Iran-US war latest: Mojtaba Khamenei named supreme leader to succeed father killed in strikes as oil prices surge – UK Times

Oil prices eclipsed $114 per barrel for the first time since 2022 this morning as the Iran war intensified, threatening production and shipping in the Middle East.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, surged past $114 after trading resumed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. That was up 23 per cent from its Friday closing price of $92.69.

West Texas Intermediate, the light, sweet crude oil produced in the United States, also was selling for about $114 a barrel. That’s 25 per cent higher than its close Friday at $90.90.

South Korean president Lee Jae Myung said this morning that authorities would cap domestic fuel prices for the first time in nearly 30 years to contain a spike after the conflict in the Middle East sent global crude prices sharply higher.

Speaking at an emergency meeting on the impact of the Middle East crisis, Mr Lee said the government would “swiftly introduce and boldly implement” a maximum price system on petroleum products that have recently seen excessive price increases.

The current crisis “is a significant burden on our economy, which is highly dependent on global trade and energy imports from the Middle East,” he said in opening remarks.

He added that South Korea will also look for energy sources beyond supplies shipped via the Strait of Hormuz.

Mr Lee said a 100 trillion won ($66.94bn) market stabilisation programme could be expanded if needed, and called on the government and the central bank to prepare additional measures to respond to volatility in financial and foreign exchange markets.

The biggest airline in the Gulf, Emirates, is resuming flights at scale – despite its hub at Dubai airport being the target of an Iranian attack.

Following fresh drone strikes in the UAE city, flights were briefly suspended on Saturday and passengers were taken into tunnels at the airport, which is normally the busiest global hub in the world.

But Emirates said it would continue to ramp up its operations to and from its hub at Dubai.

The Gulf state’s energy minister, Saad al-Kaabi, said it would take his country “weeks to months” to return to its normal delivery pattern after an Iranian drone strike at its largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant – with Europe likely to suffer a price spike as a result.

His prediction came as Goldman Sachs bank warned the price of oil could jump to as much as $150 per barrel by the end of March, hitting British consumers and businesses hard.

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The British couple jailed in Tehran told how bombs exploding next to their prison shattered windows and caused plaster to rain down from the ceiling.

Lindsay and Craig Foreman, from East Sussex, were sentenced last month to 10 years in prison on disputed espionage charges after being arrested while travelling through Iran on a global motorcycle tour in January 2025.

Now living through the Israeli-US bombardment of Iran, they recounted how last Saturday afternoon a bomb exploded so close to Evin Prison that the blast blew out the windows.

Sir Tony Blair criticised Sir Keir Starmer’s slow support for Donald Trump’s war on Iran, reportedly telling an event: “We should have backed America from the very beginning”.

The former prime minister told a private Jewish News event on Friday that Sir Keir should have let the Trump administration use British airbases to strike Iran.

He reportedly added: “If they are your ally and they are an indispensable cornerstone for your security … you had better show up”.

The US has ordered non-essential US diplomats and government employee family members to leave Saudi Arabia due to safety risks.

The United States began to pull out non-essential staff from Gulf Arab countries last Monday, three days into the war.

The US ​embassy in Riyadh on Tuesday approved voluntary departures, four days into the war and on the same day that it was struck by Iranian drones that led to a fire that ​damaged the mission’s facilities.