Middle East

Resilient jobs data is a bright spot for Australia's economy but the longer the Middle East conflict drags on, the worse the prospect for growth and inflation.

Two US soldiers were killed in strikes on a base in Jordan overnight and another remains missing.

As strikes intensify, the US and Iran inch closer and closer to an all-out war.

The United States has struck bridges and transport links in southern Iran while Iran retaliated with attacks across the Gulf including in Kuwait.

More attacks have been exchanged between the US and Iran as escalated fighting entered its sixth day.

Rhetoric sharpened on both sides after days of renewed attacks, with Iranian state media reporting strikes around Tehran.

President Trump, who promised to ‘end wars’, not start them, may have fallen into a familiar presidential trap.

The US and Iran traded intense barrages of strikes on Wednesday as both sides escalated their rhetoric, with no immediate off-ramp evident.

Iran has threatened to block more key trade routes across the Middle East as the US launches a fresh round of strikes against military targets and Donald Trump issues a stern warning if a deal isn’t settled.

The threats from Tehran came as the US intensified its airstrike campaign on Wednesday, pushing the region back towards all-out war.

The president is accustomed to forcing other countries to bend to his will. But he is struggling to come up with a strategy to extract Iranian concessions as the cease-fire he brokered collapses.

Shipping industry still waiting for a strait answer as President Donald Trump changes fee proposal to only guaranteeing safe passage to vessels from states that agree to invest in the United States

The Economist: One reason prices have not risen further is that oil markets still deem it likely that, with mid-term elections four months away, Donald Trump will cave.

Donald Trump has abandoned plans to impose a 20 per cent levy on cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz as the US fires more strikes against Iran and a blockade on Iranian shipping comes into effect.

WASHINGTON POST: The deal that the United States and Iran struck last month to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and negotiate over Tehran’s nuclear program was merely ‘a test’, US President Donald Trump said.