SINGAPORE — Oil prices extended gains on Tuesday as a US-imposed deadline loomed for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or be “taken out”, with US President Donald Trump threatening to order attacks on Iranian bridges and power plants.

Brent crude futures rose $1.44, or 1.3%, to $111.21 a barrel by 0700 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up $2.32, or 2.1%, at $114.73.

Mr. Trump has threatened to rain “hell” on Tehran if it fails to comply with his deadline of 8 p.m. EDT on Tuesday (0000 GMT Wednesday) to reopen the strait, through which about a fifth of global oil supply is normally shipped, if a deal is not reached.

Responding to a US proposal through mediator Pakistan, Tehran rejected a ceasefire and said a permanent end to the war was necessary, and pushed back against pressure to reopen the strait.

Iran’s rejection of the US ceasefire proposal has kept tensions elevated and left diplomacy hanging by a thread, said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova.

“Oil is holding its gains because the battlefield risk is no longer theoretical. Attacks on energy and shipping assets continue, and traders fear that even if the war ends, damage to infrastructure could sideline barrels for months, not days,” she said.

Exports from several Gulf producers have already collapsed due to restricted flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian forces effectively shut the strait after US and Israeli attacks began on February 28.

“Clock-watching is now playing almost as big a role in oil markets as the fundamentals themselves in the run-up to Trump’s ultimatum deadline,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.

“The potential for a ceasefire deal offers some counterweight and could spark a relief move lower if it gains traction, but persistent supply worries from the Hormuz chokepoint and damaged energy facilities are keeping the floor under prices.”

The UN Security Council is expected to vote on Tuesday on a resolution to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, but in significantly watered-down form after veto-wielding China opposed authorizing force, diplomats said.

Attacks in the region continued with explosions heard in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and surrounding countryside on Tuesday that were caused by the Israeli interception of Iranian missiles, Syrian state TV reported.

Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it intercepted and destroyed seven ballistic missiles launched towards its Eastern Region, with debris falling near energy facilities.

The conflict has squeezed global crude supply, sending spot premiums for US WTI crude surging to record highs as Asian and European refiners scramble to secure replacement supplies amid disrupted Middle Eastern flows.

Saudi Arabia’s state oil company Aramco raised the official selling price of its Arab Light crude to Asia for May delivery, setting a record premium of $19.50 a barrel above the Oman/Dubai average.

Adding to supply concerns, Russia on Monday said Ukrainian drones attacked the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s terminal on the Black Sea, which handles 1.5% of global oil supply. Russia reported damage to loading infrastructure and storage tanks.

OPEC+ agreed on Sunday to lift oil output quotas by 206,000 barrels per day in May, though the increase will be largely notional as key members cannot boost production because strait closures are curbing exports. — Reuters

SHANGHAI/TAIPEI — Taiwan’s opposition leader arrived in China on Tuesday for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with President Xi Jinping, as Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te reiterated he was open for talks but the island had the right to chart its own course.

Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan’s largest opposition party, is travelling at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, which Beijing views as its own territory, and as the opposition-dominated parliament stalls a government plan for $40 billion in extra defense spending.

Speaking to reporters at her party’s headquarters in Taipei before going to the airport, Ms. Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace” but admitted some people felt uneasy about her trip.

“If you truly love Taiwan, you will seize even the slightest chance, every possible opportunity, to keep Taiwan from being ravaged by war,” she said.

“So I would rather believe that all Taiwanese people hope this trip will succeed, because we can transform the most dangerous place in the world into the safest place in the world.”

Ms. Cheng arrived at Shanghai’s downtown Hongqiao airport under tightened security and was met by Song Tao, head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.

Accompanied by Mr. Song, she then took a train to Nanjing, home to the mausoleum of party founder Sun Yat-sen who overthrew the last imperial government and founded the Republic of China in 1912.

The two “chatted cordially like friends” on the train, with Ms. Cheng saying her trip was “especially rare and precious”, the KMT said in a statement.

China, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, refuses to speak to President Lai, saying he is a “separatist”.

