HONG KONG: Oil prices rose and most stocks fell Monday as the Middle East crisis escalated with the entry of Houthis into the Middle East war and investors grew increasingly concerned the United States would send in ground troops. As the conflict moved into its fifth week, the specter of a widening conflict grew as Yemen&#39;s Houthi rebels on Saturday said they had fired &quot;a barrage of cruise missiles and drones&quot; at strategic sites in Israel. The strikes raised concern about the war spreading to the Red Sea, with Saudi Arabia rerouting much of its oil exports there to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of crude and gas passes has been effectively closed. The news sent the price of oil Monday to its highest level since earlier in the month after the United States and Israel began their strikes against Iran. Both main contracts jumped more than 3% at one point, with Brent hitting close to $117 a barrel, before easing back. Adding to the dour mood were US President Donald Trump&#39;s remarks to the Financial Times (FT) that he wanted to &quot;take the oil in Iran&quot; and could take the country&#39;s Kharg Island &quot;very easily&quot;. Kharg Island, located off the west coast of Iran, is a vital oil terminal for the country and is being eyed by the Pentagon for ground operations, though the United States insisted it would stop short of a full-scale invasion. &quot;Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don&#39;t. We have a lot of options,&quot; he told the FT. &quot;It would also mean we had to be there for a while.&quot; While Pakistan said Sunday it was ready to broker and host &quot;meaningful talks&quot; between Washington and Tehran to end the war, Iran&#39;s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the United States was &quot;secretly planning a ground attack&quot;. The surge in oil prices and the prospect of an extended conflict put more pressure on equities amid fears about a surge in inflation that could hit the world economy. Tokyo sank more than 4% and Seoul more than 3% before paring the losses while Hong Kong, Sydney, Mumbai, Bangkok, Wellington, Taipei, Jakarta and Manila were also down. London, Paris and Frankfurt opened slightly lower. The losses followed a bad day on Wall Street, where all three main indexes tumbled after the United States and Israel struck Iranian nuclear sites. &quot;The market is now reacting to higher crude pricing and towards the fallout in the economic consequences,&quot; wrote Pepperstone&#39;s Chris Weston. &quot;Higher short-term inflation expectations, volatility in the interest rate markets, and growing concerns around supply shortages/inventory and the subsequent impact on the March/April economic data series and corporate earnings is now front and center,&quot; he added. &quot;The Houthi&#39;s ability to disrupt shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb strait, which accounts for roughly 12% of global trade, is the new key risk&quot; he said, referring to the waterway between Yemen and the Horn of Africa. &quot;Any meaningful disruption, married with a sharp rise in insurance costs, could drive another leg higher in crude and further pressure risk assets.&quot; The selling came after a relatively calm period last week after Trump delayed until next month a threatened attack on Iran&#39;s energy infrastructure citing progress in talks with Tehran. Skye Masters at National Australia Bank said: &quot;Trump&#39;s decision to extend the pause in Iran&#39;s energy sector... has clearly not been enough to support investor sentiment where the focus is turning to the global economic impact of such a shock &ndash; this is now not just about the price of oil it includes fertilizer, petrochemicals, metals.&quot;

An electronic quotation board displays the Nikkei Stock Average on the Tokyo Stock Exchange along a street in Tokyo on March 30, 2026. (AFP)

Business

Oil prices surge and global stocks fall as Houthi attacks escalate Middle East War, raising fears of wider war, disrupted shipping, inflation pressures, and potential US ground intervention in Iran.

