Live! US fighter jet 'downed' in Iran, crew rescue underway: Report

Iran threatens key Middle East bridges after US-Israel strikes

Iran has released a list of eight major bridges across the Middle Eastern region, hinting at a "tit-for-tat" retaliation following a US-Israeli attack on key infrastructure in the northern city of Karaj. Publishing the 'hit list', Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency said that several prominent bridges in Gulf nations and Jordan could be possible targets of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after two strikes hit Iran's tallest B1 bridge on Thursday.

The Iranian list has the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Sea Bridge in Kuwait; the Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Al Maqta Bridge and Sheikh Khalifa Bridge in the United Arab Emirates (UAE); the King Fahd Causeway linking Saudi Arabia to Bahrain; as well as the King Hussein Bridge, Damia Bridge and Abdoun Bridge in Jordan on it, according to an Anadolu report.

Kin of India’s first West Asia conflict victim move HC for return of mortal remains

Kuwait says Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery hit by Iranian drones

White House set to release Trump's budget with major increase in defence spending

The White House is set to release President Donald Trump's 2027 budget Friday, a sweeping blueprint that could boost Pentagon spending to USD1.5 trillion, the largest of its kind in decades, as the US focuses on military investments rather than other domestic programs.

Even before the US-led war against Iran, the Republican president had indicated he wanted to bolster defense spending to modernize the military for 21st-century threats. Separately, the Pentagon last month proposed USD200 billion for the war effort and to backfill munitions and supplies.

Trump, speaking ahead of an address to the nation this week about the Iran war, signaled the military is his priority, setting up a clash ahead in Congress. “We're fighting wars. We can't take care of day care,” Trump said at a private White House event Wednesday.

“It's not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare — all these individual things,” he said. “They can do it on a state basis. You can't do it on a federal.” The president's annual budget more broadly is considered a reflection of the administration's values and does not carry the force of law. The massive document typically highlights an administration's priorities, but Congress, which handles federal spending issues, is free to reject it and often does.

With the nation running nearly USD2 trillion annual deficits and the debt swelling past USD39 trillion, the federal balance sheets have long been operating in the red.

Oil prices surge while Asian share prices rise moderately

Oil prices continued to surge on worries of a prolonged Iran war, but the Asian markets that were open Friday rose moderately in cautious trading, while others were closed for the Good Friday holidays.

Benchmark US crude rose 11.4 per cent to USD 111.54 a barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 7.8 per cent to USD 109.03 per barrel.

“A more extended conflict raises the threat to physical infrastructure, extends disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz, and will entail a longer post-war recovery period, with price impacts spilling over later into the year,” according to a report from BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions.

The US only relies on the Persian Gulf for a fraction of the oil it imports, but oil is a commodity and prices are set in a global market.

The situation is very different in Asia. Japan, for example, relies on access to the Strait of Hormuz for much of the nation's oil import needs and would need to rely on alternative routes. But some analysts say Japan and other nations are counting on an agreement with Iran to allow transports.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.9 per cent in Friday morning trading to 52,938.62. South Korea's Kospi jumped 2.1 per cent to 5,344.41. The Shanghai Composite sank 0.5 per cent to 3,899.57. Trading was closed in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Indonesia and India.

Wall Street, where trading is closed Friday, finished its first winning week since the start of the Iran war, although trading started out with a decline driven by a surge in oil prices.

Trump warns of strikes on Iran bridges, power plants in fresh escalation

US President Donald Trump on Friday warned of potential strikes on Iran’s infrastructure, including bridges and electric power plants, in his latest escalation. “The U.S. military ‘hasn't even started destroying what's left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants,’” Trump wrote on social media, adding that Iran’s leadership “knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!” 

Trump on Thursday said Iran’s largest bridge had been struck and urged Tehran to reach a deal before it is “too late.”

In a post on Truth Social, he shared a video showing a bridge collapsing and warned that further action could follow. Trump said, “The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again -- Much more to follow! IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF WHAT STILL COULD BECOME A GREAT COUNTRY! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

India flags mariner deaths in Gulf, stresses free navigation amid Hormuz crisis

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri highlighted the impact of the West Asia crisis on India, noting that the country remains the only one to have lost mariners in attacks on merchant shipping in the Gulf. 

Misri emphasised the importance of freedom of navigation and unimpeded transit through international waterways during a meeting convened by the UK on Thursday, aimed at exploring ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz amid growing concerns over disruptions to energy supplies.

UN set to vote on watered-down proposal to open Strait of Hormuz

The UN Security Council is scheduled to vote Friday on a proposal to secure the Strait of Hormuz after it was significantly watered down in the face of opposition from China and Russia about allowing force to reopen the critical waterway that Iran has largely cut off to global shipping.

The final draft of Bahrain's resolution, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, authorises the use of defensive — but not offensive — action to ensure vessels can safely transit the strait. One-fifth of the world's oil typically passes through the waterway where Iran's stranglehold during the war has sent energy prices soaring.

Bahrain's initial draft resolution would have allowed countries “to use all necessary means” — UN language that would include possible military action — “in the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman” to secure passage and deter attempts to interfere with navigation.

Russia, China and France, all veto-wielding countries of the 15-member Security Council, had expressed opposition to approving the use of force. The final draft eliminates any reference to allowing offensive military action, but the three countries' views on the changes are not known, so Friday's vote will be closely watched.

The proposal now authorises countries “to use all defensive means necessary and commensurate with the circumstances in the Strait of Hormuz and adjacent waters” to secure passage and deter attempts to interfere with international navigation “for a period of at least six months.” It says countries acting alone on in “multinational naval partnerships” can take defensive means provided advance notification is given to the Security Council.

Iran claims to be drafting proposal with Oman to 'monitor' Strait of Hormuz

 Iran on Thursday claimed its drafting a proposal with Oman to 'monitor' Strait of Hormuz. The comments by Kazem Gharibabadi, an Iranian diplomat, quoted by the state-run IRNA news agency, described the proposal as “intended to facilitate and ensure safe passage and provide better services to ships passing through this route.” Iran's attacks on shipping in the region, as well as reportedly demanding as much as USD 2 million for passage through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, have created a stranglehold on the route.

It is unclear what the proposal would mean. Oman did not immediately acknowledge it. The strait runs through Iranian and Omani territorial waters but is considered an international waterway that should freely allow ships to pass.

“Naturally, when we face an act of aggression, navigation encounters serious problems, and this is the result of the aggressive act,” Gharibabadi said. “We are currently at war and cannot expect pre-war rules to govern wartime conditions.”

Oil prices rise again even as Trump suggests war could end soon

The conflict is driving up prices for oil and natural gas, roiling stock markets, pushing up the cost of gasoline and threatening to make a range of goods, including food, more expensive.

Oil prices remained elevated, however, at USD 111.54 for a barrel of US crude, having soared following Trump's address. That's up about 50 per cent from February 28.

Though the oil and gas that typically transits the strait is primarily sold to Asian nations, Japan and South Korea were the only two countries from the region joining Thursday's call about the strait. The supply of jet fuel has also been interrupted, with consequences for travel worldwide.