Oil Prices Surge amid Escalating Israeli-Iranian Conflict
Oil prices rose sharply in early Asian trading on Monday, driven by renewed attacks between Israel and Iran. The exchange of strikes has heightened concerns that the growing conflict could disrupt critical oil exports from the Middle East, a region that remains essential to global energy supply.
Brent crude futures increased by $1.70, or 2.3%, reaching $75.93 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose by $1.62, or 2.2%, to $74.60. Both benchmarks had surged more than $4 earlier in the session, reflecting the heightened market volatility.
Latest Oil Prices:
WTI Crude • 73.63 +0.65 +0.89%
Brent Crude • 74.79 +0.56 +0.75%
Murban Crude • 74.31 +0.79 +1.07%
Louisiana Light • 71.63 -0.13 -0.18%
Bonny Light • 78.62 -2.30 -2.84%
Opec Basket • 69.15 +1.68 +2.49%
Mars US • 72.21 -1.06 -1.45%
Gasoline • 2.250 +0.022 +1.00%
Natural Gas • 3.680 +0.099 +2.76%
The latest round of attacks between Israel and Iran comes amid fears of a broader regional conflict. Both sides have exchanged fire, resulting in civilian casualties and raising fears of further escalation. Each side has urged civilians to take safety precautions, signaling that more attacks may be imminent.
On Friday, oil prices surged by 7% at settlement, reaching their highest levels since January after rising more than 13% during the session. Experts are now forecasting further price increases, especially with concerns about potential disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint for global oil transportation.
The Strait of Hormuz sees the passage of about 18 to 19 million barrels of oil per day, representing around one-fifth of global oil consumption. Any disruption to this critical shipping lane could have severe consequences for both oil prices and global supply chains.
U.S. President Donald Trump expressed hope on Sunday that Israel and Iran might reach a ceasefire, but also stated that sometimes "countries must fight to the end." While the United States has continued to show support for Israel, Trump declined to comment on whether he had asked Israel to halt its strikes on Iran.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz noted that he hopes the upcoming G7 summit in Canada could help find a diplomatic resolution to the conflict and prevent its escalation.
On the other hand, Iran has made it clear to mediators in Qatar and Oman that it is unwilling to negotiate a ceasefire while it is still under attack from Israel.
Iran, a member of OPEC, produces approximately 3.3 million barrels per day of oil, with over 2 million barrels per day of that oil being exported. As the region's tensions escalate, concerns about potential disruptions to Iran's oil output and export capacity grow.
OPEC analysts suggest that the organization, alongside its partners such as Russia, has enough spare production capacity to absorb any short-term disruptions in Iranian oil exports. However, the growing geopolitical tensions continue to put upward pressure on oil prices, with markets remaining volatile and uncertain about the duration of the conflict.
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Egypt Independent
15 hours ago
- Egypt Independent
US support for Israel's actions in Gaza drops, as Democratic opposition grows and MAGA movement splits
Americans' support for Israel's military actions in Gaza is dropping rapidly, prompting pro-Israel Democrats and some of President Donald Trump's long-time allies to warn that the country could permanently damage its standing in the United States. A Gallup poll released this week found that just 32 percent of US adults support Israel's military actions in Gaza — a record low since the war was launched in response to Hamas' October 7, 2023, terror attack. The poll also found the strongest partisan split yet: Support among those who identify themselves as Republicans remained strong, at 71 percent. But just 8 percent of Democrats and 25 percent of independents say they back Israel's military actions. In perhaps the most ominous long-term sign for backers of Israel, the poll found just 9 percent support for its actions among those age 18-34 of all political parties. The shift in public opinion has crucial implications for both parties: Some key members of Trump's MAGA movement are vocally questioning whether the United States should keep supporting Israel, while plummeting backing for the country among Democrats will likely impact the party's primaries in key races in 2026 and 2028. The collapse in American support for Israel is part of a global trend. The United Kingdom said this week it would recognize a Palestinian state before the United Nations General Assembly unless Israel takes major steps to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The announcement followed France's decision to do so. United Nations agencies are warning that 'time is running out to mount a full-scale humanitarian response' in the besieged Gaza Strip. Data show that more than one in three people (39 percent) are now going days at a time without eating, the UN's World Food Programme said in a statement Wednesday, adding that over 500,000 people — almost a quarter of Gaza's population — 'are enduring famine-like conditions.' Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat who co-chairs the bipartisan Congressional Israel Allies Caucus, told CNN that Israel is losing the battle for worldwide public opinion. He said Israel's military faces serious challenges in Gaza, where Hamas is willing to incur massive civilian casualties 'to undermine Israel's position in the world,' but said its objectives 'have to be balanced against each other.' 'Israel has to determine, what are its military objectives, and what casualties is it willing to incur to realize that national security includes your image around the world,' Sherman said. 'You can't get everything you want, and your worldwide image is important.' MAGA doubts Within the GOP, fissures over Israel's actions came into public view after Trump on Monday disputed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's weekend assertion that there is 'no starvation in Gaza.' 'That's real starvation stuff,' Trump said. 'I see it, and you can't fake that. So, we're going to be even more involved.' Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a prominent figure in Trump's 'Make America Great Again' movement, appeared to become the first Republican in Congress to describe the crisis in Gaza as a 'genocide' with a Monday night social media post. 'It's the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct 7th in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza,' Greene said. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene arrives for a House Republican meeting at the US Capitol on May 20 in Washington, comment came in a longer post criticizing Florida GOP Rep. Randy Fine, a staunch supporter of Israel. Fine told CNN that 'those who claim that Israel is engaged in genocide are either antisemites or idiots or both.' 'If Israel had wanted to commit a genocide in Gaza, they had the ability to do it. And it would have been done 18 months ago, and it would have been over in two days,' he said. 'Israel has the capability to kill everyone in Gaza, but they haven't. … Hundreds and hundreds of Israeli soldiers have died in order to minimize the deaths of Gaza Arabs.' He argued that Israel should stop putting its own soldiers at risk 'to minimize the deaths of the enemy.' Fine added: 'Israel needs to stop worrying about what the rest of the world thinks and take care of business. Political opinion does not win wars.' While many Republicans still agree with Fine, Steve Bannon, the former Trump chief strategist, said Tuesday on his podcast that there is 'very little support for Israel' within Trump's MAGA movement among those under age 30. 'And now, even people who support Israel are sitting there going, what in the hell's going on here?' Bannon said. 'Total mindset change' for Democrats Inside the Democratic Party, the issue of support for Israel proved to be a difficult one in 2024 for President Joe Biden and then his replacement atop the ballot, Vice President Kamala Harris, particularly in the battleground state of Michigan. That state, with its large Arab-American population, will host a competitive Senate contest in 2026. And Democrats who hope to run for president in 2028 will surely be pushed on their Israel policies in primaries across the country. Progressive Pennsylvania Rep. Summer Lee, who was one of six members of Congress to support a recent Greene amendment to strip $500 million in funding for Israel's missile defense systems from a defense appropriations bill, said in a statement that, 'The United States has a responsibility to demand a permanent ceasefire, stop funding and supplying the bombs being dropped, and call for unconditional humanitarian aid to enter Gaza immediately. It is good policy, good politics, and the right thing to do.' More establishment figures in liberal media have also sharpened their criticism of Israel in recent days — offering a preview of what could become a significant long-term shift in the party. The former aides to President Barack Obama who host the 'Pod Save America' podcast argued this week that Democratic candidates should stop supporting military aid for Israel. 'There has to be a total mindset change in the Democratic Party,' co-host Tommy Vietor, a former Obama National Security Council staffer, said. 'When the war ends, we are not going back to the pre-October 7 status quo. It's not where the party is. It's not where the world is.' Eric Fingerhut, the president and chief executive officer of the Jewish Federations of North America and a former Ohio Democratic congressman, said the Gallup findings numbers reflect 'overwhelmingly negative media coverage of the war.' 'There's no question that we are in a very partisan moment in America, and that that is an overlay on how people react to the situation in Israel and in the war in Gaza,' Fingerhut said. CNN's Nadeen Ebrahim and Ibrahim Dahman contributed to this report.
