U.S. crude futures rose more than 1% Wednesday as Trump ordered “a total and complete” block of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.<\/p>\n
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What you need to know today<\/p>\n Crude oil crossed $80 per barrel Thursday, as the Iran war entered its seventh day and continues disrupting <\/a>global fuel supplies. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said<\/a> Thursday that his country was “not asking for a ceasefire” from the U.S. and Israel, while President Donald Trump said<\/a> that his administration will turn its focus to Cuba after the U.S. military operations in Iran are finished.<\/p>\n As oil supply worries take hold, the U.S. issued<\/a> a 30-day waiver to the world’s third-largest oil importer, India, to resume purchasing Russian oil. That comes after Washington slapped 25% “penalty” tariffs on India for buying Russian crude, which were revoked only last month.<\/p>\n Besides energy disruption, the turmoil in the Middle East has shattered<\/a> Dubai’s status as a global wealth hub, as the rich scramble to escape the largely tax-free haven. Over the past week, UAE has seen projectiles hit tourist and civilian spaces, including the 5-star Fairmont The Palm Hotel and the Dubai airport.\u00a0<\/p>\n Over in the U.S., the Anthropic-OpenAI rivalry continues. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took swipes at rival Anthropic on Thursday and said <\/a>he thinks it’s “bad for society” if companies start abandoning their commitment to the democratic process because “some people don’t like the person or people currently in charge.” That comes after the Department of Defense clashed with Anthropic in recent weeks over how the agency can use its AI models.<\/p>\n Adding another layer of uncertainty to markets, Trump’s tariffs face a new legal battle after New York Attorney General Letitia James and the top prosecutors of 23 other states once again sued <\/a>to block his global tariff regime, just days after a landmark Supreme Court decision struck down his previous effort. <\/p>\n And finally…<\/p>\n UAE mulls freezing Iranian assets as Middle East conflict escalates: WSJ<\/a><\/p>\n