Latest news with #Iran-Israel
New Straits Times
37 minutes ago
- Business
- New Straits Times
Middle East worries, portfolio inflow hopes feed rupee bears and bulls alike
MUMBAI: Lingering concerns over a potential escalation in the Iran-Israel conflict, coupled with expectations of portfolio inflows, are fuelling mixed views on the rupee's trajectory for the coming week, traders said. A spike in oil prices from a potential escalation in the conflict could weigh on the rupee, but an upcoming large IPO expected to draw foreign inflows may help recoup recent losses, they added. The rupee has declined a little over one per cent so far this month, with a large portion of its drop occurring after Israel attacked targets in Iran last Friday. The attacks also raised concerns about disruption of global oil supplies, sending Brent crude oil futures to a five-month peak of US$79 per barrel, hit on Thursday. The currency hit a three-month low on Thursday but eased 0.10 per cent to 86.63 as of 11:05am on Friday, supported by a dip in oil prices after the White House said President Donald Trump will decide in the next two weeks whether the US will become involved in the Israel-Iran air war. Meanwhile, expectations that Indian lender HDB Financial's US$1.5 billion IPO is likely to draw sizeable inflows are seen as a positive for the rupee, a trader at a private bank said. The trader pointed out that he would prefer to keep tight stop-losses on speculative positions since the risk of two-way moves next week could be elevated. On the technical front, the dollar-rupee pair is "nearing overbought territory, with a possible dip toward 86.35–85.95 before resuming an uptrend toward 87.80–88.00," FX advisory firm Mecklai Financial said in a Friday note. On the day, most Asian currencies ticked up as well, with the Korean won leading gains. The dollar index eased below the 99 handle, while India's benchmark equity indexes, the BSE Sensex and Nifty 50, rose about 0.90 per cent each.
The Age
an hour ago
- Business
- The Age
ASX lower as Middle East tensions linger; Banks slump
The Australian sharemarket has extended its losses by lunchtime on Friday after global markets skidded overnight as the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and fears over potential US involvement rattled investors. The ASX200 fell 53.6 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 8470.1 at 12.10pm AEST, with nine of 11 industry sectors in negative territory, and only energy and tech in the green. The Australian dollar has added to overnight losses this morning to be 0.1 per cent lower at 64.79 US cents just after midday. Energy stocks strengthened as oil prices continued to rise. Woodside Energy added 0.5 per cent and Santos jumped 0.3 per cent. Financial stocks have slumped. ANZ Bank shed 2.3 per cent, Westpac dropped 2 per cent, National Australia Bank retreated 1.3 per cent and Commonwealth Bank lost 1.1 per cent. Mining stocks are mixed. Fortescue added 0.2 per cent, BHP lost 0.4 per cent and Rio Tinto slipped 0.4 per cent. Loading Overnight, trading volumes were thin as Wall Street shut for a public holiday. The pan-European STOXX 600 closed down for the third consecutive day with a 0.8 per cent drop to its lowest level since May 9. The week-old Iran-Israel conflict showed no signs of deescalation.
