US claims temporary waiver won’t provide ‘significant financial benefit’ to Moscow; IDF strikes Lebanon after mass evacuation; Trump wants say in choosing Iran’s next leader. What we know on day seven
Middle East crisis – live updates
The US granted Indian refiners a 30-day waiver to buy Russian oil after the US-Israel war on Iran sparked fears of a supply crunch, lifting global prices. Barely a month ago, Donald Trump claimed India had agreed to stop purchasing oil from Russia, in a shift that he said would “help END THE WAR in Ukraine” by cutting off a key source of funds for Moscow. The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, insisted this temporary waiver, designed “to enable oil to keep flowing” into the market, “will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government”.
The IDF has begun striking what it describes as Hezbollah infrastructure in the Dahiya neighbourhood, a densely populated commercial and residential area in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The IDF had earlier issued forced evacuation orders for the whole population of Beirut’s southern suburbs – home to 500,000 people – sparking widespread panic and leading to huge queues of traffic as people tried to flee. It comes in spite of calls from world leaders including Emmanuel Macron urging Israel not to expand the war into Lebanon. According to the Lebanese health ministry, Israeli strikes have killed at least 123 people and injured 683 in Lebanon since Monday.
