Iran Financial News

privileged strategic partnership" with India, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday. Lavrov said at an event that Russia is actively expanding ties with countries like China, India, Iran, North Korea and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, the state-run TASS news agency reported on Monday. «We prioritize boosting ties with the majority of global states,» he said at a meeting of the board of trustees of the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund. «The relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation with the People's Republic of China boast an unprecedented level of mutual trust. Particularly privileged strategic partnership is developing with India,» the top Russian diplomat said. Lavrov added that serious progress has been reached in expanding and deepening of friendly ties with such states as Iran and North Korea. Moscow puts special emphasis on strengthening of all areas of cooperation with allies and partners among CIS member states, including within the framework of the Commonwealth, as well as the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union, Lavrov said.

Oil prices came under pressure due to oversupply concerns after OPEC+ (a group of oil-producing nations) decided to roll back production cuts in its 3 March 2025 meeting. The oil group had cut 2.2 mbpd (million barrels per day) of oil production in November 2023 but has now decided to release such output over April 2025 and September 2026.

Jessica Aber, the former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, on Sunday found dead at her home in Virginia. She was 43-year-old, as per a report. The cause of death, which will be declared by Virginia medical examiner, is yet to be ascertained, Independent reported. Aber was nominated to the Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia by former President Joe Biden during his tenure, according to the Independent report. Aber resigned a day before President Donald Trump was sworn in for the second time in January. “I’ve had the privilege of spending my career as a prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia working alongside talented, hard-working public servants who manage matters affecting citizens here and across the world,” said Aber in the January statement of her resignation. Aber’s time in office was not without its challenges. The Eastern District of Virginia, often referred to as the «Rocket Docket» due to its efficient handling of cases, was tasked with an increasing number of complex and high-stakes cases.

Israeli strike killed a senior Hamas political leader in the Gaza Strip overnight, the militant group said early Sunday. Iran-backed rebels in Yemen who are allied with Hamas meanwhile launched another missile at Israel, setting off air raid sirens.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it instructed the army to respond forcefully against dozens of targets in Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah is based. Israel's army said six rockets were fired toward Metula, a town along the border with Lebanon. Three crossed into Israel and were intercepted. The army said it «cannot confirm the identity of the organisation that fired the rockets.» It said it struck Hezbollah command centres and dozens of rocket launchers. An Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese village of Touline killed five people, including a child, and wounded 10 others, including two children, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported. Another Israeli strike Saturday night hit a garage in the coastal city of Tyre, the NNA reported, with one person killed and seven wounded. It was the first attack on the city since the ceasefire took effect November 27. And a strike on Hawsh al-Sayed Ali village along the border with Syria wounded five people, according to the NNA.

Speaking at a Business Today event here, Jaishankar also said that after decades of hearing the virtues of globalisation, the world today is grappling with the reality of industrial policies, export controls and tariff wars. He said that ensuring a favourable energy environment for coming decades is understandably one of India's key diplomatic objectives. Beyond fossil fuels, it extends to developing and deploying renewables on a large scale as well as exploring the potential of small modular reactors, he said. «The fifth biggest economy of the world must necessarily develop a broad and diverse set of energy relationships,» Jaishankar said.

Oil prices rose in early Asian trading on Friday, and were set for their second consecutive weekly gains, after fresh U.S. sanctions on Iran and a new OPEC+ plan for seven members to cut output raised bets on tightening supply. Brent crude futures climbed 42 cents, or 0.6%, to $72.40 per barrel by 0026 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 45 cents, or 0.6%, to $68.52 a barrel.

No injuries were reported. The Houthis said they fired a ballistic missile at Israel's international airport, the second such attack since the United States began a new campaign of airstrikes against the rebels earlier this week. Over the decades, Israel has developed a sophisticated system capable of detecting incoming fire and deploying only if the projectile is headed toward a population center or sensitive military or civilian infrastructure. Israeli leaders say the system isn't 100% guaranteed, but credit it with preventing serious damage and countless casualties. Here's a closer look at Israel's multilayered air-defense system: The Arrow: This system developed with the U.S. is designed to intercept long-range missiles. The Arrow, which operates outside the atmosphere, has been used to intercept long-range missiles launched by the Houthis as well as those launched by Iran during two direct exchanges of fire last year.

Strikes hit Sanaa, Yemen's rebel-held capital, as well as their stronghold of Saada in the country's northwest on Wednesday night, the Houthi's al-Maisrah satellite news channel reported. It aired footage showing firefighters battling a blaze in Sanaa and damaged at what it described as a sheep farm in al-Jawf. It also said strikes happened overnight Tuesday, though the U.S. military has not offered a breakdown of places targeted since the airstrikes campaign began. The first strikes this weekend killed at least 53 people, including children, and wounded others. As the strikes hit, Trump wrote on his Truth Social website that «tremendous damage has been inflicted upon the Houthi barbarians.» «Watch how it will get progressively worse — It's not even a fair fight, and never will be,» Trump added. «They will be completely annihilated!»

