WASHINGTON — The U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports along the Strait of Hormuz entered its third day Thursday with American forces turning back at least 13 vessels, according to Pentagon officials, as diplomatic efforts to extend a fragile ceasefire showed signs of strain and Iran issued fresh threats to disrupt shipping across the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.
US Blockade Tightens Grip on Strait of Hormuz as Iran War Ceasefire Frays on Day 3
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon that the blockade, which began Monday, remains “fully implemented and effective,” with no Iranian-linked ships successfully exiting or entering targeted ports since enforcement ramped up. Central Command confirmed that U.S. Navy assets, including destroyers and support vessels from the USS George H.W. Bush carrier strike group, have intercepted and redirected multiple tankers attempting to depart Iranian waters.
The operation targets all maritime traffic to and from Iranian ports and coastal areas while allowing neutral transit through the international waters of the Strait of Hormuz itself. Ship-tracking data from firms such as Kpler and Vortexa showed sharply reduced activity, with marine traffic down more than 90 percent from pre-war averages of over 100 vessels daily. Some non-Iranian tankers continued limited passages, but Iran-linked vessels largely remained stalled or turned away.
The blockade forms a key pressure point in the ongoing Iran war that erupted Feb. 28 with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iranian leadership, missile sites and nuclear facilities. Iran retaliated by effectively shutting the strait to most commercial traffic, disrupting roughly 20 percent of global oil trade and contributing to spikes in energy prices. A two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan took effect April 8, pausing direct U.S.-Iran exchanges, but the truce faces expiration April 21 without a breakthrough on nuclear issues or reopening the waterway.
Pentagon briefings Thursday highlighted minesweeping operations to counter potential Iranian threats, with officials warning that Tehran retains the capability to deploy sea mines, fast-attack boats and missiles despite heavy losses to its navy and air defenses earlier in the conflict. Gen. Dan Caine, briefing reporters, said the U.S. has “maximal posture” in the region and stands ready to respond to any provocation.
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Iranian officials condemned the blockade as “economic terrorism” and threatened to halt all trade in the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Red Sea if it continues. State media claimed at least one supertanker and a bulk carrier carrying food supplies successfully transited the strait, though independent tracking data offered conflicting accounts. A Chinese oil tanker reportedly defied the measures in one instance, prompting Beijing to label the U.S. action “dangerous and irresponsible” while simultaneously urging Iran to reopen the strait.
The economic stakes remain enormous. The Strait of Hormuz serves as the conduit for about one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and significant volumes of liquefied natural gas. Disruptions have already driven oil prices above $100 per barrel at times, fueling inflation concerns and straining global supply chains. Former UK officials warned of a potential humanitarian crisis in Iran and neighboring countries if the waterway stays blocked for an extended period, citing risks to food and fuel imports.
President Donald Trump described the blockade as a “brilliant strategy” to force Iran toward a deal, claiming China is “very happy” with U.S. efforts to secure the strait and that Beijing has agreed not to supply weapons to Tehran. Trump signaled possible new talks in the coming days, stating the situation is “close to over” if Iran accepts terms on its nuclear program.
However, Defense Secretary Hegseth escalated rhetoric, warning that the U.S. is prepared to strike Iranian energy infrastructure if Tehran rejects a peace deal before the ceasefire deadline. He emphasized the blockade will continue “as long as it takes” to cut off Iran’s oil revenue.
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Pakistan continued mediation efforts, with its army chief meeting Iranian officials in Tehran on Thursday. Separate rare direct talks between Israeli and Lebanese leaders were expected, though Hezbollah’s exclusion raised doubts about broader de-escalation. Parallel Israeli operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon have continued despite the U.S.-Iran truce, adding complexity to regional dynamics.
Maritime security firms reported cautious navigation, with many vessels opting for longer routes or delaying transits due to risk. Some tankers loitered near the strait’s entrances, while others used alternative paths announced by Iran earlier in the conflict. Minesweeping by U.S. and allied forces has become a priority to mitigate hazards that could prolong disruptions even after any political resolution.
