26\/03\/2026 – 04:36Japan begins release of strategic oil reserves amid Middle East war<\/p>\n
Japan said it had started to release another part of its strategic oil reserves Thursday as it looks to temper the impact on the resource-poor nation from the surge in prices caused by the Middle East war.<\/p>\n
Iran has virtually closed the vital Strait of Hormuz \u2013 through which a fifth of global crude and gas flows \u2013 since the United States and Israel began striking the country on February 28.<\/p>\n
Japan is the fifth-biggest importer of oil, with more than 90 percent of it from the Middle East.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe release (of national stockpile) started at 10:59 am (0159 GMT) to oil refiners,\u201d Kaname Morimoto, an official of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, told AFP.<\/p>\n
26\/03\/2026 – 04:35China sees \u2018glimmer of hope\u2019 for peace despite Iran stance<\/p>\n
China\u2019s Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged dialogue in separate calls with his Turkish and Egyptian counterparts, suggesting that both Tehran and Washington had shown signals they were willing to return to the negotiating table.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith both the United States and Iran signalling a willingness to negotiate, a glimmer of hope for peace has emerged,\u201d Wang told Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, according to a Beijing readout published late Wednesday.<\/p>\n
26\/03\/2026 – 04:27ADNOC chief calls any Iran move to restrict Hormuz passage \u2018economic terrorism\u2019<\/p>\n
Abu Dhabi state oil company ADNOC\u2019s CEO Sultan Al Jaber described any restriction of passage through the Strait of Hormuz by Iran as \u201ceconomic terrorism\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Iran holds Hormuz hostage, every nation pays the ransom, at the gas pump, at the grocery store, at the pharmacy,\u201d Al Jaber said in a speech in the US on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo country can be allowed to destabilise the global economy in this way. Not now. Not ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
26\/03\/2026 – 04:14G7 allies to discuss Iran at meetings this week in France<\/p>\n
Foreign ministers from the world\u2019s leading Western democracies are meeting in France this week against the backdrop of wars in Iran and Ukraine, economic uncertainty, and mounting unease over an increasingly unpredictable US foreign policy.<\/p>\n
A top priority for Washington\u2019s partners will be a debriefing from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will attend the meeting\u2019s second day on Friday.<\/p>\n
Officials said allies are hoping to get greater clarity on US and Israeli military operations against Iran and on whether any meaningful diplomatic channel exists to end the conflict.<\/p>\n
Talks will also focus on the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed, choking about a fifth of global oil supplies.<\/p>\n
26\/03\/2026 – 04:12Activists use Starlink to bypass Iran internet blackout amid war<\/p>\n
With the war in Iran leading to a near-total internet blackout in the country, activists around the world \u2013 especially in the United States \u2013 are mobilising to help Iranians stay connected via Starlink.<\/p>\n
Despite being banned, billionaire Elon Musk\u2019s satellite internet system has gained ground in Iran thanks to a network of international activists, multiple people involved in these efforts told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs of this year, we have more than 300 devices that we have delivered to the country,\u201d said Emilia James of the US-based organisation NetFreedom Pioneers. She declined to go into further detail to protect the operation and the users.<\/p>\n
26\/03\/2026 – 04:11Oil rises, equities mixed as Middle East war uncertainty persists<\/p>\n
Oil prices rose and equities were mixed on Thursday as investors tracked developments in the Middle East war after Iranian officials were said to have replied to US demands to end a conflict that has sparked warnings of an unprecedented energy crisis.<\/p>\n
Markets have been buoyed since late Monday after US President Donald Trump backed down on a threat to destroy the Islamic republic\u2019s energy infrastructure and said the two sides were in peace talks.<\/p>\n
But while crude prices are down from last week and the mood on trading floors has been less dour than most of March, uncertainty and the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz \u2013 through which around 20 per cent of oil and gas passes \u2013 continues to cast a dark shadow.<\/p>\n
26\/03\/2026 – 04:10Israel carries out wave of strikes across Iran, including Isfahan<\/p>\n
Israel’s military said Thursday its forces had carried out a wave of strikes across Iran, including in the central city of Isfahan.<\/p>\n
A brief military statement said Israeli forces “completed a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime in several areas across Iran”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"26\/03\/2026 – 04:36Japan begins release of strategic oil reserves amid Middle East war Japan said it had started…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[90432,54,42,86,87,46,88,47,2899,43,40,38,41,39,48717,2586],"class_list":["post-358535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-air-strikes","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-hezbollah","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-lebanon","tag-middle-east","tag-military","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-us-military","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}