US/Iran Tensions Continue to Rise 

Petrol prices are up 50% since the conflict in the Middle East began. Hundreds of tankers are stranded, and the ceasefire keeping the world’s most critical shipping lane from becoming a war zone is fraying by the hour.

The now roughly one-month-old hostilities between the United States and Iran are facing their most serious test yet. Both sides traded fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday following the launch of Washington’s “Project Freedom” operation to escort commercial vessels through the waterway.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said today that “the ceasefire is not over”, even as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine, confirmed Iran has attacked US forces more than ten times since the truce took effect. The AP reported that Iran has also fired on commercial vessels nine times and seized two container ships, all of it, Washington says, remain “below the threshold of restarting major combat operations”.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said it intercepted 15 Iranian missiles and four drones on Monday.

Iran’s foreign minister warned the UAE to avoid being “dragged back into a quagmire”. A regional source told CNN bluntly: “It is very bad and messy at the moment.”

CNN reported that oil demand is falling at its fastest rate outside the Covid pandemic, and with no concessions from either side, analysts warn a return to full conflict could be one incident away.