Mint
an hour ago
- Business
- Mint
Middle East worries, portfolio inflow hopes feed rupee bears and bulls alike
MUMBAI, June 20 (Reuters) - Lingering concerns over a potential escalation in the Iran-Israel conflict, coupled with expectations of portfolio inflows are fuelling mixed views on the rupee's trajectory for the coming week, traders said. A spike in oil prices from a potential escalation in the conflict could weigh on the rupee, but an upcoming large IPO expected to draw foreign inflows may help recoup recent losses, they added. The rupee has declined little over 1% this month so far, with a large stock of its decline occurring after Israel attacked targets in Iran last Friday. The attacks also raised concerns about disruption of global oil prices, sending Brent crude oil futures to a five-month peak of $79 per barrel hit on Thursday. The currency hit a three-month low on Thursday but eased 0.1% to 86.63 as of 11:05 a.m. on Friday, comforted by a dip in oil prices after the White House said President Donald Trump will decide in the next two weeks whether the U.S. will become involved in the Israel-Iran air war. Meanwhile, expectations that Indian lender HDB Financial's $1.5 billion IPO is likely to draw sizeable inflows could are seen as a positive for the rupee, a trader at a private bank said. The trader pointed out that he would prefer to keep tight stop-losses on speculative positions since the risk of two-way moves next week could be elevated. On the technical front, the dollar-rupee pair is "nearing overbought territory, with a possible dip toward 86.35–85.95 before resuming an uptrend toward 87.80–88.00," said FX advisory firm Mecklai Financial said in a Friday note. On the day, most Asian currencies ticked up as well with the Korean won leading gains. The dollar index eased below the 99 handle while India's benchmark equity indexes, the BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 rose about 0.9% each. (Reporting by Jaspreet Kalra; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
Mint
an hour ago
- Politics
- Mint
Iran-Israel Conflict: Benjamin Netanyahu's 3-decade-long nuke bomb alarm – 'the boy who can't stop crying wolf'
Iran-Israel War: The Israel-Iran war entered its seventh day on June 20. Israeli strikes on Iran, which began on June 14, have so far killed at least 639 people and wounded 1,329 others, a human rights group was quoted as saying by the news agency AP on Thursday. Iran has also retaliated with its missile striking hospitals and near Microsoft office in Israel's Beer Sheva. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been claiming that a nuclear threat from Iran is imminent. 'If not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time,' he said, suggesting the timeline could be months, even weeks. Israel called the operation "Rising Lion," stating it aimed at Iranian commanders and missile factories. "We are at a decisive moment in Israel's history," Netanyahu said, adding that Iranian scientists working on a nuclear bomb, ballistic missile programme and Natanz uranium enrichment facility were targeted in the operation. This is not the first time that Ntanyayu has warned of a nuclear bomb threat from Iran. In fact, he has been talking about this threat for more than three decades. So much so that Iran's former foreign minister Javad Zarif had in 2018 likened Netanyahu to 'the boy who can't stop crying wolf' for his constant public warnings about Tehran's nuclear programme, according to a Reuters report. It was in 1992, when Netanyahu, while addressing Israel's Knesset as an MP, claimed for the first time that Tehran is only years away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. 'Within three to five years, we can assume that Iran will become autonomous in its ability to develop and produce a nuclear bomb,' Netanyayu had said. Here is a timeline of Netanyahu's three-decade long warnings about Iran's nuclear programme. 1992: Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Israel's legislature, the Knesset, as an MP, where he first claimed that Tehran was only years away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. 1995: Netanyahu comes up with a book 'Fighting Terrorism' in which he mentions the nuclear bomb threat from Iran. 1996: Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the joint session of US Congress on July 10. In his address, Netanyahu called on Europe and Asia to join efforts to isolate Iran and Iraq and prevent them from developing nuclear capabilities that he warned would bring catastrophe. 1999: Netanyahu and his Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon discussed the issue of the transfer of Russian nuclear technology to Iran on March 22, 1999, during a trip to Moscow, Russia. 2009: A US State Department cable released by WikiLeaks revealed him telling members of Congress that Iran was just one or two years away from nuclear capability. 2012: Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Netanyahu brandished a cartoon drawing of a bomb to illustrate his claims that Iran was closer than ever to the nuclear threshold. 'By next spring, at most by next summer … they will have finished the medium enrichment and move on to the final stage,' he said. 2014: Netanyahu addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, in Washington, DC, on March 4, 2014 where he urged world powers not to allow Iran to retain the ability to enrich uranium. Netanyahu said in his address that Iran must be stripped of all nuclear technologies with bomb-making potential. 2015: Netanyahu spoke about Iran and the nuclear threat during a joint meeting of the US Congress in the House chamber at the US Capitol on March 3, 2015 in Washington, DC. 2018: Netanyahu presented material on Iran's purported nuclear programme in Tel Aviv on April 30, 2018. You can only fool some of the people so many times. Iran's then foreign minister Javad Zarif, had likened Netanyahu with 'the boy who can't stop crying wolf' for his constant public warnings about Tehran's nuclear programme, and his repeated threats to shut it down, one way or another. "You can only fool some of the people so many times," Iran's then-foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said in 2018 after Netanyahu had once again accused Iran of planning to build nuclear weapons.