Speaking in Taipei on Tuesday at a memorial ceremony for late democracy advocate Nylon Cheng, Mr. Lai reiterated his desire for equal talks with China.

“Equality and dignity are extremely important: Taiwan is not a part of the People’s Republic of China and has the right to pursue a way of life that values democracy, freedom, and human rights,” he said.

CHINESE WARSHIPS
Late on Monday, Kuan Bi-ling, head of Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council, which runs the coast guard, posted a picture on her Facebook account of current Chinese warship deployments around the island – two off the east coast, and one each to the north, northwest and southwest.

“When you depart, you are doing so from within what they see as the ‘Taiwan cage’,” Ms. Kuan told reporters at parliament on Tuesday, referring to how China’s military has termed Taiwan’s planned T-Dome air defense system and talking about Ms. Cheng’s trip.

Speaking separately at parliament, Taiwan’s top official in charge of China policy, Mainland Affairs Council minister Chiu Chui-cheng, said Beijing should engage with Taiwan’s democratically elected and legitimate government.

“We call on Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun, when facing the Communist Party authorities in person, to demand that they immediately stop their compounded pressure against Taiwan, including military aircraft and naval harassment,” he added.

Ms. Cheng is going to China a month before US President Donald Trump’s scheduled summit with Mr. Xi in Beijing.

While Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi could strike goodwill agreements in Beijing on trade in agriculture and aircraft parts, they are also expected to discuss areas of deep tension such as Taiwan, where little progress is expected.

In a February call, Mr. Xi told Mr. Trump that the US “must carefully handle arms sales to Taiwan”.

This is the first trip by a KMT leader to China in a decade, though China has yet to confirm whether Mr. Xi will definitely meet Ms. Cheng, who will be in Beijing from Thursday.

The KMT-led republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists. — Reuters

HANOI — Vietnam’s lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously elected Communist Party Secretary General To Lam as the country’s state president for the next five years, making him the most powerful Vietnamese leader in decades.

The widely anticipated move marks a break from Vietnam’s traditional collective leadership system, consolidating authority in one figure in ways analysts say could tilt the one‑party state toward greater authoritarianism, while also enabling faster decision making, similar to its neighbor China.

The parliament said on its website that all 495 deputies present at Tuesday’s National Assembly session endorsed the Communist Party’s nomination, while five lawmakers were absent. Officials have said the nominations for top state leadership posts were finalized in a meeting in late March.

The former head of public security now has a double mandate to rule the country for the next five years, after he secured a second term as general secretary in January.

In another largely expected move later on Tuesday, the parliament also unanimously elected Le Minh Hung as the country’s new prime minister.

LAM PLEDGES NEW GROWTH MODEL
After the vote, Mr. Lam told deputies in a televised address that it was an honor to hold both posts and pledged “a new growth model with science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation as the primary driving forces”.

He said his top priorities were to maintain stability, promote rapid and sustainable national development and improve “all aspects of people’s lives”.

“Concentrating greater power in To Lam’s hands could pose risks to Vietnam’s political system, such as increased authoritarianism,” said Le Hong Hiep, senior fellow at the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

However, such consolidation “could enable Vietnam to formulate and implement policies more quickly and effectively,” supporting growth, he said.

The combination of the two roles “will shift Vietnam’s domestic politics to a new normal where most of the old assumptions about Vietnam’s politics, including those about collective leadership, are no longer valid,” said Alexander Vuving of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in the United States.

Mr. Lam held both posts for a period of a few months following the death in 2024 of the late party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

Even after relinquishing the state presidency in favor of army general Luong Cuong, Mr. Lam often acted as if he had retained the role, traveling extensively and representing the country in meetings with foreign leaders.

REFORMIST, BACKS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSFl
In his first stint as party chief, 68-year-old Mr. Lam launched sweeping economic reforms designed to make Vietnam more competitive, which drew both praise and criticism.

Mr. Lam wants to pursue double-digit growth through a new development model that is less reliant on low-cost manufacturing, long the backbone of Vietnam’s export-driven boom led by foreign multinationals.

