Oil prices continued to fall after President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
Despite the US bombing raids on Sunday morning, global benchmark Brent crude fell 7% on Monday and it was down a further 4% overnight to just over $68 a barrel.
Oil prices are now lower than 12 June, when Israel first launched an attack on Iran.
Stock markets in Asia also responded positively to the latest developments, with major indexes in Japan, South Korea and Australia rising.
European stocks have surged. Germany’s DAX jumped 2%, the French CAC 40 climbed 1.8%, and futures for the S&P 500 in the US are pointing higher.
President Trump announced a “complete and total ceasefire” between Israel and Iran after 12 days of hostilities, which included an Iranian reprisal strike on a US base in Qatar on Monday.
In a post on his Truth Social site last night he announced an end to hostilities, even as Israel continued its attacks on Iran.
Just after 6am Mr Trump issued an appeal to both sides, posting on Truth Social: “The ceasefire is now in effect. Please do not violate it!”
An hour later, Israel accepted the ceasefire proposal while Iran state TV earlier announced that the ceasefire had been “imposed” on Israel. There was also an hour-long raid on Tehran that caused a significant number of casualties.
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, signalled early on Tuesday that Tehran was prepared to halt its missile attacks. However three consecutive air raid warnings sounded in Tel Aviv between just after 3am and 4am (UK).
“The military operations of our powerful Armed Forces to punish Israel for its aggression continued until the very last minute, at 4am,” Araghchi wrote on social media.
However, the aggression may now ease following the Israeli government’s agreement to the ceasefire proposal after “achieving the objectives” of its attacks on Iran.
According to the statement, Israel has removed Iran’s “dual immediate existential threat” from nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
It also said Israel has “inflicted severe damage on the military leadership, and destroyed dozens of central Iranian government targets”.
The statement goes on to say that Israeli forces, in the last day, have “severely struck government targets in the heart of Tehran, eliminating hundreds of Basij operatives” – a militia the Iranian government often uses to suppress protests – and “eliminating another senior nuclear scientist”.
It added: “Israel thanks President Trump and the United States for their support in defence and their participation in eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat.”
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