Egypt Independent
15 hours ago
- Egypt Independent
Another reason to be skeptical of Trump's Epstein concessions
The Trump administration's efforts to allay concerns about its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files by pushing for more information have been suspect, at best. The moves seem to be geared more toward creating the appearance of action than producing anything that would amount to the extensive transparency it promised. The administration is practically daring people – including many MAGA supporters – to balk at the thin gruel it's serving up. And a new filing from the Justice Department overnight reinforces how little light the administration's moves could shed. The filing lays out its case for unsealing grand jury testimony, which was President Donald Trump's first announced concession. Plenty of experts regarded that move with skepticism. They noted the courts are often reluctant to disclose grand jury materials – an effort to unseal Epstein-related material in Florida already failed just last week – and those materials themselves will often be limited, even if they are released. That certainly appears to be the case here. In the filing, the Justice Department cites just two witnesses who remain alive whose testimony would be released. 'Here, there was one witness—an FBI agent—during the Epstein grand jury proceedings,' the filing says. 'There were two witnesses—the same FBI agent from the Epstein grand jury proceedings and a detective with the NYPD who was a Task Force Officer with the FBI's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force—during the [Ghislaine] Maxwell grand jury proceedings.' That would suggest the testimony is largely second hand, relying on law enforcement officials relaying the accounts of witnesses. Indeed, the filing says these officials 'described statements of others, including statements of and concerning victims, many of whom are still alive.' And beyond that, the filing says many of those accounts were already aired in criminal and civil trials – and by the witnesses themselves. 'Many of the victims whose accounts relating to Epstein and Maxwell that were the subject of grand jury testimony testified at trial consistent with the accounts described by an FBI agent and the detective from the New York City Police Department ('NYPD') in the grand jury and some have also made public those factual accounts in the course of civil litigation,' the filing says. And finally, the Justice Department reiterates that even any transcripts that would be released would be subject to significant redactions. It again cited 'appropriate redactions of victim-related and other personal identifying information.' It's not clear precisely what redacting 'other personal identifying information' means, in practice. (The government's proposed releases and redactions are, of course, going to remain under seal.) But the government has previously expressed a desire not to 'expose any additional third-parties to allegations of illegal wrongdoing.' That certainly suggests the widespread appetite for learning more about Epstein's supposed clients would go unsatisfied, even if these materials are released. And indeed, that's basically the main thing people are interested in. A CBS News-YouGov poll this month showed Americans agreed 92-8 percent that the Epstein files 'probably include damaging information about powerful or wealthy people.' And they said 89-11 percent that the government should 'release all the information it has' about Epstein. A Reuters-Ipsos poll also found Americans said by a massive 69-6 percent margin that they believed the federal government was 'hiding information' about 'alleged clients of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.' That was a bigger margin even than the percentage who believed the government was hiding information about Epstein's death (60-12 percent). (And even conspiracy theories about Epstein's death tie into the idea that there are unknown clients; they hold that powerful people wanted him dead and killed him because of what he knew, rather than that he died by suicide.) The DOJ's Tuesday night filing is merely the latest reason to be skeptical of the Trump administration's efforts to make this story go away. In addition to the judge in Florida already rejecting the release of grand jury materials (the rules are less stringent in New York, where the most recent memo was filed), the administration's second major concession was having Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interview Maxwell. But we still don't know what came of that or how fulsome the disclosure of the interview will be. Maxwell is someone the Trump Justice Department once labeled a brazen liar. And the administration took very little care to insulate the situation from politics: Blanche isn't just a political appointee; he's also Trump's own former personal lawyer. And then Trump repeatedly dangled the prospect of a pardon over Maxwell, reinforcing her likely motivation to say what the Trump administration wants. On top of that, questions continue to be raised about the administration's one big, recent disclosure: video footage of the area near Epstein's cell on the night he died. The administration presented it as 'raw' footage and proof that he couldn't have been killed. But the video was missing at least one minute – potentially for technical reasons – and experts have said there's evidence it's not actually raw. The administration's handling of this case has been a mess in so many ways, from its promises of extensive disclosures to its conspicuously timed reversal on that to Trump's false and misleading claims about his past ties to Epstein. The question is increasingly whether people will view this as transparency – or just as a transparent ploy by the administration to try to move on without living up to its promises.
