Oil Prices Edge Higher Amid Iran Deadlock
Shafaq News Oil rose on Friday as efforts to resolve the Iran war remained at an impasse, with Tehran still blocking the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. Navy blocking exports of Iranian crude.
Brent crude futures for July were up $1.04, or 0.94%, to $111.44 per barrel by 0421 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate futures had risen 41 cents, or 0.39%, to $105.48 per barrel.
Both benchmarks have posted gains across four straight months, with Brent’s June contract, which expired on Thursday, hitting $126.41 a barrel, the highest since March 2022.
Oil prices have been on the rise since the end of February when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, resulting in the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the disruption of shipments of around one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supply. Brent gained 50% in March alone.
A ceasefire has been in place since April 8, but on Thursday evening, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said it was not reasonable to expect quick results from U.S. talks, according to the official IRNA news agency.
“Expecting to reach a result in a short time, regardless of who the mediator is, in my opinion, is not very realistic,” he was quoted as saying.
Earlier in the day, a senior official of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had threatened “long and painful strikes” on U.S. positions if Washington renewed attacks on Iran, pushing oil prices to intraday peaks before retreating.
U.S. President Donald Trump was scheduled to receive a briefing on Thursday on plans for a series of fresh military strikes on Iran to compel it to negotiate an end to the conflict, a U.S. official told Reuters. (REUTERS)
Iraq Launches First Crude Oil Exports Via Rabia Border Crossing To Syria
2026-05-01 Shafaq News- Baghdad Iraq launched its first crude oil export operation through the Rabia border crossing with Syria, Iraq’s Border Ports Commission announced on Friday, dispatching an initial shipment of 70 tanker trucks to regional markets.
In a statement, the Commission head Omar Adnan Al-Waeli said there is a potential for increased volumes of dispatchments in the future, adding that the step marks Rabia as a strategic route for crude oil exports, helping ease pressure on other outlets, diversify marketing channels, and support national revenues.
“Efforts are underway to expand the crossing’s capacity and upgrade infrastructure and logistics services to meet expected demand in the coming period,” he noted, explaining that exporting oil via land routes “provides an alternative channel that reduces risks associated with traditional export pathways.”
The Rabia–Al-Yarubiyah crossing between Iraq and Syria reopened to trade and passenger traffic on April 22 after 13 years of closure driven by security challenges during the fight against ISIS, as well as shifting control and coordination issues along the frontier. Iraqi and Syrian authorities have gradually rehabilitated several crossings, including Al-Waleed and Al-Yarubiyah, to restore trade routes and facilitate the movement of goods and passengers.
Gold Prices Head For Weekly Decline Following Rising Inflation Fears
Shafaq News Gold prices fell in thin trading on Friday, and were set for a weekly decline, pressured by higher oil prices that have stoked inflation fears and lifted expectations that interest rates will stay higher for longer — a headwind for non-yielding assets.
Spot gold was down 0.6% to $4,592.99 per ounce at 0655 GMT, and was on track for a weekly loss of about 2.4%, after dropping to a one-month low on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures for June delivery dipped 0.5% to $4,604.50.
Trading volumes were light as financial markets in top gold consumers China and Indiawere closed for public holidays.
“What we’re seeing now is essentially the dominant war trade narrative, once again reasserting itself after a day’s correction,” said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive, noting that gold is back down, and oil back up.
Geopolitical tensions remained in focus after Iran said on Thursday it would respond with “long and painful strikes” on U.S. positions if Washington renewed attacks, reiterating its claim to the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude prices held above $110 a barrel as efforts to resolve the conflict stalled.
U.S. inflation accelerated in March as the war raised gasoline prices, reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve could keep interest rates on hold well into next year.
Global brokerages have also gradually pared back earlier expectations of two U.S.rate cuts in 2026, with forecasts now split between modest easing and no cuts, amid persistent inflation risks and cautious policymakers.
The European Central Bank and the Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday, following similar decisions earlier in the week by the Fed and the Bank of Japan, though all signalled inflation concerns.
While gold is traditionally seen as a hedge against inflation, elevated interest rates aimed at curbing price pressures tend to weigh on demand for the non-yielding metal.
In other metals, spot silver rose 0.5% to $73.37 per ounce, platinum eased 0.7% to $1,972.32 and palladium inched down 0.1% to $1,523.(REUTERS)
The Yen Pared Its Gains Against The Dollar After Japanese Authorities Intervened In The Markets.
Money and Business Economy News – Follow-up The yen edged down slightly against the dollar on Friday but was still on track for its biggest weekly gain in more than two months after Japanese authorities intervened to lift the currency from its lowest levels in nearly two years.
Investors remained cautious, anticipating further intervention from the Japanese Ministry of Finance, as trading volumes in the markets declined due to the May 1st holiday and Tokyo’s three-day weekend holiday next week.
Ken Crompton, head of interest rate strategy at National Australia Bank, said of the Japanese intervention efforts: “The difficulty is that they are fighting
He added: “The weakness of the yen likely has some cause, and it is difficult at the moment to predict how successful the Ministry of Finance will be in consistently countering the trend.”
