The Trump administration has warned it would be “very wise” for Iran to make a deal, amid reports the White House is considering fresh military action against Tehran as soon as this weekend.

It comes shortly after Vice President JD Vance accused Iran of failing to address core U.S. demands during nuclear talks in Switzerland this week. Iran’s foreign minister previously reported progress in the talks, saying the two countries had reached an understanding over the “guiding principles” for the negotiations.

Speaking at a news briefing Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said there were “many reasons and arguments that once could make for a strike against Iran,” noting that the two countries remain “very far apart” on some issues.

The U.S. president had a “very successful” operation last June, Leavitt said, when U.S. stealth bombers struck three Iranian nuclear facilities as part of “Operation Midnight Hammer.”

“The president has always been very clear though with respect to Iran or any country around the world, diplomacy is always his first option. And Iran would be very wise to make a deal with President Trump and this administration,” Leavitt said.

The White House has said it still hopes to reach a diplomatic resolution over Tehran’s nuclear program, although U.S. media has reported that the military could be prepared to strike Iran as early as the weekend.

The U.S., for its part, has built up a significant presence of air and naval assets, while Iran has conducted military drills in the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz and announced joint naval drills with Russia in the Sea of Oman.

Laura James, Middle East senior analyst at Oxford Analytica, described the current situation as “extremely dangerous,” with the U.S. and Iran “certainly closer” to an outright conflict than last week.

“The thing that is now a particular concern over the past 24 hours is the very rapid pace at which the United States is reinforcing its air power in the region. That, of course, can still be signalling and pressure for a particular diplomatic outcome,” James told CNBC’s “Access Middle East” on Thursday.

“But as more and more planes comes in and more and more equipment comes in, that signalling gets more and more expensive. And therefore, the payoff you want for it in diplomatic terms has to be larger — and there is simply no sign Tehran can offer the absolute minimum that Washington is likely to demand,” she added.

Oil prices

Energy market participants have been closely watching the outcome of the U.S.-Iran talks in Geneva, particularly as it relates to the Strait of Hormuz, a major international waterway that Iran partially closed on Tuesday citing “security precautions.”

Located in the gulf between Oman and Iran, the Strait of Hormuz is recognized as one of the world’s most important oil choke points.

About 13 million barrels per day of crude oil transited the Strait of Hormuz in 2025, accounting for roughly 31% of global seaborne crude flows, data provided by market intelligence firm Kpler showed.

Oil prices were higher on Thursday, extending gains after settling up more than 4% in the previous session.

International benchmark Brent crude futures with April delivery rose 1.5% to $71.41 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures with March delivery stood 1.7% higher at $66.27.

— CNBC’s Lee Ying Shan contributed to this report.

Iran partially closed the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, state media reported, citing “security precautions” as Tehran’s Revolutionary Guards conduct military drills in the waterway.

It comes as the U.S. and Iran hold talks in the Swiss city of Geneva, seeking to resolve an ongoing dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program.

It marks the first time Iran has shut parts of the Strait of Hormuz, a major international waterway that links crude producers in the Middle East with key markets across the globe, since U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Tehran with military action in January.

Located in the Gulf between Oman and Iran, the strait is recognized as one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints.

About 13 million barrels per day of crude oil transited the Strait of Hormuz in 2025, accounting for roughly 31% of global seaborne crude flows, data provided by market intelligence firm Kpler showed.

Tuesday’s temporary closure of the waterway was aimed at ensuring shipping safety as part of the Revolutionary Guards’ “Smart Control of the Strait of Hormuz” drill. The exercise is designed to improve Iran’s operational readiness and bolster its deterrence, among other objectives.

Iran and the U.S. reached an understanding of the “guiding principles” during the talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters after they concluded, Reuters reported.

The progress does not mean an agreement will be reached soon and more work still needs to be done, he added.

Energy market participants had been closely watching the outcome of the U.S.-Iran talks, particularly as both sides have increased their military presence in the region.

Oil prices were last seen trading lower, erasing earlier gains. International benchmark Brent crude futures with April delivery fell 1.8% to $67.48 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures with March delivery stood 0.4% lower at $62.65

Jakob Larsen, chief safety and security officer at BIMCO, which represents global shipowners, said the temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz was likely to cause “minor nuisance and delays” to inbound shipping headed for the Persian Gulf — but no major disruptions.

“The exercise establishes a live firing exercise area overlapping the inbound part of Strait of Hormuz’s Traffic Separation Scheme, and requests that shipping keeps clear of the area for the duration of a few hours,” Larsen said.

