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    <title>Aaj TV English News - Business &amp; Economy</title>
    <link>https://english.aaj.tv/</link>
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    <language>en-Us</language>
    <copyright>Copyright 2026</copyright>
    <pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 18:13:49 +0500</pubDate>
    <lastBuildDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 18:13:49 +0500</lastBuildDate>
    <ttl>60</ttl>
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      <title>Oil prices rise 1% as hostilities worsen in the Middle East</title>
      <link>https://english.aaj.tv/news/330463678/oil-prices-rise-1-as-hostilities-worsen-in-the-middle-east</link>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Oil extended gains by ​around 1% on Wednesday as President Donald Trump reimposed a naval blockade on all Iranian ports and Iran’s ‌Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened to close “all other export corridors that benefit the US and its allies”.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Brent futures gained 69 cents, or 0.8%, to $85.42 a barrel at 0950 GMT.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;West Texas Intermediate futures rose 73 cents, or 0.9%, to $80.07 a barrel.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Oil prices settled up 2% at a one-month high on Tuesday ​as attacks exacerbated a supply disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s ​oil and liquefied natural gas passed prior to the beginning of the &lt;a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link--external" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/iran/"&gt;Iran war&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“Regional energy exports are either ⁠shared by all, or denied to all,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps &lt;a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link--external" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-threatens-block-more-vital-seaways-trump-orders-renewed-iran-blockade-2026-07-15/"&gt;said in a statement&lt;/a&gt; carried by Iran’s IRNA state news ​agency on Wednesday.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Analysts have said Iran has been signalling it may use its Houthi allies in Yemen to shut the Bab El Mandeb ​gateway to the Red Sea, opening a new front against Washington and putting two of the world’s most vital energy arteries at risk.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hostilities between Iran and the US reignited last week, fraying an already fragile truce reached in June after several months of fighting.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Early on Wednesday, the US began a fresh ​round of strikes to continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the US military ​said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“I’ll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we’ll hit energy targets,” Trump told Fox News in an interview aired Tuesday night on &lt;em&gt;Special Report ‌with Bret Baier&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“The US naval blockade of ships coming/going to Iranian ports is tightening the oil market, considering that Iranian crude exports were around 1.5 million to 2 million barrels per day in the last two weeks,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Goldman Sachs estimated in a note that Gulf exports recovered to more than 80% of pre-war levels after the US-Iran memorandum of understanding in June but slipped back ​below 50%, or about 11 ​million bpd, over the last ⁠week.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The bank said Brent could exceed $110 in the fourth quarter this year if Gulf export recovery continues to stall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Still, investors are cautious about applying too much of a premium on oil prices, given ​the back-and-forth headlines.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“This is just all part of the war games,” said Saxo Bank head of ​commodity strategy Ole ⁠Hansen.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“And the market has learned to adopt a little bit of a sanguine approach to some of these big announcements, simply in the sense that they often do not actually materialise.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Iran’s army said early on Wednesday that it had launched drone attacks against US positions at ⁠Jordan’s Azraq ​base.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There was no immediate comment from the Pentagon.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard ​Corps said it targeted weapons and storage facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Reuters could not immediately verify the reports.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
      <content:encoded xmlns="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><![CDATA[<p><strong>Oil extended gains by ​around 1% on Wednesday as President Donald Trump reimposed a naval blockade on all Iranian ports and Iran’s ‌Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened to close “all other export corridors that benefit the US and its allies”.</strong></p>
<p>Brent futures gained 69 cents, or 0.8%, to $85.42 a barrel at 0950 GMT.</p>
<p>West Texas Intermediate futures rose 73 cents, or 0.9%, to $80.07 a barrel.</p>
<p>Oil prices settled up 2% at a one-month high on Tuesday ​as attacks exacerbated a supply disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s ​oil and liquefied natural gas passed prior to the beginning of the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link--external" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/iran/">Iran war</a>.</p>
<p>“Regional energy exports are either ⁠shared by all, or denied to all,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link--external" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-threatens-block-more-vital-seaways-trump-orders-renewed-iran-blockade-2026-07-15/">said in a statement</a> carried by Iran’s IRNA state news ​agency on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Analysts have said Iran has been signalling it may use its Houthi allies in Yemen to shut the Bab El Mandeb ​gateway to the Red Sea, opening a new front against Washington and putting two of the world’s most vital energy arteries at risk.</p>
<p>Hostilities between Iran and the US reignited last week, fraying an already fragile truce reached in June after several months of fighting.</p>
<p>Early on Wednesday, the US began a fresh ​round of strikes to continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the US military ​said.</p>
<p>“I’ll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we’ll hit energy targets,” Trump told Fox News in an interview aired Tuesday night on <em>Special Report ‌with Bret Baier</em>.</p>
<p>“The US naval blockade of ships coming/going to Iranian ports is tightening the oil market, considering that Iranian crude exports were around 1.5 million to 2 million barrels per day in the last two weeks,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.</p>
<p>Goldman Sachs estimated in a note that Gulf exports recovered to more than 80% of pre-war levels after the US-Iran memorandum of understanding in June but slipped back ​below 50%, or about 11 ​million bpd, over the last ⁠week.</p>
<p>The bank said Brent could exceed $110 in the fourth quarter this year if Gulf export recovery continues to stall.</p>
<p>Still, investors are cautious about applying too much of a premium on oil prices, given ​the back-and-forth headlines.</p>
<p>“This is just all part of the war games,” said Saxo Bank head of ​commodity strategy Ole ⁠Hansen.</p>
<p>“And the market has learned to adopt a little bit of a sanguine approach to some of these big announcements, simply in the sense that they often do not actually materialise.”</p>
<p>Iran’s army said early on Wednesday that it had launched drone attacks against US positions at ⁠Jordan’s Azraq ​base.</p>
<p>There was no immediate comment from the Pentagon.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard ​Corps said it targeted weapons and storage facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait.</p>
<p>Reuters could not immediately verify the reports.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
      <category>Business &amp; Economy</category>
      <guid>https://english.aaj.tv/news/330463678</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 15:39:42 +0500</pubDate>
      <author>none@none.com (Reuters)</author>
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        <media:title>Birds fly over pump jacks at the Airankol oil field operated by Caspiy Neft in the Atyrau region, Kazakhstan. -- Reuters file</media:title>
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