His moves have at times unsettled the administration and businesses, but he has shown a pragmatic flexibility in executing them.

He has supported the expansion of private conglomerates, but before his reappointment, also issued a directive emphasizing the leading role of state-owned enterprises in a bid to reassure party traditionalists.

Foreign investors have often praised political stability and see Mr. Lam as a pro‑business leader. However, his backing of national champions and push for breakneck growth have raised concerns among some about favoritism, corruption risks, asset bubbles and waste.

In foreign policy, Mf. Lam has maintained Vietnam’s “Bamboo Diplomacy” and sought to balance relations with major powers while expanding international partnerships.

“Lam’s double-hat would not signal any changes in Vietnam’s foreign policy, even if there are concerns that Vietnam is concentrating more power in a single individual,” said Khang Vu, a visiting scholar at Boston College.

FORMER CENTRAL BANK HEAD BECOMES PM
Newly-elected prime minister Mr. Hung, 55, served as central bank governor from 2016 to 2020, becoming the youngest person to hold the post.

He replaces Pham Minh Chinh, 67, who presided over a fast-expanding economy during his five-year term, and was one of Vietnam’s most visible leaders, both at home and abroad, thanks to frequent overseas trips and participation in international summits.

Mr. Hung has kept a low profile in his roles at the party and the central bank.

Though not formally trained as an economist, Mr. Hung’s nomination is seen by some officials as an attempt to inject economic expertise into the top layers of the administration, which has been dominated by politicians with security backgrounds.

In his post-election address to lawmakers, Mr. Hung pledged to pursue sustainable growth and do his best to meet the party’s ambitious annual economic growth goal of at least 10% through to 2030.

He has no personal background in security, but his family is closely linked to the ministry Mr. Lam once led: Mr. Hung’s father was public security minister, and two brothers are generals of security forces. — Reuters

THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL is expected to vote on Tuesday on a resolution to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, but in significantly watered-down form after veto-wielding China opposed authorizing force, diplomats said.

Oil prices have surged since the US and Israel struck Iran at the end of February, unleashing a conflict that has run for more than five weeks and seen Tehran largely close the Strait, a vital energy artery.

Efforts by Bahrain, the current chair of the 15-member Council, to secure a resolution have involved multiple drafts seeking to overcome opposition from China, Russia and others. The latest iteration, seen by Reuters, drops any explicit authorization of the use of force.

Instead the text, “strongly encourages States interested in the use of commercial maritime routes in the Strait of Hormuz to coordinate efforts, defensive in nature, commensurate to the circumstances, to contribute to ensuring the safety and security of navigation across the Strait of Hormuz.”

It says such contributions could include “the escort of merchant and commercial vessels,” and the text also endorses efforts “to deter attempts to close, obstruct or otherwise interfere with international navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.”

Diplomats said the watered-down version had a better chance of passing, but it remained unclear if it would succeed. It requires at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes from the five permanent members, Britain, China, France, Russia, and the US.

Bahrain, which has been backed in its efforts by other Gulf Arab states and Washington, issued a draft last Thursday that would have authorized “all defensive means necessary” to protect commercial shipping, but votes on this were postponed on Friday and Saturday.

Bahrain had previously dropped an explicit reference to binding enforcement.

Last Thursday, China opposed a resolution authorizing force, saying this would be “legitimizing the unlawful and indiscriminate use of force, which would inevitably lead to further escalation of the situation and lead to serious consequences.”

Iran said on Monday it wanted a lasting end to the war, and pushed back against pressure to reopen the Strait, while US President Donald Trump warned the country could be “taken out” if it did not meet his Tuesday night deadline to reach a deal.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday after speaking to his Russian counterpart that China was willing to continue to cooperate with Russia at the Security Council and make efforts to calm the Middle East situation.

Mr. Wang said the fundamental way to resolve the Strait issue was to achieve a ceasefire as soon as possible. China is the world’s largest buyer of oil moving through the Strait. — Reuters

HOUSTON — The four astronauts of NASA’s Artemis II mission cruised on Monday to the deepest point in space reached by any human, following the tug of lunar gravitational force en route to a rare crewed flyby over the shadowed far side of the moon.

