live U.S., Iran reach preliminary peace deal, Friday signing expected
U.S. and Iranian officials said they had agreed on a framework to end their war, halt the U.S. blockade of Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a pre...
Iranian attacks have wiped out 17% of Qatar’s liquified natural gas export capacity (LNG), equivalent to $20 billion in lost annual revenue, the CEO of Qatar’s state-owned energy company, Saad al-Kaabi said on Thursday (19 March).
The losses threaten supplies to Europe and Asia, with QatarEnergy declaring a force majeure, freeing it of obligations on long-term contracts for up to five years for LNG supplies bound for Italy, Belgium, South Korea and China.
Kaabi said two of Qatar's 14 LNG trains and one of its two gas-to-liquids (GTL) facilities were damaged in the Iranian strikes. Repairs to the infrastructure will take 12.8 million tons of LNG out of the system for three to five years, he said.
"I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that Qatar would be - Qatar and the region - in such an attack, especially from a brotherly Muslim country in the month of Ramadan, attacking us in this way," Kaabi said.
Production at Pearl GTL in Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City stopped on Wednesday (18 March) after the industrial hub came under fire. Kaabi said that for production to restart, hostilities needed to end.
QatarEnergy previously declared a short-term force majeure on its entire output of LNG after an earlier attack on Ras Laffin. Shell is a partner in the damaged GTL facility, which will take up to a year to repair, while U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil is a partner in the damaged LNG facilities.
The scale of the damage from the attacks has set the region back 10 to 20 years, Kaabi added.
"If Israel attacked Iran, it's between Iran and Israel. It has nothing to do with us and the region. And so now, in addition to that, I'm saying that everybody in the world, whether it's Israel, whether it's the U.S., whether it's any other country, everybody should stay away from oil and gas facilities,” he said.
Details of a reported draft memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran offer the clearest picture yet of how both sides plan to end months of conflict and move towards a longer-term settlement.
The U.S. and Iran say they have reached a deal to end their conflict, with an immediate ceasefire and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz after the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade. Talks will continue over the next 60 days to finalise the agreement
U.S. President Donald Trump has said a peace agreement with Iran is scheduled to be signed on Sunday in a post on social media, despite Tehran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei saying no deal would be approved this weekend.
U.S. and Iranian officials said they had agreed on a framework to end their war, halt the U.S. blockade of Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a preliminary pact that sent oil prices falling but leaves the fate of Iran's nuclear program to further negotiations.
Switzerland on Sunday rejected a referendum proposal to cap its population at 10 million, a projection showed, as voters prioritised economic stability and the country's ties with the European Union over immigration concerns.
An armed unmanned aerial vehicle crashed on a Black Sea beach in northern Türkiye on Sunday, prompting a security operation and the controlled detonation of its munitions.
Fighting in southern Lebanon eased on Monday after a U.S.-Iran agreement aimed at ending months of regional conflict was announced, although uncertainty remained over how the deal would be implemented on the ground.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Monday welcomed the newly announced peace agreement between the U.S. and Iran, urging all parties to exercise restraint and work towards a lasting settlement.
Trade routes through Afghanistan took centre stage in Almaty as the European Union, Central Asian states and the United Nations discussed the country's role in shaping regional security and economic connectivity.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told U.S. President Donald Trump that Israel does not consider itself bound by a Lebanon-related provision in an emerging agreement with Iran, according to Israeli officials.
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