Reuters World News - Oil prices, Gaza, Iranian soccer team and Anthropic

Episode Date: March 10, 2026

U.S. President Donald Trump says the Middle East war could be "over soon," but that he'll hit Iran harder if it blocks oil. The Gaza peace process stalls as focus shifts to Iran. Australia gives five Iranian women soccer players humanitarian visas. Plus, Anthropic sues the Pentagon.    Listen to the Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Kim Vinal in Wanganui, New Zealand. It's Tuesday, March 10th. Today, Trump says the Iran war may be over soon, but also threatens to double down. Gaza peace talks get derailed, and Iran pledges to keep locating oil, betting on its tactic of maximum global chaos. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. We're going to have a much safer world as soon as it's finished and it's going to be finished pretty quickly. US President Donald Trump telling a gathering of Republicans that the war in the Middle East

could be over soon. His comments brought some relief to markets, despite him also saying he'll escalate the war if Iran doesn't let tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. And his prediction the war will end soon also appears to fly in the face of, of developments in Iran. Large crowds across Iran have rallied to show support for the newly appointed and hardline supreme leader Mosheba Khamini. And foreign minister Abbas Arachi has told PBS the country will not negotiate with

the Americans. Iran is wagering it can outlast the United States and Israel, not militarily, but by grinding the war into a brutal contest of endurance. Its hope is that by unleashing drones and missiles and cutting vital energy routes and jolting global markets, it can force Washington to blink first. President Trump is trying to fight back on that front too, announcing plans to try and bring oil prices under control

by easing some sanctions on oil imports. We're also waiving certain oil-related sanctions to reduce prices. So we have sanctions on some countries, We're going to take those sanctions off until this straightens out. While he didn't specifically name which country he's talking about, it's likely Russian oil, sanctioned by the U.S. to try and stop Moscow funding its war in Ukraine. White House reporter Jarrett Renshaw has more on the other options the President has to get fuel prices, which hit multi-year highs in check.

Anything that the White House is considering now is going to move the needle on the margins. What the White House needs to figure out is how to get ships moving through the straitiformers. Until they do that, we're still going to see this market panic. There's always like a take off the shelf options for presidents during energy crises, Jones Act waivers, which is to help the movement of oil and gasoline within the domestic waters of the United States, some fuel waivers, some environmental regulations that make fuel cheaper federal tax holidays. So we're seeing some of those things come up. Jared says that while Trump has advisers pushing for a variety of moves when it comes to Iran and oil prices,

Trump's rhetoric shows he's resistant to change course on Iran just because of prices at the pump. Trump himself has taken to truth social and downplayed the price spike, saying something along the lines that it's a small price to pay and calling people fools you think otherwise. You know, as is usual covering the Trump White House, Trump himself has given conflicting signals. There's times where we think we're going to see a quick off-ramp in times where he wants to prolong this four weeks. He's clearly getting advice about the concerns of oil prices and what's this doing to him domestically, politically.

But only Trump is going to make that decision. Oil prices have been falling today after surging past $100 a barrel earlier in the week on those predictions by President Trump that the war could end soon. For more on the market's fallout from the Iran a crisis, tune in to our sister podcast Morning Bid, available wherever you get your podcasts. The conflict has also had consequences for Gaza. Sources tell Reuters that talks to advance President

Trump's plan to fully end the Gaza war have been frozen since late February when the US and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran. The pause threatens Trump's flagship peace initiative, which had appeared to gain momentum, including billions of pledged. by Gulf Arab states that are now themselves facing Iranian rocket fire. Rami Ayub is in Jerusalem. Three weeks ago, there was quite a bit of momentum behind his Gaza plan. We had the opening of Gaza's main border crossing with Egypt. We had a surge in humanitarian aid.

We had partner countries pledged to send peacekeeping forces to Gaza as part of Trump's plan. And now we're just in a very different spot where with the, Iran war raging, all the attention has been focused on that. Rami says in order for the next stage to begin in Gaza, one issue remains front and center. The main crux at the moment is whether Hamas will lay down its weapons. Before donor countries put their money where their mouth is, right, follow up on the pledges that they made in Washington before reconstruction starts, before a lot of these big initiatives in Gaza start that aim at rehabilitating the enclave after two years of war. Hamas was meant to at least

agree to initial terms to lay its arms down. And so what's happened is the mediating countries, in essence, the U.S., Qatar, in Egypt, have paused efforts to hold talks with Hamas. And this is for a number of reasons, according to our sources. One is that attention has been diverted to Iran. The other is that with flights being disrupted in the region by the war, flights were disrupted at Dubai, out of Tel Aviv, a number of other capitals, it's been difficult or impossible for mediators to channel between the parties since those talks are indirect. Three wealthy brothers, including two of New York's top luxury real estate brokers,

have been convicted of sex trafficking. A federal jury found Oren, Tarl and, Alon Alexander, guilty after a month's long trial of allegations they lured women and girls to exclusive parties where they drugged and raped them. They had each pleaded not guilty, and defence lawyers argued the encounters were consensual. AI startup and Propik has sued the Pentagon to block its designation as a national security risk. The move escalates a high-stakes battle over whether AI companies can restrict military use of technology. The Defense Department blacklisted Anthropic last week, after the startup refused

to remove guardrails preventing its AI from being used for autonomous weapons or domestic surveillance. Technology, a source says, was being deployed in military operations in Iran. In its lawsuit filed Monday, Anthropic argues the designation violates its free speech and due process rights and amounts to punishment for protected speech. Hymns and Herds. Hems and Herds, health may soon be back in business selling popular weight loss drugs like Wigovi, the telehealth company was facing a lawsuit from Novo Nordisk for selling cheaper compounded versions of GLP1 weight loss drugs. But under an agreement between the two companies, HEMS will offer FDA-approved products at Novo's self-pay prices, now slashed to as little as $149 a month.

And it will also stop advertising unapproved copycat drugs. legislators have recently warned dozens of telehealth companies over misleading promotions. And finally, yesterday we told you about the pressure on Australia to allow the Iranian women's soccer team to stay in the country after their appearance at the Asian Cup there. Well, Australia has granted humanitarian visas to five of the players after they sought asylum. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says police then helped extract the women from their Iranian government handlers. The woman had sought protection after the team were branded wartime traitors in Iran

for refusing to sing their national anthem. Australia's Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke says the offer of asylum remains open for the other 21 members of the squad. Once everything had been signed off last night, there were lots of photos, lots of celebrating and then a spontaneous outbreak of Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzie, Oi, Oi, Oi. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player.

If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.