US oil prices jump 5% on ceasefire concerns: Live updates

West Texas Intermediate – the US standard for oil – has spiked by 5% since markets opened, amid concerns that the fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran may not hold.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said today that Israel would keep hitting Iran-backed Hezbollah ‘wherever necessary’, the day after Israeli strikes pummelled Lebanon.

‘We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with force, precision, and determination,’ Netanyahu said on his personal X account.

‘Our message is clear: anyone who acts against Israeli civilians – we will strike them. We will continue to hit Hezbollah wherever necessary, until we fully restore security to the residents of the north’ of Israel, he added.

Defence secretary John Healey said today it is not in ‘Britain’s national interest’ to deploy a large amount of the UK’s military assets to the Middle East.

He said: ‘When a crisis erupts nosily and dangerously, as it has done in the Middle East, I understand people are questioning why all UK military assets and personnel have not been deployed to deal with it.

‘But that is not in Britain’s national interest.’

Healey said, instead, that the ‘greatest threats are often unseen and silent’, adding that the UK has to ‘deploy our resources to best effect’ as demands on defence rise.

The CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has called for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz ‘unconditionally’ and without any ‘strings attaches.’

Sultan Al Jaber said in a post to his LinkedIn: ‘Iran has made clear – through both its statements and actions – that passage is subject to permission, conditions and political leverage. That is not freedom of navigation. That is coercion.

He said the waterway is a ‘natural passage governed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which guarantees transit as a matter of right; not a privilege to be granted, withheld or weaponised.’

He added: ‘The Strait must be open – fully, unconditionally and without restriction. Energy security and global economic stability depend on it. The weaponization of this vital waterway, in any form, cannot stand.’

UK defence secretary John Healey today told reporters: ‘We condemn the escalation in Lebanon.

We want the Israel-Lebanon conflict to be brought within the terms of the ceasefire.’

He added that the UK will ‘do our bit to try and strengthen’ the truce between the US and Iran, adding: ‘We welcome the ceasefire, we want it to hold.’

The Washington Post reported that following the 2024 attack that saw Israel detonate explosives hidden inside pagers belonging to Hezbollah members, Hungary reached out to Iran to offer assistance.

Hungary’s foreign minister Peter Szijjarto reported told his counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, shortly after the September 2024 attack: ‘Our secret service has already contacted your services and we will share all the information we have gathered during the investigation.

‘Every possible document will be shared with your services’, he reportedly added.

Hungary was linked to the attack as the Taiwanese company whose brand was used on the pagers said the devices were made by a Hungarian company under licence.

Several men in Israel are set to be charged for allegedly making explosives for an Iranian intelligence agent.

Haifa resident Ami Gaydarov, 22, was allegedly in contact with an Iranian agent from last August to last month, when police arrested him.

Police said he ‘agreed to manufacture explosive material which was intended to harm a senior figure’, adding that he rented a flat in his city as a makeshift lab to make and test the explosive materials.

Gaydarov was allegedly assisted by several others, who are also expected to be charged in the coming days.

He was also told to take photos of the Haifa Port, as well as missile impact sites in northern Israel during the war with Iran.

In exchange for his services, he was given 70,000 shekels (£16,900) – most of it coming in cryptocurrency.

The case has been investigated by Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, as well as the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit

The UAE said it is ‘seeking further clarification; on the US’s ceasefire with Iran, with an aim of ensuring Tehran’s ‘full commitment’ to the truce.

It is also looking for the ‘unconditional reopening of the Strait of Hormuz’, as well as to hold Iran accountable for the damage it caused during the war.