Iran-US war live: Israel launches fresh attack as Trump tells Netanyahu not to repeat strikes on Iranian energy

Oil prices eased on Friday while bonds were nursing losses, after global central bankers sounded the alarm on inflation risks stemming from the ongoing war in ​the Middle East that has sent markets into a tailspin.

Brent crude ​futures were down 3 per cent at $105.43 a barrel this morning, while US crude fell 2.2 per cent to $94 per barrel, after leading European nations and Japan offered to join efforts to secure safe ​passage for ships through the Strait of Hormuz and the US outlined moves to boost oil supply.

Still, both remained well above levels prior to the US-Israeli war on Iran, having risen more than 40 per cent this ‌month.

Natural gas prices ⁠have also soared, with those in Europe surging as much as 35 per cent on Thursday, as Iranian and Israeli strikes targeted some of the Middle East’s most important gas infrastructure.

That prompted US president Donald Trump to tell Israel not to repeat its attacks on Iranian natural gas infrastructure.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran will not exercise any restraint if energy facilities were attacked in the war with United States and Israel again.

“Our response to Israel’s attack on our infrastructure employed FRACTION of our power. The ONLY reason for restraint was respect for requested de-escalation,” said Mr Araghchi in a post on X.

“ZERO restraint if our infrastructures are struck again.”

The father of a dead U.S. serviceman has denied claims by Pete Hegseth that he told the Defense Secretary to “not stop until the job is done” – referring to the war in Iran.

“No, I didn’t say anything along those lines,” Charles Simmons told NBC News in an interview Thursday, recalling his encounter with Hegseth at the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. “I can’t speak for the other families. When he spoke to me, that was not something we talked about.”

Simmons is the father of 28-year-old Master Sergeant Tyler Simmons, who was among the six crew members killed last week when their refueling plane crashed in Iraq.

Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had acted alone in the bombing of the South Pars gas field and confirmed that US president Trump had asked Israel to hold off on such attacks.

Israel targeted South Pars, prompting Tehran to retaliate with strikes on an energy complex in Qatar and other sites across the Gulf.

Iran is being “decimated” and no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium or make ballistic missiles, but a revolution in the country would require a “ground component,” he said, without elaborating.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has said US service members and average Americans will “suffer” from the war in Iran.

“I’m very fearful that there will be more troops sent there, that they’ll go into combat”, the Democrat told CNN’s Erin Burnett Thursday night local time. “We’ve got Illinois National Guardspeople, men and women, on the front lines out there. We’ve got members of the military from Illinois also in harm’s way”.

“We don’t need to be in this war. This should end. Now everybody’s gonna suffer, not just the people who are on the front lines, but also people all across the United States who are paying higher prices for gas”, Pritzker added.

Israel launched a fresh wave of attacks on Iran this morning, a day after president Donald Trump told it not to repeat its strikes on Iranian natural gas infrastructure, which sharply escalated the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The conflict has killed thousands of people, spread to neighbouring nations and hit the global economy since the US and Israel launched strikes on 28 February, after talks about Tehran’s nuclear program failed to yield a deal.

“The IDF has just begun a wave of strikes against the infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime in the heart of Tehran,” a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces said, without providing details.

Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates said they were dealing with missile attacks in the early hours of Friday, following days of Iranian strikes on regional energy infrastructure that has roiled global markets.

“A stronger Japan and a stronger America, a more prosperous Japan and a more prosperous America. I am very confident that Donald and I are the best buddies to realize this shared goal”, Takaichi said Thursday evening, speaking via a translator before a dinner event at the White House.

The prime minister went on to praise Trump further and even wish his youngest son, Barron Trump, a preemptive “happy birthday” ahead of his 20th birthday on Friday.

It appeared that the awkwardness of the earlier exchange had disappeared.

While answering questions from reporters in the Oval Office, the president was asked by a Japanese reporter why he had not warned U.S. allies, including Japan, about the Iran airstrike campaign, which began on February 28.

Trump replied that he had wanted the strikes to be a “surprise”, before adding, “Who knows better about surprise than Japan?” — in reference to the devastating attack on December 7, 1941, in which Japanese troops bombed the US military base on Oahu in Hawaii.

US oil prices fell after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent floated the idea of lifting sanctions on Iranian oil already at sea.

“In the coming days, we may unsanction the Iranian oil that’s on the water. It’s about 140 million barrels”, Bessent said on Fox Business Thursday morning local time.

US oil prices then dropped 1.56 percent to $94.64 a barrel, CNBC reported.

Oil prices have surged amid the growing conflict in the Middle East as Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that carries about a fifth of the world’s oil supply.

US Central Command has shared photos of American forces in action amid the Iran war.