International reactions varied. China pushed back against the blockade while pressing Iran to restore normal traffic, reflecting Beijing’s heavy reliance on Gulf oil. European allies expressed concern over energy price volatility and called for de-escalation. The International Monetary Fund outlined adverse scenarios involving prolonged strait closure, warning of higher inflation, tighter financial conditions and potential macro instability extending into 2027.
Oil markets showed mixed movement Thursday, with Brent crude fluctuating as traders balanced blockade effectiveness against ceasefire hopes. Energy analysts noted that even partial normalization could take weeks due to insurance issues, crew concerns and physical hazards like mines.
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Inside Iran, the regime faces mounting internal pressure from economic isolation and military setbacks. The death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in early strikes led to a leadership transition, with the government projecting defiance while dealing with blackouts, internet disruptions and civilian casualties from the initial campaign.
For global shipping, the strait’s vulnerability underscores long-standing concerns about chokepoints in critical trade routes. Experts emphasized that no single actor fully controls the waterway, which spans territorial waters of Iran and Oman, complicating enforcement and legal questions under international maritime law.
As the ceasefire deadline approaches, the blockade serves as both leverage and risk. Success in forcing concessions could hasten an end to hostilities, but any miscalculation risks renewed direct confrontation, mine incidents or proxy attacks that further disrupt shipping from the Gulf to the Red Sea.
Pentagon officials stressed the operation’s impartial enforcement against all nations’ vessels tied to Iranian ports, aiming to maximize economic pressure without broader escalation. Additional U.S. assets, including a third carrier strike group and minesweepers, have bolstered regional presence.
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For now, the Strait of Hormuz remains a tense flashpoint where military posturing, diplomatic maneuvering and economic consequences intersect. Whether the blockade accelerates a deal or prolongs instability will likely shape oil markets, global inflation and regional security for months to come.
Analysts urged vigilance, noting that even limited incidents could spike insurance premiums and reroute trade with lasting effects on energy costs worldwide. With talks ongoing and the ceasefire window narrowing, Thursday’s developments offered cautious hope for resolution alongside persistent risks of renewed disruption.
Dixon Technologies on Tuesday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 256 crore in the March-ended quarter versus Rs 401 crore in the year-ago period, implying a 36% fall. The profit after tax (PAT) was attributable to the owners of the company. The company’s revenue from operations in Q4FY26 was up 2% to Rs 10,511 crore versus Rs 10,293 crore posted by the company in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.
Meanwhile, Dixon Technologies’ total income grew 3% year-on-year to Rs 10,595 crore versus Rs 10,304 crore in Q4FY25. It included other income of Rs 84 crore compared to Rs 11 crore in the year-ago period.
The company’s board recommended a final dividend of Rs 10 per equity share for the financial year 2025-26. The dividend, if approved by the company members at its 33rd Annual General Meeting (AGM), will be credited within 30 days from the AGM date, the company filing said.
The company’s Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) stood at Rs 493 crore in the quarter under review, up 9% YoY.
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Dixon Tech’s expenses in the reported quarter stood at Rs 10,231 crore versus Rs 10,399 crore in Q3FY26 and Rs 9,982 crore in the year-ago period. The expenses were for the cost of material consumed, employee benefits and finance cost, among other things.
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The profit before tax (PBT) was Rs 370 crore in Q4FY26 versus Rs 412 crore in Q3FY26 and Rs 576 crore in Q4FY25. For the full financial year, PAT stood at Rs 1,644 crore, gaining 33% YoY, while total income stood at Rs 49,586 crore, up 28%. EBITDA for FY26 increased 69% to Rs 2,580 crore over the previous financial year. The earnings were announced after market hours, and Dixon Tech shares ended today at Rs 10,120, down by Rs 652 or 6.05%.
(Disclaimer: The recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)
Britain’s bond market delivered its sharpest rebuke yet to Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership on Tuesday, with 30-year gilt yields climbing to their highest level this century as the prime minister stared down a growing chorus of Labour MPs demanding he step aside.
The sell-off, which dragged sterling and equities lower in lockstep, wiped out the relief rally that followed Starmer’s defiant intervention last week. Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, at which the prime minister once again refused to countenance resignation, did little to settle nerves. Investors are now openly pricing in the prospect of a leftward lurch in Labour policy, with the attendant risks of looser fiscal rules, higher gilt issuance and a further squeeze on the cost of capital for British business.