See - Sada Elbalad
15 hours ago
- See - Sada Elbalad
Gold Prices Rise Amid Global Pressures and Shifting Egyptian Consumer Behavior
Waleed Farouk Gold prices rose in both local and international markets during Thursday's trading, driven by a weakening U.S. dollar, falling U.S. Treasury yields, and market anticipation ahead of key inflation data expected later today. Saeed Embabi, Executive Director of the "iSagha" platform for online gold and jewelry trading, stated that local gold prices increased by approximately EGP 10 compared to Wednesday's close, with 21-karat gold reaching EGP 4,530 per gram. Meanwhile, the global ounce price rose by around $37 to hit $3,308. The price of 24-karat gold stood at EGP 5,177, 18-karat at EGP 3,883, and 14-karat at EGP 3,020, while the gold pound recorded EGP 36,240. Yesterday, gold had declined by about EGP 45 per gram, dropping from EGP 4,565 to EGP 4,520, despite a slight global increase in the ounce price from $3,271 to $3,325. Fed Decisions and Global Market Impact Embabi pointed out that today's price rebound followed a sharp decline at the end of Wednesday's session, influenced by the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to maintain interest rates at 4.25%-4.50%, which triggered a wave of selling in international markets. Despite the Fed's hold on interest rates, inflation concerns persist. In its statement, the Fed slightly adjusted its economic outlook, noting a slowdown in growth during the first half of the year. An internal division also emerged in the Federal Open Market Committee, with members Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller voting in favor of a rate cut. Despite this divergence, markets still anticipate two potential rate cuts in 2025, with the first possibly occurring in September, driven by slowing growth and weakening consumer spending. Fed Chair Jerome Powell, however, provided no clear guidance regarding the September meeting, emphasizing that it's still "too early" to determine the direction of monetary policy. Market attention now turns to new tariff policies and upcoming inflation data, particularly the Fed's preferred inflation gauge—Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE)—set to be released later Thursday. Trump's Tariffs Boost Demand for Gold On another front, newly announced protectionist measures by U.S. President Donald Trump have contributed to a surge in global gold demand. The measures include reinstated tariffs on imports from South Korea, Brazil, and India, along with the removal of exemptions for low-value shipments. Key actions include a 15% tariff on South Korean goods and a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports. Despite Trump's optimistic remarks about trade talks with China, markets remain cautious about potential disruptions ahead of the August 1 deadline for reciprocal trade agreements. Shifting Egyptian Consumer Behavior Toward Gold On the domestic front, Embabi highlighted World Gold Council data for Q2 2025, which shows clear shifts in how Egyptian consumers approach gold—both in traditional jewelry purchases and in direct investment through bullion and coins. He explained that these shifts reflect a changing economic landscape. Gold is no longer viewed solely as a stable, traditional safe haven, but rather as an asset whose role is being reassessed amid economic volatility. Jewelry Purchases Decline Purchases of gold jewelry in Egypt fell to approximately 5.7 tons in Q2—down 17% year-on-year and also lower than the 6.4 tons recorded in Q1. Embabi attributed the decline to weak consumer purchasing power, as the U.S. dollar surpassed EGP 50 locally, and global price volatility caused many to delay buying decisions. Purchases are now driven mostly by necessity (such as for weddings), or through selling existing holdings to capitalize on price differences. He added that this behavior is no longer unusual but rather represents a broader trend, as rising living costs have eroded the culture of long-term savings among Egyptian households. Cautious Return to Bullion and Coins In terms of direct investment, bullion and coin purchases declined 23% year-on-year to 5.9 tons in Q2. However, there was a noticeable increase compared to Q1, which saw 4.7 tons sold. Embabi noted this reflects a gradual return of individual investors to gold as a hedging tool, especially given the lack of attractive investment alternatives, with the real estate market stagnating and inflation making it difficult for financial instruments to offer real returns. He emphasized that gold is no longer purchased solely for long-term savings but is increasingly used as a dynamic tool for short- to medium-term risk management. Egyptian consumers are now more market-savvy, monitoring prices closely, postponing or making decisions to buy or sell based on perceived value. Embabi expects cautious demand for jewelry to persist, while bullion and coin sales may experience a mild recovery if prices continue to rise or stabilize. 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