Israel-Iran war LIVE: Oil surges to four-year high, stocks slip after Trump blockade warning

• Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth faced withering questioning on Wednesday from skeptical Democrats over a costly conflict being waged with out congressional approval.

• Whereas Republicans centered on the details of armed forces budgeting and voiced enhance for the Iran operation, Democrats grilled Mr. Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, about the ballooning charges of the conflict, the huge drawdown of excessive U.S. munitions and the bombing of a college that killed kids.

• Some lawmakers also questioned President Donald Trump’s dealings with allies and his shifting justification for the conflict.

• Mr. Hegseth knowledgeable Democratic To find. Adam Smith that Iran’s nuclear amenities were obliterated in 2025 strikes by the U.S., prompting Smith to impeach the Trump administration’s reasoning for starting the Iran conflict decrease than a year later. 

• Democrats accused Mr. Hegseth of misleading Individuals about the reasons for the conflict and said rising gas prices are in actuality threatening the pocketbooks of millions of of us within the U.S. 

• The Defence Secretary faced intense questions from To find. Chrissy Houlahan, a Pennsylvania Democrat, about his resolution to oust the Navy’s high uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George, one of several high armed forces officers to be brushed apart since Mr. Trump took workplace again.

Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth will face a 2d day of grilling from Democrats on Capitol Hill, with senators getting their first opportunity on Thursday to confront or reward the Pentagon chief over his handling of the Iran conflict.

Mr. Hegseth battled with Democrats — and some Republicans — a day earlier for the duration of a nearly six-hour Home Armed Companies and products Committee hearing, the set he faced fascinating questioning over the conflict’s charges in bucks, lives and the diminishing stockpiles of excessive weapons.

The Senate Armed Companies and products Committee will hear a identical presentation on the Trump administration’s 2027 armed forces funds proposal, which could presumably presumably enhance protection spending to a historic $1.5 trillion. Mr. Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, Gen. Dan Caine, will again stress the need for extra drones, missile protection systems and warships.

-AP

Oil prices soared extra than 5% to a fresh four-year high on Thursday while shares fell after Donald Trump warned the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports could presumably well well final months as peace talks remained stalled.

Whereas Tehran submitted a fresh proposal this week to reopen the a truly necessary Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. President reportedly did no longer judge it used to be negotiating in correct religion.

The Wall Avenue Journal said he had knowledgeable national security officers to prepare for a prolonged blockade to compel the Islamic republic to give up its nuclear programme.

At a assembly of oil executives on Tuesday, he discussed efforts “to alleviate world oil markets and steps lets take to continue presumably the most fresh blockade for months if wished and minimise affect on American customers”, a White Home respectable said on condition of anonymity. 

-AFP

Iran’s delegation to the FIFA Congress, attributable to be held this week in Vancouver, left Canada on Wednesday (April 29) earlier than the realm football gathering thanks to an “insult” at immigration at Toronto’s world airport, Iranian media reported.

The Iranian delegation “returned to Turkey on the first flight attributable to the horrible behaviour of the immigration officers at the airport and the insult to 1 of presumably the most honourable organs of the Iranian Armed Forces”, several retail outlets reported, with out providing extra miniature print.

In 2024, Canada designated Iran’s Innovative Guards a fear neighborhood, barring its contributors from entering the country. The Iranian reports said its federation president and deputy secretary frequent had travelled to Canada with “respectable visas” earlier than turning around.- AFP

U.S. Central Portray (CENTCOM) said on Wednesday (April 29, 2026) on X that it had reached a “indispensable milestone after efficiently redirecting the forty second commercial vessel making an are attempting to violate the blockade”.

It said there are “41 tankers with 69 million barrels of oil that the Iranian govt can’t promote,” estimating the price to extra than $6 billion.- AFP

Oil prices extended gains on Thursday (April 30, 2026) on issues that present from the major West Asian producing location will live bottled up for longer as talks to cease the U.S.-Israeli conflict ‌in opposition to Iran own deadlocked.

Brent indecent futures for June rose $1.91, or 1.62%, to $119.94 a barrel after gaining 6.1% within the outdated session. The June contract, which has increased for a ninth day, expires on Thursday (April 30) and the extra active July ‌contract used to be at $111.38, up 94 cents, or 0.85%, after gaining 5.8% within the outdated session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures ‌for June were up 63 cents, or 0.59%, at $107.51 a barrel, ‌after ⁠rock climbing 7% within the outdated session, rock climbing in eight ⁠of 9 classes.

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke on Wednesday with oil companies about straightforward how you’d additionally mitigate the affect of a imaginable months-prolonged U.S. blockade of Iran’s ports, a White Home respectable said on ‌Wednesday (April 29), triggering issues within the market of an extended disruption to grease gives.- Reuters

Days after an India-led assembly of BRICS envoys didn’t reach a consensus location on the Gulf conflict, Exterior Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Iranian counterpart Seyed Abbas Araghchi spoke over phone on Wednesday (April 29, 2026). 

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Shashi Tharoor writes,” The Gulf, prolonged considered as a stabilising energy hub, has been compromised. Its potential to reassure world markets of classy present has been shaken, exposing the fragility of world dependence on hydrocarbons concentrated in one risky location. The conflict has revealed how rapidly prosperity can unravel when the foundations of security are undermined and the promise of stability, the Gulf’s ideal asset, fractures.”

President Donald Trump on Wednesday (April 29) levelled a original threat in opposition to NATO ally Germany, suggesting he could presumably well well quickly reduce back the U.S. armed forces presence there as he continues to feud with Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the U.S.-Israel conflict in opposition to Iran.

Mr. Trump made the threat after Mr. Merz earlier this week said that the U.S. used to be being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership and criticised Washington’s lack of technique within the conflict. Mr. Trump has also many cases railed in opposition to NATO for the alliance’s refusal to back the U.S. in its two-month-inclined conflict.

“The USA is discovering out and reviewing the imaginable good deal of Troops in Germany, with a resolution to be made over the next rapid timeframe,” Mr. Trump said in a social media put up.- AP

U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran on Wednesday (April 29, 2026) that it could maybe presumably well well calm “collect neat quickly” and capitulate to Washington’s requires for tight controls on its nuclear programme, as a U.S. naval blockade became the screws on Iran’s financial system.

The USA could presumably well well lengthen its naval blockade of Iran for months extra, oil executives were knowledgeable in a assembly with Mr. Trump, an respectable said, after press reports that he had rejected Iran’s most fresh proposed deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Skeptical Democrats confronted Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday (April 29, 2026) for the first time since the Trump administration went to conflict with Iran, touching off demanding exchanges over a costly conflict with unclear targets that has been waged with out congressional approval.