For the country’s 5.5 million small and medium-sized enterprises, the implications are far from academic. Higher long-dated gilt yields feed directly into the swap rates that underpin commercial lending, business mortgages and asset finance, raising the prospect of yet another leg up in the borrowing costs faced by Britain’s corporate backbone at a time when many are still nursing the legacy of post-pandemic debt.
The 30-year gilt yield rose 13 basis points to 5.81 per cent, the highest since May 1998. The benchmark 10-year yield gained 10 basis points to 5.1 per cent, within a whisker of breaching the post-2008 peak it set earlier this month. Bond prices move inversely to yields.
“A new Labour leader may face pressure to ease the fiscal rules and raise gilt issuance,” warned Jim Reid, analyst at Deutsche Bank, capturing the City’s central concern that any successor would lean towards higher spending and heavier taxation of the very businesses the Treasury is counting on to drive growth.
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Sterling’s slide alongside government bonds will draw uncomfortable parallels with the dark days of Liz Truss’s mini-budget. When a currency weakens in concert with rising borrowing costs, it is the trading pattern of an emerging market that has lost the confidence of foreign capital, not that of a G7 economy. The pound fell 0.64 per cent against the dollar to a two-week low of $1.352, and shed 0.21 per cent against the euro to €1.152, its weakest since mid-April.
Some of the pressure is undeniably imported. Bunds, OATs and BTPs all sold off as President Trump declared the Iran ceasefire was “on life support”, sending Brent crude up 2.8 per cent to $107.17 a barrel and reigniting inflation fears across advanced economies. The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas once flowed, remains largely shut. Germany’s Dax bore the brunt of the European sell-off, falling more than 1 per cent. But gilts underperformed by a substantial margin, marking out Westminster’s political turmoil as a uniquely British risk premium.
Mohit Kumar, chief European economist at Jefferies, urged clients to short sterling, arguing any change in the composition of government “would likely be left-leaning”. Anthony Willis, senior economist at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, cautioned that the bond market was unlikely to settle “until greater clarity emerges”.
Equities followed suit. The FTSE 100 surrendered 0.3 per cent having opened the week with a 0.4 per cent gain, while the more domestically focused FTSE 250 dropped 211 points, or 0.9 per cent, extending its losing streak to a second day. Mid-cap stocks, dominated by UK-facing businesses, are the clearest read on how the City judges Britain’s economic prospects.
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The grim verdict from Andrew Goodwin, chief UK economist at Oxford Economics, is that there is little prospect of meaningful relief. He expects 10-year borrowing costs to remain stuck above 5 per cent for the remainder of the year, regardless of who occupies Number 10. “Markets clearly perceive the UK has a bigger inflation problem and that tighter monetary policy will be needed to limit second-round effects from the energy shock, while political uncertainty has added to pressures at the long end,” he said.
Even were Starmer to dig in, Goodwin argued, the bond market would have little to celebrate, with the prime minister’s “attempts to regain popularity, or, more likely, from a successor implementing more costly left-wing economic policies” weighing on sentiment. “If Starmer sets out a timetable to stand down, the uncertainty premium will persist.”
For owner-managers already navigating a punishing cost base, a softening consumer and the fallout from this spring’s National Insurance changes, the message from the bond vigilantes is unambiguous: brace for borrowing to stay dear, and for political risk to remain firmly on the balance sheet.
Jamie Young
Jamie is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, bringing over a decade of experience in UK SME business reporting.
Jamie holds a degree in Business Administration and regularly participates in industry conferences and workshops.
When not reporting on the latest business developments, Jamie is passionate about mentoring up-and-coming journalists and entrepreneurs to inspire the next generation of business leaders.
Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar details the company’s Amazon partnership, benefits of Ozempic beyond weight loss and more on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
Amazon is rolling out 30-minute delivery across dozens of U.S. cities, marking its fastest shipping option yet as the retail giant continues to accelerate its push into ultra-fast fulfillment.
The new service, called Amazon Now, will deliver thousands of items — including groceries, household essentials and electronics — to customers’ doors in about 30 minutes.
