THE INTERNATIONAL Energy Agency (IEA) has proposed the largest release of oil reserves in its history to restrain soaring crude prices amid the US-Israel war with Iran, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said on Tuesday, citing officials familiar with the matter.

The release would exceed the 182 million barrels of oil that IEA member nations put on the market in two releases in 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the newspaper said.

The IEA called for an extraordinary meeting of members on Tuesday, with nations expected to decide on the proposal the following day, the paper added.

The plan would be adopted if there were no objections, it said, but protests by even one country could delay the effort.

On Tuesday, Group of Seven (G7) energy ministers stopped short of agreeing on a release of strategic oil reserves, asking the IEA to assess the situation instead.

“Although no country currently faces a physical shortage of crude, prices are rising sharply, and leaving the situation unattended is not an option,” a G7 source told Reuters.

“G7 countries are generally supportive of an IEA coordinated oil stock release,” the source added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

However, the actual release cannot start immediately because decisions on aspects such as total volume, country allocations, and timing require further discussion, the source said.

“The IEA secretariat is expected to propose scenarios, based on expected market impact, and outreach may extend to non-IEA members like China and India.”

The IEA and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

IEA member South Korea is participating in the discussion “and reviewing its position,” a spokesperson for the country’s industry ministry said on Wednesday.

US crude CLc1 and Brent crude futures LCOc1 dropped after the Wall Street Journal report.

Benchmark oil prices had lost ground earlier on Tuesday, following the previous day’s surge to almost four-year highs, after US President Donald J. Trump predicted the war in the Middle East could end soon. — Reuters

SEOUL — South Korea’s transport ministry cut construction costs and approved improper airport safety structures for more than two decades, the state auditor said in a report on aviation safety management after a Jeju Air crash that killed 179 people.

The December 2024 crash involved a Boeing 737-800 which was struck by birds, belly-landed and overran the runway at Muan International Airport, killing almost everyone on board after it struck a concrete support for a localizer antenna. The only survivors were two flight attendants at the rear of the plane.

The Board of Audit and Inspection said in a report published on Tuesday that the ministry built a 2.4 meter (7.9 ft) high concrete embankment upon which to place the localizer – a landing guidance system – at Muan airport in order to reduce earthwork costs, without adequately reviewing relevant rules.

Under international standards, localizer structures should be designed to break apart easily upon aircraft impact.

The ministry is responsible for airport construction. It hands operations to Korea Airports Corp (KAC) but remains responsible for safety certification.

The auditor said the ministry wrongly approved 14 non-compliant localizer installations at eight airports including Muan, Gimhae and Jeju. It also said that, for up to 22 years, the ministry certified operating permits and approved regular inspections that erroneously found frangibility standards had been met.

It identified broader shortcoming in bird-strike prevention and other aspects of air safety management, and notified the ministry of 30 cases of wrongdoing or procedural failure.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it “humbly accepted” the findings and would take strict follow-up measures, including localizer improvement and stronger bird-strike prevention.

A KAC spokesperson said the airport operator is in the process of reflecting improvements recommended by the report.

Jeju Air did not answer phone calls seeking comment.

A separate government-commissioned report found the crash might not have been deadly if there had not been a concrete embankment at the end of the runway, an opposition lawmaker said in January, citing a simulation contained in the report.

A full investigative report is pending public disclosure. It has missed a one-year deadline for the release of a progress report.

The Muan airport has been closed since the crash. It is unclear when it will reopen. — Reuters

WASHINGTON — A drone struck a major US diplomatic facility in Iraq on Tuesday amid the US-Israeli air war on Iran, but there were no injuries and everyone was accounted for, according to a US official and an internal State Department alert seen by Reuters. 

The drone hit the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center, next to the Baghdad airport, impacting near a guard tower, the internal alert from the Department seen by Reuters said. Individuals at the facility were ordered to “duck and cover”, it said. A separate alert said everyone was accounted for.  

The White House and the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.  

The Washington Post first reported the incident and said a total of six drones were launched toward the compound in Baghdad and that five were shot down. It also said the attack was likely carried out by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions.  

Iraq condemned the attacks near the Iraqi bases but did not mention the damaged US facility, according to the Washington Post.

“The (Iraqi) Ministry of Defense stresses that it will not stand by as a spectator. Rather, it will firmly confront and pursue … all parties involved,” the ministry said in a statement cited by the newspaper. 

The US and Israel began attacks on Iran on February 28. Iran has responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf countries with US bases.  

Raising the stakes for the global economy, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it would block oil shipments from the Gulf unless US and Israeli attacks cease. 

The United States and Israel pounded Iran on Tuesday with what the Pentagon and Iranians on the ground called the most intense airstrikes of the war, despite global markets betting that President Donald Trump will seek to end the conflict soon. 

The Revolutionary Guards said it fired missiles on Tuesday evening ‌at Qatar’s US-operated Al Udeid base and the Al Harir base in Iraq’s Kurdistan. Those launches were followed by drone attacks targeting a gathering of US troops at Al Dhafra air base in the United Arab Emirates and Juffair naval base in Bahrain.  

US President Donald Trump has said the strikes were aimed to eliminate what he called imminent threats from Iran, citing its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and its support for militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.  

Iran, which denies seeking a nuclear weapon, has called the attacks an unlawful violation of its sovereignty. Iran does not have nuclear weapons. Israel is believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons, while Washington is also nuclear-armed.  

Israel says 11 civilians have been killed in Iranian attacks. Iran’s UN ambassador said on Tuesday the US-Israeli strikes had killed more than 1,300 civilians. — Reuters

TORONTO — Canadian police boosted security around US and Israeli diplomatic buildings on Tuesday after shots were fired at the US consulate in Toronto, in what Prime Minister Mark Carney called a “reprehensible act.”

Police say they were called to the consulate around 5:30 a.m. (0930 GMT), where they found spent shell casings and damage to the building. No one was injured.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Chief Superintendent Chris Leather said security would be tightened at the US and Israeli consulates in Toronto, Canada’s most populous city, and at those countries’ embassies in the capital Ottawa.

“These consulates deserve a heightened amount of vigilance and security at this time in the hopes that we can bring the temperature down,” he told a press conference, saying the shooting would be probed as a national security incident.

Toronto Police Deputy Chief Frank Barredo said witness evidence indicates that two men exited a white SUV outside the consulate around 4:30 a.m., fired shots from a handgun at the front of the building and drove away.

“(This was) a reprehensible act of violence and attempt at intimidation,” Mr. Carney said in a post on X, saying police would do all they could “to ensure the perpetrators of these violent acts are identified and brought to the full weight of justice.”

SYNAGOGUE SHOOTINGS
The consulate shooting follows three separate incidents last week in which gunshots were fired at synagogues in the Toronto area. No one was injured in those shootings.

Mr. Barredo said it was too early to draw a connection between the consulate shooting and those at the synagogues.

The US State Department said in a statement that it was aware of the incident and was closely monitoring the situation in coordination with local law enforcement.

Separately, on Sunday, an improvised device exploded in Norway at the US embassy in Oslo and police were still searching for a suspect. A possible link to the Iran war was among the lines of inquiry.

In New York City, two men have been charged with terrorism after throwing a homemade bomb at anti-Islam protesters over the weekend. — Reuters