Best weekly performance in two months
The yen fell 0.25% to 156.99 against the dollar, but Thursday’s rally puts the Japanese currency on track for a 1.8% gain this week, its biggest since mid-February.
The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of currencies, showed little change at 98.14. The euro fell 0.03% to $1.1727.
Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that officials intervened to buy yen after it hit its lowest level against the dollar since July 2024. The sudden move in the dollar-yen exchange rate occurred during London trading hours and followed earlier comments by Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama that it was time to take “decisive” action.
In the oil market, prices remained high following Tehran’s threat to launch “painful strikes for a long time” on US sites if Washington renews its attacks on Iran, while US President Donald Trump faces a deadline to end the conflict.
The currencies of Japan and other energy-importing countries have been falling since late February when the United States and Israel launched an air attack on Iran, leading to the closure of the vital oil shipping lane, the Strait of Hormuz.
The dollar index fell 1.76% in April after rising in March, confirming that the US economy is relatively less exposed to the consequences of higher oil prices compared to the Eurozone and Japan.
The European Central Bank and the Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday, as expected, following similar interest rate decisions by the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) and the Bank of Japan earlier in the week.
Regarding cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin fell 0.17% to $76,330.16, and Ether dropped 0.27% to $2,257.53.
International Labor Day In Iraq: A Holiday In Search Of Its Workers
2026-05-01 Shafaq News As much of the world marks May 1 as a tribute to the labor movement, Iraq’s roughly 15 million workers face a holiday largely emptied of its meaning. International Labor Organization data shows that 66.6% of total employment in the country is informal –workers operating without contracts, without legal guarantees, and largely outside the reach of the state.
The conditions that produce that figure are visible across construction sites, car washes, and shop floors, where complaints of meager wages, punishing hours, and the near-total absence of legal protection have turned the holiday into something closer to a reminder of what Iraqi labor does not have.
Name Without Content
In Baghdad’s industrial zone, Ali Mohammed begins each shift at a car wash at 08:00 a.m. and finishes at 06:00 p.m. —sometimes not before 7 or 8 in the evening. For that day’s work, he told Shafaq News, he earns 10,000 Iraqi dinars, or just over six dollars, and the shop owner provides no work allowances and no meals beyond a single lunch, usually a falafel wrap. In winter, when business slows, the daily rate drops to 5,000 dinars. He has tried to find better-paying work with shorter hours, but unemployment has closed those doors.
Ali Saadoun, a bricklayer, dismissed International Labor Day as “just a name without content.” What mattered to him was finishing his work and collecting his daily pay, while the talk of workers’ rights from government and trade unions is “a laughable lie repeated at every occasion.” Workers cling to whatever job they can find, however poor the wage and hard the conditions, because the alternative is hunger for their families, and when employers withhold pay, the worker has no real recourse —neither the law nor the unions deliver justice.
Working women face the system at its sharpest. Lama Abdulkarim worked 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. in a shop without a contract, social security, or any documented rights, and once her employer learned she was pregnant, he dismissed her. With no path to redress, she recalled, all she could do was “congratulate the woman hired to replace me, say goodbye to my colleagues, and walk out quietly.”
Lama’s experience reflects a labor market in which women are barely present to begin with. ILO figures put female labor force participation in Iraq at roughly 11.76% against 74% for men, leaving the bulk of Iraqi women excluded from the formal economy entirely.
Rules on Paper
Iraq’s own union leadership does not dispute the picture. Speaking to Shafaq News, Ali Al-Jabri, administrative director of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions, acknowledged that workers’ conditions remain structurally precarious, particularly in the private sector and the informal economy. He cited youth unemployment, the prevalence of work without formal contracts or legal guarantees, sharp pay gaps between the public and private sectors, unsafe workplaces, and chronic delays in disbursing wages.
Al-Jabri’s proposed remedies center on enforcement: applying the minimum wage in line with actual living costs, establishing strict oversight to curb exploitation, protecting workers from arbitrary dismissal, guaranteeing safe workplaces, defending the freedom to organize without pressure, and obliging employers to issue formal contracts. “Achieving social justice begins with delivering justice to workers themselves.”
“The situation is very complex,” according to Walid Naama, head of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions, who explained that most private-sector workers operate without contracts or safeguards. The majority earn less than 300,000 dinars (around $230) a month —a figure that falls below Iraq’s statutory minimum wage of 350,000 IQD, set under Labor Law No. 37 of 2015 and left unchanged since.
Read more: Iraq’s workers rise: New union challenges old guard
Baghdad saw these problems, and more, carried into the streets on Friday, when a large march moved from Firdos Square toward Nasr Square. Marchers raised banners calling for the activation of the civil service law, the adoption of a fair salary scale, and the establishment of a social and health insurance system that would protect workers’ dignity.
The demands are not new, and neither are the conditions that produced them. For Iraq’s labor force, May Day this year arrived less as a celebration than as a measure of how far the rhetoric of workers’ rights still sits from the conditions in which most of them work.
Written and edited by Shafaq News staff.
