President Donald Trump said the US was going to be hitting Iran “very hard over the next week”, shortly after issuing a partial 30-day waiver for purchases of sanctioned Russian oil, hoping to ease prices fuelled by the US-Israeli war on Iran. Prices have been whipsawing on Trump’s changing comments on the likely duration of the war, which has prompted Iran to attack vessels in Strait of Hormuz. Trump has previously said the war is “complete”, and also promised to guarantee the safety of vessels in the strait. In a Fox News interview aired on Friday, Trump said the US would escort shipping there “if we needed to”. Benchmark Brent crude eased about 0.6% to around $99.8, still up almost 40% since the start of the war. After nearly two weeks of war, 2,000 people have been killed, most of them in Iran, but many also in Lebanon and a growing number in the Gulf, which has for the first time in decades of West Asia conflicts found itself on the front line. As Israeli warplanes pounded Beirut’s suburbs with air strikes, Lebanon’s interior minister said authorities were unable to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of people who have sought refuge in the capital. Israel also dropped leaflets threatening Gaza-scale devastation as it deployed more troops to fight Iran-backed Hezbollah and warned of more attacks on Lebanon’s infrastructure. Iran fired more missiles and drones at Israel, and Iranian drones were reported flying into Kuwait, Iraq, the UAW, Bahrain and Oman. A large explosion rocked a central square in Iran’s capital where thousands were gathered Friday for an annual state-organized rally to support the Palestinians and call for Israel’s demise. Israel had warned that it would target the area in central Tehran. Iranian Press TV said a woman had been killed in the airstrike. President Masoud Pezeshkian, foreign minister Abbas Araqchi and security chief Ali Larijani all appeared in videos openly attending the rally in a gesture of defiance. “People are not afraid of these attacks. As you can see, people have come out in this rain, under these hardships,” judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei said at the march. “We will not back down in any way.” In Washington, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said that over 15,000 enemy targets have been struck. He also sought to address concerns about the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, saying: “We have been dealing with it and don’t need to worry about it.” With gasoline and diesel prices rising at pumps around the world, the US on Thursday issued a 30-day licence for countries to buy Russian oil and petroleum products already at sea – where it is not uncommon for consignments to be sold or change their buyer. The US waiver on Russian oil was welcomed in Moscow but left Kyiv and its allies angry. “Six members of the G7 expressed a very clear opinion that this was not the right signal,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in Norway. “We then learned this morning that the American govt has apparently decided otherwise.” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the move could provide Russia with $10 billion, adding: “It certainly does not help peace.” Trump said he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin may be helping Iran a “little bit” in the interview with Fox News Radio that aired on Friday. “I think he might be helping him (Iran) a little bit, yeah, I guess. And he probably thinks we’re helping Ukraine, right?” Trump told “The Brian Kilmeade Show”.