Crude rises, stocks drop as Houthi attacks escalate Iran war

DUBAI: Yemen&#39;s Houthi rebels early Wednesday claimed the attack that left a Dutch-flagged cargo ship ablaze and adrift in the Gulf of Aden, underlining the range of their weaponry and their campaign targeting shipping over the Israel-Hamas war.&nbsp;The attack on Monday on the Minervagracht was the most serious assault in months by the Houthis in the Gulf of Aden, which is some distance from the Red Sea, where they have sunk four vessels since November 2023.&nbsp;The attack also comes as Israel engages in a new ground offensive targeting Gaza City, as efforts to reach a ceasefire again hang in the balance. Meanwhile, the Mideast also remains on edge after the United Nations reimposed sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. The Houthis separately threatened to &ldquo;employ all means and instruments available&rdquo; to target several American oil firms.&nbsp;The Houthis fired a cruise missile that targeted and struck the Minervagracht, a Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said.&nbsp;Saree accused the ship&#39;s owners, Amsterdam-based Spliethoff, of violating &ldquo;the entry ban to the ports of occupied Palestine.&rdquo; Initially, the US Navy-overseen Joint Maritime Information Center stated that the Minervagracht had no ties to Israel, but a note released on Tuesday indicated that the center was &ldquo;reviewing vessel affiliations for possible links to Israel.&rdquo;&nbsp;The attack wounded two mariners on board the Minervagracht, whose 19-member crew hailed from the Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka, and Ukraine. They were forced to evacuate the ship after the strike inflicted substantial damage.&nbsp;A European naval force operating in the region, known as Operation Aspides, said Tuesday the Minervagracht was on fire and adrift after the crew&rsquo;s rescue.&nbsp;The Houthis have launched missile and drone attacks on over 100 ships and on Israel in response to the war in Gaza, saying they were acting in solidarity with the Palestinians. However, some of the group&rsquo;s targets have had tenuous links or no connections at all to Israel.&nbsp;The Houthi attack widens the area of the rebels&rsquo; recent assaults, as the last recorded attack on a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Aden before the Minervagracht came in August 2024.&nbsp;Their attacks over the past two years have upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion of goods passed each year before the war.&nbsp;The Houthis stopped their attacks on shipping and Israel itself during a brief ceasefire in the war. They later became the target of an intense week-long campaign of airstrikes ordered by US President Donald Trump before he declared a ceasefire had been reached with the rebels.&nbsp;The Houthi campaign against shipping has killed at least eight mariners and seen four ships sunk.&nbsp;Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Houthis announced that they had imposed sanctions against multiple American oil companies, including Chevron Corp, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil Corp., as well as individuals and two ships. The rebels have issued such designations in the past before launching attacks.

Houthis, Gulf of Aden, attacks of vessels, Yemen

Asia

The attack is the most serious assault in months by the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Gulf of Aden, which is some distance from the Red Sea, where they have sunk four vessels since November 2023.

Houthis claim missile attack on Dutch-flagged ship in Gulf of Aden

DUBAI: A ship probably cut cables in the Red Sea that disrupted internet access across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, experts said Tuesday. This shows the lines&#39; vulnerability over a year after another incident severed them. The International Cable Protection Committee told The Associated Press that 15 <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/internet-disruption-the-global-cost-of-going-offline" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">submarine cables</a> pass through the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the southern entrance of the Red Sea that separates East Africa from the Arabian Peninsula. Over the weekend, authorities in multiple countries identified the affected cables as the South East Asia&ndash;Middle East&ndash;Western Europe 4, the India-Middle East-Western Europe, and the FALCON GCX cables. On Tuesday, the list grew to include the Europe India Gateway cable, said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik. Damage due to dragged anchorsInitial reports suggested the cut happened off the coast of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, but authorities in the kingdom have not confirmed this, nor have the companies managing the cables. &ldquo;Early independent analysis indicates that the probable cause of damage is commercial shipping activity in the region,&rdquo; John Wrottesley, the committee&#39;s operations manager, told the AP. &ldquo;Damage to submarine cables from dragged anchors accounts for approximately 30% of incidents each year, resulting in around 60 faults.&rdquo; Madory also told the AP that the working theory is&nbsp;that a commercial vessel dropped its anchor and dragged it across the four cables, severing the connections. Cables in the Red Sea can be at shallow depths, making them more vulnerable to anchor dragging. Rerouting causes delaysUndersea cables are a core part of the internet infrastructure, along with satellite connections and land-based cables. Usually, <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/internet-services-cut-for-hours-by-amazon-cloud-outage" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">internet service</a> providers have multiple access points and can reroute traffic if one fails. However, rerouting can cause latency, or delays, for internet users. Madory said at least 10 countries in Africa, <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/global-internet-freedom-declines-for-15th-year-why-south-asia-is-falling-behind" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Asia</a>, and the Middle East have been affected by the cable cut, including India, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates. Like broken plumbing&ldquo;Nobody&rsquo;s completely offline, but each provider has lost a subset of their international transit,&rdquo; Madory explained. &quot;So, if you imagine this is like plumbing and you lose some volume of water coming down the pipes ... and now you just have less volume to carry the traffic.&rdquo; Cable security remains a concern, especially amid attacks by Yemen&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/un-chief-strongly-condemns-houthis-detaining-nine-more-un-personnel-in-yemen" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Houthi</a>&nbsp;rebels on ships related to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. In early 2024, Yemen&rsquo;s internationally recognized government in exile claimed the Houthis planned to attack undersea cables. Several cables were later cut, possibly by a ship attacked by the Houthis, dragging its anchor, but the rebels denied responsibility.

internet disruption, internet down in Pakistan

Middle East

Authorities in multiple countries identified the affected cables as the South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 4, the India-Middle East-Western Europe, and the FALCON GCX cables.

Articles tagged with "Red Sea"

Crude rises, stocks drop as Houthi attacks escalate Iran war

Houthis claim missile attack on Dutch-flagged ship in Gulf of Aden

Commercial shipping cut Red Sea cables, disrupting internet in Pakistan, Africa, Middle East