The World in Brief from The Economist

Iran and the White House both denied that the US navy had escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, contradicting an earlier claim made on X by America’s energy secretary, Chris Wright; Oracle reported quarterly revenues of $17.2bn—a 22% rise on the same period a year ago—beating analysts’ expectations.

Donald Trump said that the Iran war would be over “very soon”, but simultaneously insisted America was “going to go further”. Also, oil prices fell and Asian stockmarkets rallied after Mr Trump’s comments.

Donald Trump said that the Iran war would be over “very soon” but simultaneously insisted America was “going to go further”.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell below $90 a barrel after President Donald Trump signalled that the war in Iran could end soon.

Bahrain’s state oil firm declared force majeure after an Iranian strike set fire to its only oil refinery. Also, Mojtaba Khamenei was named Iran’s supreme leader, succeeding his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iranian state media reported that Mojtaba Khamenei had been chosen to become the country’s supreme leader.

America and Israel continued to strike Iran as attacks on infrastructure intensified across the Middle East; Iran expanded its missile and drone attacks across the region.

Writing on Truth Social, Mr Trump claimed that Iran had “surrendered to its neighbours”.