Uncertainty in the Gulf as companies prepare to unveil unequal toll of Iran war on businesses
The fortunes of regional economies, many built around hydrocarbons, largely depend on how reliant they are on the Strait of Hormuz that provides the only sea access to the Gulf. The economy of Saudi Arabia, which also has oil terminals on the Red Sea, will grow 2.1 per cent this year, HSBC forecasts show.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy hits US military bases, which coincided with burial of slain leader Ali Khamenei
Iranian armed forces launched attacks on US military infrastructure in Gulf States on Thursday following US strikes on Iran’s southern coastal and eastern provinces, further eroding a three-week-old ceasefire. Iranian media later reported multiple explosions across southern Iran, including Bushehr, where one of the country’s nuclear plants is located, along...
Exile ends but Afghan returnees struggling to find footing after long spells – some two decades – in Iran and Pakistan
Many of the returnees have spent decades, and in some cases their entire lives, outside Afghanistan. Upon returning, they often find themselves with limited social networks, little familiarity with local systems and customs and restricted access to housing, livelihoods, public services, civil documentation and protection mechanisms, the report said.
Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei a no-show at father’s funeral as three other pray beside his coffin
On Sunday, tens of thousands more mourners, including soldiers, seminary students and ordinary men and women filed into the Mosalla to pay their respects to Khamenei and his family, waving flags emblazoned with promises of revenge against America and Israel.
‘Let us wail!’ Iranians flock to slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral after wartime death
Thousands of US and Israeli airstrikes hit a range of military targets, energy and civilian infrastructure during weeks of war that began with the killing of Khamenei on February 28. The attacks killed more than 3,000 people in Iran, according to state media.
World Cup rekindles businesses and social life in Lebanon’s war-ravaged villages, towns in the south
Since the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicked off on June 11, football has drawn residents back to cafes, village squares and public spaces, creating rare opportunities for communities to reconnect. The pine forest in Kfeir, transformed by the municipality into an open-air viewing area with a giant screen and seating
Negotiators express confidence latest sporadic US-Iran clashes will not derail fragile truce
Regional analysts said the latest exchange of fire underscored the deep-rooted divisions and mutual distrust between the United States and Iran, warning that their entrenched hard-line positions suggest the path to future negotiations is likely to be fraught with challenges.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy command warns American bases ‘will experience hell in coming days’
The 14-point interim peace accord was meant to halt the fighting, which the US and Israel started on February 28, and reopen the strait while talks proceeded on issues such as Iran’s nuclear programme.
While oil prices have fallen to pre-war levels in Middle East there’s no sign it’ll defuse civil unrest in emerging markets
Iraq has seen the sharpest proportional rise in protest activity among emerging markets over the past year, followed by Turkey, according to Verisk Maplecroft’s civil unrest index, which measures protest size, fatalities and commercial property damage.
Iran-US fragile ceasefire put to test following renewed attacks in strait of Hormuz
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed hope that the Strait of Hormuz could return to its status quo ante, said his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Friday.