As the climactic six-hour flyby of Earth’s only natural satellite got underway, some two dozen lunar scientists packed a room adjacent to mission control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to record the astronauts’ first observations of the moon’s surface in real time.

The Artemis II crew, riding in their Orion capsule since launching from Florida last week, began their sixth day of spaceflight as they awoke at around 10:50 a.m. ET (1450 GMT) to a pre-recorded message from the late NASA astronaut Jim Lovell, who flew aboard the Cold War-era Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 moon missions.

“Welcome to my old neighborhood,” said Mr. Lovell, who died last year at age 97. “It’s a historic day, and I know how busy you’ll be, but don’t forget to enjoy the view… good luck and Godspeed.”

The four Artemis astronauts set a new spaceflight record on Monday as they exceeded the maximum 400,000-kilometer (248,000-mile) distance from Earth reached in 1970 by Apollo 13 after a nearly catastrophic spacecraft malfunction cut short that mission, forcing Mr. Lovell and his two crewmates to use the moon’s gravity to help return them safely to Earth.

Later on Monday, the Artemis crew of US astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen were due to reach their own farthest distance from Earth – 406,769 kilometers (252,755 miles), some 6625 kilometers (4,117 miles) beyond the record held by the Apollo 13 crew for nearly 56 years.

NAMING CRATERS
Along the way, the Artemis crew members spent some time assigning provisional new names to lunar features that previously lacked official designations.

In a radio message to mission control in Houston, Mr. Hansen suggested one crater be dubbed Integrity, after the name given to the crew’s Orion capsule, and that another crater sometimes visible from Earth on the cusp between the far and near sides of the moon be named in honor of Mr. Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020.

“A number of years ago we started this journey, our close-knit astronaut family, and we lost a loved one,” Mr. Hansen said of the mission commander’s late spouse, his voice choking with emotion as he described the position of her lunar namesake. “It’s a bright spot on the Moon, and we would like to call that Carroll.”

As the Orion sailed around the moon’s far side, the crew was expected witness its surface from as close as roughly 6437 kilometers (4,000 miles) above its darkened surface as it eclipsed what would appear to be a basketball-sized Earth in the distant background.

Because the moon rotates at the same speed as it revolves around the Earth, its far side always faces away from our planet, so that few human beings – only members of the Apollo crews who orbited the moon during their missions – have ever gazed directly on its surface.

The milestone marked a major high point of the nearly 10-day Artemis II mission, the first crewed test flight of NASA’s Artemis program, successor to NASA’s 1960s-1970s Apollo project, and the world’s first voyage to send humans in the vicinity of the moon in more than half a century.

RARE DETAILED PHOTOS
The planned multibillion-dollar series of Artemis missions aims to return astronauts to the moon’s surface by 2028, ahead of China, and establish a long-term US presence there over the next decade, building a moon base that would serve as a proving ground for potential future missions to Mars.

The last time astronauts walked on the moon – a feat so far achieved only by the United States – was the final Apollo mission in 1972.

Monday’s lunar flyby plunged the crew into darkness and a brief communications blackout as the moon blocked them from NASA’s Deep Space Network, a global array of massive radio communications antennas the agency has been using to talk to the crew.

For the flyby, the astronauts were equipped with professional cameras to take detailed photos of the moon through Orion’s window, showing a rare and scientifically valuable vantage point of sunlight filtering around its edges.

The crew will also have the chance to photograph a rare moment in which their home planet, dwarfed by their record-breaking distance in space, will set and rise with the lunar horizon as they swing around, presenting a celestial remix of the moonrise typically seen from Earth. — Reuters

HONG KONG/SINGAPORE — Airlines across Asia are cutting flights, carrying extra fuel from home airports and adding refueling stops as the Middle East conflict squeezes jet fuel supply in some countries, adding to pressure on an industry already hit by a sharp jump in fuel costs.

European carriers are bracing for similar disruption after Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz cut off nearly 21% of global seaborne jet fuel supply, according to Kpler.