Saudi Gazette
an hour ago
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Trump says he'll decide on US attacks on Iran within two weeks
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said any decision on potential US involvement would be made within two weeks as the Iran-Israel air war entered its second week on Friday. Israeli air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, said the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Those killed include the military's top echelon and nuclear scientists. Israel has said at least two dozen Israeli civilians have died in Iranian missile attacks. The death toll from either side could not be independently verified. Israel has targeted nuclear sites and missile capabilities, but also has sought to shatter the government of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to Western and regional officials. "Are we targeting the downfall of the regime? That may be a result, but it's up to the Iranian people to rise for their freedom," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday. Iran has said it is targeting military and defense-related sites in Israel, but it has also hit a hospital and other civilian sites. Israel accused Iran on Thursday of deliberately targeting civilians through the use of cluster munitions, which disperse small bombs over a wide area. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. With neither country backing down, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany along with the European Union foreign policy chief were due to meet in Geneva with Iran's foreign minister to try to de-escalate the conflict on Friday. "Now is the time to put a stop to the grave scenes in the Middle East and prevent a regional escalation that would benefit no one," said British Foreign Minister David Lammy ahead of their joint meeting with Abbas Araqchi, Iran's foreign minister. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping both condemned Israel and agreed that de-escalation is needed, the Kremlin said on Thursday. Russia, on Thursday, warned the United States against 'military intervention' in Iran-Israel war, according to AFP. "We would like to particularly warn Washington against military intervention in the situation, which would be an extremely dangerous step with truly unpredictable negative consequences," Russia's foreign ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters. The head of Russia's nuclear energy corporation warned on Thursday that an Israeli attack on Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant could lead to a "Chernobyl-style catastrophe". An Israeli military spokesperson said Israel had struck the site, but an Israeli military official later called this statement "a mistake" and said he could neither confirm nor deny that the Bushehr site on the cost of the Gulf had been hit. Bushehr is Iran's only operating nuclear power plant and was built by Russia, per Reuters. The role of the United States, meanwhile, remained uncertain. On Thursday in Washington, Lammy met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's special envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, and said they discussed a possible deal. Witkoff has spoken with Araqchi several times since last week, sources say. Trump, meanwhile, has alternated between threatening Tehran and urging it to resume nuclear talks that were suspended over the conflict. Trump has mused about striking Iran, possibly with a "bunker buster" bomb that could destroy nuclear sites built deep underground. The White House said on Thursday Trump would decide in the next two weeks whether to get involved in the war. Trump often invokes a two-week time period when faced with a difficult situation. The president told senior aides late Tuesday that he approved of attack plans for Iran, but was waiting to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear program, people familiar with the deliberations said. A day earlier, Trump announced that he was considering joining Israel on the strikes against Iran. "I may do it, I may not do it," he said. On Wednesday, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned the US against offering direct military aid to Israel. Ryabkov said, "We caution Washington against even speculative, hypothetical options of this kind. It would be a step that would radically destabilize the entire situation." With the Islamic Republic facing one of its greatest external threats since the 1979 revolution, any direct challenge to its 46-year-long rule would likely require some form of popular uprising. But activists involved in previous bouts of protest say they are unwilling to unleash mass unrest, even against a system they hate, with their nation under attack. "How are people supposed to pour into the streets? In such horrifying circumstances, people are solely focused on saving themselves, their families, their compatriots, and even their pets," said Atena Daemi, a prominent activist who spent six years in prison before leaving Iran. Meanwhile, as the conflict enters its second week, Israel and Iran continue to exchange fire. An Israeli hospital was hit by an Iranian missile. Israel says it struck 100 targets in Iran, including the heavy-water reactor in Arak and a site at Natanz it says was being used for nuclear-weapons development. — Agencies
