Six months into the Iran war, its fallout is spreading into oil markets, US-China relations and Europe's own security arguments.

Iran war, six months in

  • A projectile struck an oil tanker off Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, damaging it with no casualties and no group claiming responsibility, on the six-month mark of the Iran war (more).
  • World shares rose and oil fell as Washington's Iran sanctions campaign intensified, with European defence stocks among the session's biggest gainers, though analysts flag a risk the same enforcement could turn on China (more).

Washington vs Beijing

  • China rejected a US Treasury demand to cut off all trade with Iran, saying it will not submit to 'economic warfare,' after Washington sanctioned Chinese entities last week over Iran trade (more).

USA

  • The Trump administration is preparing to revoke visas for up to 200,000 people who entered on B1 or B2 visas between 2016 and 2026 and later applied for asylum, the largest mass visa revocation in US history (more).

Europe and Russia

  • France is pushing for a deadline on the exemptions letting Ukraine spend the EU's €90 billion loan on non-EU defence equipment, including Chinese and US components (more).
  • CIA Director John Ratcliffe made an unannounced visit to Moscow, his first known trip to Russia as US spy chief, as US-brokered talks to end the Ukraine war remain stalled (more).
  • Analysis: Russia's hybrid campaign has widened to British hospitals, a Finnish sabotage warning and a drone shot down near a Romanian gas project, prompting Latvia's prime minister to call it outright war against the West — just as Washington's own attention is stretched by debt, Iran and a trade dispute with Canada (more).