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The offering is now available in Seattle, Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth and Atlanta, and is expanding to additional markets such as Austin, Denver, Houston, Minneapolis, Orlando, Oklahoma City and Phoenix.
“Amazon Now is for when you need or want the convenience of getting your Amazon order delivered in 30 minutes or less,” Udit Madan, senior vice president of Amazon Worldwide Operations, said in a statement. “With thousands of items available for ultra-fast delivery, you can get everything from groceries for dinner, to AirPods before a flight, to household essentials like laundry detergent or toothpaste delivered right to your door.
A worker near packages in an Amazon delivery vehicle in San Francisco on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“Amazon Now complements Amazon’s existing fast-delivery offerings, including 1-hour and 3-hour delivery on more than 90,000 products and Same-Day Delivery on millions of items,” Madan added.
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Amazon said the new service relies on a network of smaller fulfillment sites located closer to customers, allowing for faster delivery times and shorter travel distances for drivers.
Prime members will pay $3.99 per order for the service, while non-members will pay $13.99. Additional fees will apply for smaller orders, including $1.99 for Prime members and $3.99 for non-Prime members for orders under $15.
Amazon’s new MK30 Prime Air drone is displayed during Amazon’s “Delivering the Future” event at the company’s BFI1 Fulfillment Center, Robotics Research and Development Hub in Sumner, Washington on October 18, 2023. (Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“Amazon Now uses a network of smaller locations designed for efficient order fulfillment, strategically placed close to where customers live and work,” Amazon said. “This approach prioritizes the safety of employees picking and packing orders, reduces the distance delivery partners need to travel, and enables faster delivery times for customers.”
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Amazon plans to expand the service to tens of millions of customers by the end of 2026.
Amazon is investing $4 billion to expand Prime delivery services to rural America. (Amazon / Fox News)
The rollout comes as Amazon continues to invest heavily in speeding up deliveries, reporting that U.S. Prime members received more than 8 billion items the same or next day in 2025 — a more than 30% increase from the previous year.
The new offering adds to Amazon’s broader delivery network, which includes Prime Air drone delivery, offering sub-60-minute service in select U.S. locations, as well as one-hour, three-hour and same-day delivery options across thousands of cities and towns.
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Amazon said 2025 marked its third consecutive year of record-fast delivery speeds, with more than 13 billion items arriving the same or next day globally. In the U.S., Prime members received over 8 billion of those shipments — up more than 30% year over year — with groceries and everyday essentials making up about half.
The company said Prime members have access to free shipping on more than 300 million items, and saved an average of $550 on fast delivery last year — nearly four times the cost of a membership.
Mr Moulton and GM&C Life Sciences Fund join £4.3m funding round
Infex Therapeutics has secured £4.3m in funding(Image: Infex Therapeutics)
Venture capitalist Jon Moulton has backed a biotech firm that’s looking to tackle the “critical global threat” of infections that are resistant to antibiotics.
Infex Therapeutics, of Alderley Edge, has secured £4.3m in a funding round led by Mr Moulton alongside the GM&C Life Sciences Fund, managed by Catapult Ventures, and existing high net worth investors.
The company will use the funding to develop its pipeline of new anti-infectives targeting antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and other “critical-priority infectious diseases”.
Dr Peter Jackson, CEO of Infex Therapeutics, said: “We are delighted to secure this investment led by Jon Moulton, with support from the Greater Manchester and Cheshire Lifescience Investment Fund and our existing investors.
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“This funding represents strong validation of our progress in developing novel anti-infectives to address the critical global threat of antimicrobial resistance.”
Jon Moulton, founder of Better Capital and now chair of Infex Therapeutics, said: “We have supported Infex from the beginning and continue to be impressed by the company’s scientific progress and strategic execution.”
He highlighted Infex’s lead programme RESP-X, which is being trialled as a therapy for non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (NCFB) patients.
And he said: ”This additional investment reflects our strong conviction in both the team and its innovative approach to tackling antimicrobial resistance.
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Nick Wright, CEO of Catapult Ventures which manages the GM&C Life Sciences Fund, said: “Infex Therapeutics has made excellent scientific progress since we first invested several years ago. The company has clearly established itself as a world leader in the AMR and related space and the data it is generating is very compelling.”
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