Previous oil shocks mainly drove up prices, but this one is also constraining physical supply, forcing governments, airlines, and airports to consider rationing.

“In my conversation with airlines, they are very concerned about what the future looks like, because we do not know when the war will end and we don’t know when the supply chain, the feedstock, will come from the Gulf area,” said Shukor Yusof, founder of aviation consultancy Endau Analytics.

Asia, Europe, and Africa are most exposed, analysts say, because the US has ample domestic supplies.

Within Asia, the pain has so far been sharpest in lower-income, import-dependent markets such as Vietnam, Myanmar, and Pakistan after China and Thailand halted jet fuel exports and South Korea capped them at last year’s levels.

Budget airline AirAsia X is now loading extra fuel in Malaysia before flying to Vietnamese airports, CEO Bo Lingam told reporters on Monday.

“Not to say that they are not giving us fuel, but they limit the amount of fuel,” he said of Vietnam.

JET FUEL RATIONING
Past temporary jet fuel shortages at airports due to shipment disruptions or contamination have usually led to rationing rather than complete outages.

Airlines have typically responded by loading extra fuel at home airports, adding refueling stops on longer routes or carrying less cargo.

For a more prolonged crisis, another solution is cutting flights, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said last week when he expressed concerns the Middle Eastern conflict may not end this month.

“If there’s a risk to 10% or 20% of the fuel supply in June or July or August, then we and other airlines will have to start looking at canceling some flights or taking some capacity out,” he told reporters.

Asia, which has a thinner supply cushion than Europe and is more dependent on Hormuz flows, has been hit more quickly.

Vietnam Airlines has cut 23 domestic flights per week to conserve fuel, according to the country’s aviation authority.

Airlines based in Myanmar suspended domestic flights for part of March due to jet fuel shortages, its transport ministry said, and some of its carriers have also cut capacity in April, according to aviation data provider Cirium.

Air India is making refueling stops in Kolkata on its return from Yangon to Delhi due to fuel shortages at Yangon airport, according to a source familiar with the matter.

In the South Pacific, Tahiti International Airport has restricted refueling for international flights to quantities essential for flight operations due to the Middle Eastern crisis, a notice to pilots shows.

In Pakistan, pilots are being advised to carry maximum fuel from abroad.

That practice, known as “tankering”, is costly because carrying extra fuel increases fuel burn.

“Some countries are in better shape than others,” said Brendan Sobie, a Singapore-based independent aviation analyst. “Some may be limiting (fuel for) foreign airlines, which then leads to the tankering. This could be proactive as some countries fear they could run out.”

DEMAND DESTRUCTION
A more than doubling of jet fuel prices since the start of the Iran war has pushed some airlines to cut capacity, while others have hiked fares and imposed fuel surcharges.

In one of the starkest examples, Batik Air Malaysia has slashed domestic capacity by 36%, with CEO Chandran Rama Muthy describing the cuts as a necessary and proactive response to a “crisis-mode” environment.

“If we were to continue operating without making adjustments, it could further expose the company to operational and financial risk,” he said.

Gulf carriers such as Emirates and Qatar Airways have been operating well below normal capacity due to the conflict, while other global airlines have also cut flights as fare increases needed to cover fuel costs deter price-sensitive travelers.

Even with flight cuts, airline demand is not falling fast enough to match the drop in jet fuel supply, analysts said.

At least 400,000 barrels per day of jet fuel that normally is produced in the Asia-Pacific region via crude that transits the Strait of Hormuz have been affected since the crisis started, according to Reuters’ calculations.

“There is no easy way to replace the lost volumes, especially as Asian supply will start to tighten as refiners cut runs,” said Alex Yap, senior oil products analyst at Energy Aspects.

Industry sources estimate flight cancelations have lowered April demand in Asia specifically by only about 50,000 to 100,000 barrels per day, suggesting deeper cuts may be needed.

“We’re only just at the start of that cycle (of flight cuts) as demand from passengers seems to be resilient, but I think any oil-spike induced economic slowdown could hit demand in the second half of the year,” said Cirium’s Asia editor, Ellis Taylor. — Reuters