The war in the Middle East has forced the Gulf monarchies to rethink their oil and trade routes, but rerouting them will be no simple task, experts say.
Faced with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the only maritime entry point to the Gulf, the region's Arab nations are looking for ways to bypass Tehran's stranglehold on their exports.
A dozen members of the French navy scour screens for blinking lights indicating movement thousands of kilometres away near the Strait of Hormuz.
Since the start of the Iran war in late February, staff at a maritime security centre in western France have been helping merchant ships trapped in the Gulf.
LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - A man who last year tried to enter Israel's London embassy armed with two knives and carrying a "martyrdom note" was on Friday convicted in a London court of preparing an act of terrorism.
Abdullah Albadri, 34, a failed asylum seeker from Kuwait, attempted to breach the embassy's perimeter in April 2025 because he wanted to send a message about "the killing of children", prosecutors said at his trial this month.
The latest developments in the Middle East war:
- US approves arms sales to Qatar, Israel -
The United States said it had approved a $4 billion sale of Patriot missiles to Gulf ally Qatar, as well as the sale of precision weapons systems to Israel for nearly $1 billion.
Both sales were deemed to support US "foreign policy and national security" objectives, the State Department said in a series of notices to Congress, amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
- US to withdraw troops from Germany -
By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA, May 1 (Reuters) - The cost of sending some aid to Sudan - the world's largest displacement crisis - has more than doubled due to the Iran war, as shipping disruption pushes up costs and delays the delivery of relief, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday.
Heightened insecurity around key Gulf shipping routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, as well as congestion at ports, rising fuel prices and higher insurance premiums have all hampered the delivery of aid, particularly in Africa, the agency said.
By Mike Stone
WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy is ramping up its AI capabilities to hunt for Iranian mines in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical shipping lanes, a recently awarded contract shows.
President Donald Trump has said the U.S. Navy is clearing Iranian mines from the strait, a vital sea route for oil shipments, whose disruption is increasingly threatening the global economy. Sweeping for underwater explosives could take months despite a tenuous ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran in their weeks-long war.
By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - The past weeks have not been reassuring for those who thought Europe could navigate its tricky relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump this week lashed out at German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over his criticism of the Iran war, calling him "totally ineffective," and threatened to cut the 36,400 U.S. troops based in Germany.
ATHERINOLAKKOS, Greece, May 1 (Reuters) - More than 100 pro-Palestinian activists aboard aid ships bound for Gaza were taken to the Greek island of Crete on Friday after Israeli forces seized their vessels in international waters near Greece, flotilla organisers said.
The activists were part of a second Global Sumud flotilla, launched in recent months in an attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza by delivering humanitarian assistance. The ships set sail from the Spanish port of Barcelona on April 12.
By Humeyra Pamuk, Ahmed Elimam and Ahmed Tolba
WASHINGTON/DUBAI, May 1 (Reuters) - A senior United Arab Emirates official said on Friday Tehran could not be trusted over any unilateral arrangements it makes for the Strait of Hormuz, in a sign of deep mistrust on all sides as efforts to end the Iran war remained at an impasse.
Dozens of activists on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla intercepted by Israeli forces off Crete left their boats on Friday, many taken to hospital on the Greek island while others were flown out.
Greek officials said 31 of the roughly 175 activists had been taken to hospital on Crete. Turkish officials said about 60 had arrived by plane in Istanbul on Friday evening.
More than 50 vessels had set sail from ports in France, Spain and Italy with the aim of breaking the blockade of Gaza and bringing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory.
