Trump is now so annoyed with Netanyahu that he doesn't even want to meet him. What happened?

Oil prices rose to a six-week high on Wednesday as the U.S. and Iran traded strikes, further threatening energy shipping in the Middle East, while U.S. equities were flat ahead of key Big Tech earnings.

Brent crude prices settled up 3.3% to $94 per barrel, reaching levels not seen since early June. A brief détente between the U.S. and Iran ended this month, once again restricting tanker movement in the key Strait of Hormuz. U.S. President Donald Trump threatened more attacks on Iran's infrastructure.

Nearly five months of war have depleted global stockpiles and stoked inflation worldwide. Shipping disruptions could worsen following threats of attack from Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on shipping in the Red Sea, another chokepoint in the Middle East. 

Four oil tankers carrying Saudi crude to Asia reversed course in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait following the Houthi threat.

The closure of both Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb would disrupt shipping routes for more than a quarter of the world's oil and gas. Clearing both of those logjams would strain the U.S. military, analysts said.

If approved, the facility could bolster Pakistan's reserves, ease pressure on the rupee, and reduce its reliance on multilateral financing, even as Islamabad undertakes tighter fiscal and monetary policies in line with its International Monetary Fund program.

Trump had warned on Tuesday that the US would hit the site, known as Pickaxe Mountain in English.

President Donald Trump renewed his threats to attack Iranian infrastructure on Wednesday, saying the US would attack a bridge or power plant each time Tehran targets a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

"Any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

The US and Iran have intensified attacks as an interim ceasefire agreement signed last month has unravelled and a struggle for control of the Strait of Hormuz has deepened, raising the risk of a return to all-out hostilities. under

Some international law experts and world leaders have criticized Trump's threats to target Iranian bridges and power plants as illegal under international law that prohibits attacks on civilian targets. 

Lebanon and Israel are scheduled to hold their next round of U.S.-brokered talks on August 4 in Italy, a Lebanese official told Reuters on Wednesday, as the two countries begin implementing a plan for Israeli withdrawals and Lebanese army deployments in southern Lebanon.

The two longtime foes have held more than three months of face-to-face talks, billed as a way to put a permanent end to hostilities since a new war erupted on March 2 between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, triggered by the wider regional conflict.

The ambassador-level direct meetings are unusual for countries that remain formally at war and have had no normal diplomatic relations through decades of invasion, military occupation and cross-border conflict.

Five meetings hosted by the United States produced a framework deal late last month which foresees the disarmament of Hezbollah, the progressive withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon and the deployment of Lebanese troops.

The agreement leaves out two safeguards Washington has traditionally insisted on. First, a ban on uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing, along with an "additional protocol" that provides tougher international inspections.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday that Iran would respond in kind to any attack on its infrastructure, after Washington threatened to bomb a bridge or power plant for every ship targeted in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian drone attacks on CIA facilities in the Gulf have prompted US intelligence analysts to investigate whether Russia assisted by providing targeting information or advanced drone technology, said four people familiar with US intelligence.

Oil prices rose more than 1.5% to their highest in more than six weeks on Thursday, with the United States launching a new round of strikes on Iran and Yemen's Houthis targeting oil tankers in the Red Sea. 

Brent crude futures rose $1.93, or 2% to $96 by 0011 GMT, the highest since June 8. It had settled over $3 higher at $94.07 in the previous session, just shy of a six-week high. 

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.44, or 1.7%, to $88.27 after rising nearly 3% on Wednesday.

The U.S. military said it carried out a 12th consecutive night of attacks on Iran hours after U.S. President Donald Trump's vowed to destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant every time Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, raising the stakes in the war with Iran.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said that an oil tanker had caught fire after an explosion while attempting to pass through what they described as a mined route south of the Strait of Hormuz, and that the two other tankers had turned back.

The dollar largely stabilised on Thursday as renewed U.S.-Iran tensions kept investors on edge and underpinned demand for the safe-haven currency, while the yen languished near a 40-year low with little sign of a turnaround.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, eased 0.06% to 101.05. The greenback has gained as the worsening flare-up between Washington and Tehran triggered a rebound in oil prices and fanned inflation fears.

Oil prices rose, with Brent crude futures up by more than 1.3% to $95.31 a barrel on Thursday after the U.S. military said it launched a new round of strikes on Iran and the Iranian-aligned Houthis claimed military strikes on two Saudi oil tankers as part of a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, raising the risk of further disruptions to global oil flows. 

The remarks came after US President Donald Trump warned that American forces will destroy one bridge or power plant each time Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

The US House of Representatives approved a $95 billion budget framework on Wednesday, with most of the funding earmarked for the Pentagon to fund the war against Iran.