CENTCOM disabled two Iranian tankers as Iran's IRGC seized the Barbados-flagged Ocean Koi and activated a Strait Authority charging tolls to transit Hormuz; the US blockade now holds 70 tankers carrying $13 billion of oil. Brent oscillated near $100 as Goldman Sachs warned of an eight-year low in OECD reserves; the DOJ opened a probe into $2.6 billion of pre-announcement short-oil bets. Rubio said Washington still expects Iran's reply on a 14-point ceasefire; Lavrov called Merz's Bundeswehr plan 'astonishing'; Ukraine logged 17,400 civilian deaths; Istanbul detained 29 in the Imamoğlu case.

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US disables two Iranian tankers in Gulf of Oman as Iran seizes Barbados-flagged ship and activates Hormuz toll authority

US Central Command said it disabled the M/T Sea Star III and M/T Sevda on May 8 by firing precision munitions into their smokestacks as the unladen Iranian-flagged tankers approached an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman, the third such interdiction this week and part of a blockade Adm. Bradley Cooper said now covers 70 tankers carrying 166 million barrels of oil worth $13 billion. Hours earlier the IRGC seized the Barbados-flagged Ocean Koi, a vessel US Treasury sanctioned in February as part of Iran's shadow fleet, and Tehran activated a new Persian Gulf Strait Authority requiring ships to obtain clearance and pay tolls before transiting Hormuz. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in Rome with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, said Washington still expects a response today to the 14-point US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire framework.

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Ukraine prosecutor logs 17,400 civilian deaths and 320,000 damaged infrastructure objects since the full-scale invasion

Yurii Rud of Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office told the 'United for Justice' accountability conference that Russian strikes have killed more than 17,400 civilians and injured over 43,000 since February 24, 2022, with the dead including more than 700 children and 2,400 injured children. He said Russian forces have destroyed or damaged more than 320,000 civilian infrastructure objects, among them 86,000 residential buildings, over 5,000 educational and childcare institutions, more than 1,400 medical facilities, 900 cultural sites and 330 religious buildings. The civilian toll updates come on top of 596 separate Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure recorded over the same period.

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Istanbul prosecutors detain 29 in raid on municipal landscaping firm tied to wider Imamoglu corruption case

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office said it issued 30 detention warrants and police arrested 29 suspects on May 8 in raids on Tree and Landscape Inc., a metropolitan-municipality landscaping company, on allegations they ran a 'fictional tender system' steering procurement contracts to selected firms in exchange for bribes equal to 10% of contract values. Among those detained were the IBB deputy secretary-general and the head of the municipality's Parks and Gardens Department; one further suspect is abroad. Prosecutors describe the operation as part of a wider case against a 'criminal organisation' led by ousted opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, named in a 3,809-page indictment completed on November 11, 2025, that seeks 828 years and two months to 2,352 years in prison across 142 charges; CHP says the prosecutions are politically motivated and aimed at blocking his presidential bid against Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

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Oil markets swing on Trump peace deal signals as global crude stocks near eight-year low

Brent crude oscillated around $100 a barrel this week, up roughly 50% since mid-February, as markets reacted to conflicting signals from U.S. President Donald Trump on a Middle East peace deal and renewed hostilities. Goldman Sachs warned that government and corporate oil reserves are approaching their lowest level in eight years, with the Strait of Hormuz still blocked. U.S. gasoline stocks are expected to hit an all-time low this summer, a critical period for fuel demand.

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