Tag - iran

 
 

IRAN

Iran has suggested that it will allow ships to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz during an ongoing two-week ceasefire if they coordinate with its military, though specific procedures remain unclear.
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2026
42 Japan-linked ships still stranded in Persian Gulf
The vessels include crude oil tankers, chemical tankers, vehicle carriers, liquefied natural gas ships and tankers carrying petroleum products.
Kazuhiko Shigetoku, parliamentary affairs chief of the opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, speaks at a party meeting in the Diet building on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 9, 2026
Parties call for extra budget amid concerns over energy crisis
There are concerns that currently available funds this may be insufficient if the conflict in Iran is prolonged and continues to disrupt global energy supplies.
Massive airstrikes fall on Beirut, following evacuation warnings issued for seven districts on Wednesday.
WORLD
Apr 9, 2026
Israeli strikes pummel Lebanon, killing 250 in deadliest day of war
The strikes raised questions about regional truce efforts, with Iran’s president saying a ceasefire in Lebanon was essential to his country’s agreement with the U.S.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Diplomatic efforts to halt the war in Iran were on the verge of collapse when Pakistan mounted an overnight push to secure a temporary ceasefire.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2026
‘Talks were almost dead’: Pakistan’s last-ditch effort to secure Iran war truce
The effort nearly unraveled after Iran struck a Saudi petrochemical facility that threatened to derail weeks of back-channel diplomacy.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles and his Japanese counterpart, Shinjiro Koizumi, shake hands during a joint news conference at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 9, 2026
Japan and Australia warn against Indo-Pacific ‘security vacuum’ amid global crises
At talks this week, the Japanese and Australian defense chiefs delivered a clear message: crises elsewhere — including in the Middle East — must not come at the expense of Asia.
President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2026
Trump’s abrupt Iran reversal exposes limits of his leverage
Trump’s claims of victory over Iran overlook questions about the effectiveness of mixing maximalist demands, erratic rhetoric and increasingly extreme threats.
A woman trapped in a damaged building waits to be rescued following an Israeli strike in Beirut on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2026
Iran says peace talks would be ‘unreasonable’ following Israeli strikes
Tehran and Washington have laid out sharply contrasting agendas for talks set to start on Saturday, but it was unclear whether the ceasefire would ‌hold until then.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks to reporters after her call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 8, 2026
Takaichi calls for ships’ safe passage in Strait of Hormuz in talks with Iran president
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that while Japan welcomed a ceasefire in the Iran war as “a positive step,” securing “a final agreement” quickly is “of the utmost importance.”
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference on the war against Iran, at the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 8, 2026
Trump agrees to two-week ceasefire with Iran with reopening of Strait of Hormuz
U.S. President Donald Trump claimed “complete victory” with the deal, but questions about its durability remained.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Rutte’s boosterism for U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran is said to have been at odds with the sentiment among most NATO members, with some observers seeing his comments as straying into domestic politics — historically off-limits for NATO leaders.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 8, 2026
As Trump pressures NATO, Europeans question the deference shown by its leader
Despite the NATO chief’s ability to connect with the U.S. president, Washington has cut aid to Ukraine, boosted Russia’s finances and sent economies reeling with his war on Iran.
The U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran has left developing countries using Chinese tech and trade, like solar panels and EVs, better able to weather fallout than those relying on American-backed supply chains.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2026
Is Trump the president who lost Asia to China?
After six weeks of the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran and its ensuing counterattacks, it is the countries that bet on Chinese supply chains that are faring best.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September 2025.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 8, 2026
How did Pakistan broker a temporary truce between Iran and the U.S.?
Pakistan has emerged as a key intermediary to secure a temporary ceasefire and host negotiations to end the war in the Middle East.
Chiyoda is one of the companies involved in the construction of a giant liquefied natural gas export plant in Qatar that was evacuated in March following an Iranian drone attack.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 8, 2026
Japan’s Chiyoda considers resuming work on Qatar LNG project
Shares of Chiyoda touched the upper daily limit during morning trading hours in Tokyo as investors bet on the company as a key player in reconstruction across the Persian Gulf.
Mitsubishi Chemical's Ibaraki plant in Kamisu, Ibaraki Prefecture, which produces ethylene and other petrochemical products
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 8, 2026
Japan walks tightrope to keep ethylene plants running amid Middle East crisis
Manufacturers are reducing output to keep their plants running because it takes over a month to restart after a suspension.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the White House in Washington on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2026
Trump, the demolition man of global order
The postwar idea of collective defense is giving way to something closer to protection racketeering.
This handout from the European Space Agency shows a view of Iran's Kharg Island, which hosts the country's main crude export terminal and is responsible for the overwhelming majority of its oil shipments to the world.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2026
Will Kharg Island decide the future of U.S. alliances?
Kharg Island highlights how U.S. military power can act, but uncertain allied support now constrain America’s ability to translate action into strategic influence.
A liquefied natural gas tanker is seen at a port in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2026
Shipowners eye Hormuz ceasefire window for 800 trapped vessels
The near-closure of the vital waterway has created an unprecedented global energy supply crunch, as Iran tightened its control in the aftermath of U.S. and Israeli strikes.
U.S. President Donald Trump, with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, speaks during a press conference at the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 8, 2026
Trump’s threat to Iran shocks global leaders and unnerves some Republicans
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump wrote in an online post that has drawn criticism.
People stand on the beach in Gujarat, India, near the MT Desert Kite oil tanker carrying Russian oil in the Arabian Sea, on March 11.
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2026
Whether oil and gas or green tech, India depends on imports
​India imports 80% of its oil and gas, and while it produces some green minerals like copper and graphite, it is dependent on imports for others such as lithium, cobalt and nickel.
U.S. President Donald Trump attends Easter celebrations at the White House on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 8, 2026
FBI warned of Iran’s ‘persistent threat’ to U.S. as White House downplayed risk
President Donald Trump publicly has minimized the possibility of Iranian attacks on U.S. soil in response to other intelligence reports in recent months.

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