Google is celebrating this year's Nowruz, the Persian New Year, with a special Doodle illustrated by guest artist Pendar Yousefi. The festival is being observed on March 20, precisely at 2:31 pm IST, which coincides with the spring equinox. The festival, which marks the beginning of the new year in the Persian calendar, has been observed for over 3,000 years. Nowruz means «new day» in Persian. The day has its roots in Zoroastrianism and ancient Persian culture. The festival symbolizes renewal, rebirth, and the triumph of light over darkness. The day signifies new beginnings and families gather to observe cultural festivities. In 2010, UNESCO added Nowruz to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and the United Nations recognises March 21 as International Nowruz Day. On this day, about 300 million people across Iran, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, the Caucasus, Turkey, and parts of South Asia celebrate withe festival. Google, in its description of the Doodle, explained that central to Nowruz traditions is the haft-sin table, a display of seven symbolic items each beginning with the Persian letter 'sin. These include sprouts for rebirth, wheat pudding for strength, olives for love, berries for the sunrise, vinegar for patience, apples for beauty, and garlic for health.

Vladimir Putin scored a coup by discussing with Donald Trump in highly anticipated phone talks everything from improving bilateral ties to Iran and even hockey matches, but stopping well short of agreeing any peace path to end the war in Ukraine, analysts say. During the call on Tuesday, Putin refused a full ceasefire agreement proposed by Washington but focused instead on reviving Russian-American cooperation that has been frozen since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The very fact such talks took place was an achievement for the Kremlin, said Ekaterina Schulmann, a Russian political scientist based in Berlin. «The two superpowers are discussing the fate of the world and the future of humanity,» she told AFP, summing up Moscow's thinking. «It is a great achievement for Russia which reproduces a Soviet-era narrative without being the Soviet Union.»

Oil prices slid on Wednesday after Russia agreed to U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal that Moscow and Kyiv stop attacking each other's energy infrastructure temporarily, which could lead to more Russian oil entering global markets. Brent crude futures were down 12 cents, or 0.2%, at $70.44 a barrel by 0106 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) lost 15 cents, or 0.2%, to $66.75.

«This war would have never started if I were President!» Trump wrote on Truth Social after the call. «Many elements of a Contract for Peace were discussed, including the fact that thousands of soldiers are being killed, and both President Putin and President Zelenskyy would like to see it end. That process is now in full force and effect, and we will, hopefully, for the sake of Humanity, get the job done!» The conversation, which lasted for over 90 minutes, was seen as a crucial step toward peace, but Washington is pushing for more. The US wants a comprehensive 30-day ceasefire covering all military operations, a proposal that Russia has yet to fully endorse.

Rasha Alawieh, a Brown University assistant professor and doctor, was deported over the weekend from Boston to Lebanon after federal agents found pictures of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iran’s supreme leader on her cell phone. Despite holding a valid visa and a court order blocking her deportation, she was returned to Paris while re-entering the US, alleging her ties to Hamas. This incident has raised concerns about US Customs and Border Protection's actions and judicial authority.

Trump moves to axe Voice of America and other US-funded media, China and Russia are eager to fill the void. The targeting of VOA, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia not only freezes some of the most dogged reporting on countries with heavily restricted media, but it comes after years of concerted efforts by Beijing and Moscow to promote their own worldview on the global media landscape. Trump issued an executive order Friday to pare down the nearly $1 billion US Agency for Global Media, with hundreds of journalists swiftly put on leave or fired, in his latest sweeping cut to the federal government. Lisa Curtis, who was a senior official on the National Security Council in Trump's first term and serves as board chair of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, formed in the Cold War to reach behind the Iron Curtain, said that closing the service «will actually help our adversaries.» «Countries like China, Russia and Iran are investing hundreds of millions of dollars pumping out anti-American propaganda and disinformation,» she said.

«The Trump administration and the White House were consulted by the Israelis on their attacks in Gaza tonight,» White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Fox News interview. Palestinian medics in Gaza reported dozens of people were killed in the aftermath of a series of the most violent air attacks by Israel on the Palestinian enclave since a ceasefire was reached on January 19 between Israel and Hamas militants. A senior Hamas official said Israel had unilaterally overturned the ceasefire agreement. «As President Trump has made it clear — Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel, but also the United States of America, will see a price to pay. All hell will break loose,» the White House spokesperson said.

economic outlook amid tariffs and trade woes.

Russia is using cryptocurrencies in its oil trade with China and India to skirt Western sanctions, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the matter. While Russia has publicly encouraged the use of crypto and last summer passed a law to allow digital currency payments in international trade, its use in the country's oil trade has not previously been reported.

geopolitical tensions, jitters about tariffs escalating trade frictions, and increased hopes of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve continued to fuel safe-haven demand.

The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the overnight U.S. strikes killed at least 53 people, including five women and two children, and wounded almost 100 in the capital of Sanaa and other provinces, including Saada, the rebels' stronghold on the border with Saudi Arabia. «We're not going to have these people controlling which ships can go through and which ones cannot. And so your question is, how long will this go on? It will go on until they no longer have the capability to do that,» Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday. He said these are not the one-off retaliation strikes the Biden administration carried out after Houthi attacks. President Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to use «overwhelming lethal force» until the Houthis cease their attacks, and warned that Tehran would be held «fully accountable» for their actions. The Houthis have repeatedly targeted international shipping in the Red Sea, sinking two vessels, in what they call acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel has been at war with Hamas, another Iranian ally.

Donald Trump launched a full-fledged large-scale military strikes against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping, killing at least 24 people at the start of a campaign expected to last many days. At least 21 people were killed after Trump ordered large scale military strikes against Houthis on Saturday. The action follows the group's attacks on Red Sea shipping, which Trump vowed to stop, warning that «hell will rain down» on the Houthis if they continue.