran puts at risk both electrical supplies and water in the Gulf Arab states, particularly as the desert nations commingle their power stations with desalination plants crucial for supplying drinking water.

Donald Trump’s self-declared 48-hour deadline expires just before midnight GMT Tuesday (March 24, 2026), further raising the stakes of the ongoing war with Iran that has disrupted global energy supplies, sending natural gas and gasoline prices soaring. 

– AP

An Iran-backed armed group announced on Monday (March 23, 2026) that it would continue its five-day pause on attacking the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

Since the start of the war in the Middle East, pro-Iran armed groups have claimed responsibility for near-daily attacks on U.S. interests in Iraq and across the region, while strikes have also targeted these groups.

On Thursday, Kataeb Hezbollah, designated a “terrorist organisation” by Washington, said it would stop attacking the Baghdad embassy under certain conditions, including an end to attacks on residential parts of Iraq and the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The latter area is a bastion of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which is also Iran-backed and is at war with Israel.

“The deadline given to the embassy of American evil will be extended by an additional five days,” Kataeb Hezbollah said in a statement on Monday (March 23, 2026). — AFP