“Given the level of tension in the area, it is expected that commercial shipping will comply with the Iranian request to keep clear of the exercise area,” he added.

— CNBC’s Lori Ann LaRocco & Lee Ying Shan contributed to this report.

India’s Adani on Tuesday announced plans to invest $100 billion to develop renewable energy-powered AI-ready data centers by 2035, seeking to establish the world’s largest integrated data center platform.

The blockbuster investment, which comes as India pushes to gain a stronger foothold in the global AI race, is expected to create a $250 billion AI infrastructure ecosystem in India over the next decade, Adani said.

The initiative is also poised to incentivize an additional $150 billion in spending across server manufacturing, sovereign cloud platforms, and supporting industries, the company said.

“The world is entering an Intelligence Revolution more profound than any previous Industrial Revolution,” Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, said in a statement.

“India will not be a mere consumer in the AI age. We will be the creators, the builders and the exporters of intelligence and we are proud to be able to participate in that future,” he added.

The announcement coincides with India’s AI Impact Summit, a five-day event which got underway on Monday.

Global leaders and technology executives such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai are expected to take part in the summit, which has been billed as the first major international AI meeting hosted in the Global South.

Shares of Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of Adani Group, rose 2.3% on the news, making it one of the top gainers on the benchmark Nifty 50 stock index. Shares of Adani Green Energy were last seen up 1.8%.

Adani’s AI push is designed to build on AdaniConnex’s existing 2 gigawatt (GW) national data center, with plans to expand toward a 5 GW target. It is this deployment that the company says will create the world’s largest integrated data center platform.

AdaniConnex is a joint venture between Adani Group and EdgeConnex, a global data center provider.

Adani said its vision is supported by its strategic partnerships with Google. The multinational conglomerate added that it was also in talks with other major players to establish large-scale campuses across India, without providing further details.

Google’s parent company Alphabet said in October that it would invest $15 billion over the next five years to build an AI data center hub in southern India.

Shares of Adani Group companies have been volatile in recent weeks.

Indeed, the firm’s stocks fell sharply after court filings late last month showed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking to send a summons to Indian billionaire and Adani Group chair Gautam Adani and nephew Sagar Adani on charges of bribery and fraud.

Adani’s chariman was indicted with seven other men in New York federal court in November 2024 on charges related to a massive bribery and fraud scheme. CNBC reached out to Adani Group and the U.S. SEC following the news.

India’s Ministry of Law and Justice twice refused last year to deliver the summons to Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani under the Hague Convention, the SEC told the court.

— CNBC’s Priyanka Salve contributed to this report.

Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings has threatened legal action against Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk after Panamanian authorities tapped the group to temporarily take over operations of two strategic ports at either end of the Panama Canal.

In a statement on Thursday, CK Hutchison warned A.P. Moller-Maersk that “any steps” the Danish group or its subsidiary takes to operate the ports without its agreement will likely “result in legal recourse.” That’s according to CNBC’s translation of the Chinese statement.

The simmering dispute has become a geopolitical flashpoint between Washington and Beijing, with Panama caught in the crossfires.

After U.S. President Donald Trump alleged last year that China was “running the Panama Canal,” CK Hutchison negotiated a $23 billion deal with a BlackRock-led consortium to sell its non-Chinese port subsidiaries. Beijing swiftly intervened, describing the sale as  “kowtowing” to American pressure and stalling the transaction.

Tensions intensified last month when Panama’s Supreme Court ruled that the concession held by a CK Hutchison subsidiary to operate the two ports was “unconstitutional.” The company pushed back, saying it “strongly disagreed” with the ruling and launched arbitration proceedings against Panama.

CK Hutchison on Thursday also said it had notified Panama of the dispute under an investment protection treaty, saying it would pursue “all available recourse including additional national and international legal proceedings.”

APM Terminals, the Maersk subsidiary asked to take over the ports, reportedly said it was not party to the legal dispute and had only offered to step in temporarily “to mitigate the risks that could affect essential services for regional and global trade.”

Maersk shares fell over 3% in Copenhagen on Thursday.

The stakes around Panama ports have risen sharply this year. The Panama court’s ruling was seen as a major victory for the U.S., given that the White House has made blocking China’s influence over the global trade artery one of its top priorities.

China also directed state firms to halt talks over new projects in Panama and asked shipping companies to consider rerouting cargo through other ports, Bloomberg reported last week.

The standoff may prove more manageable for Washington than it appears, according to Reva Goujon, a director at advisory firm Rhodium Group. The U.S. retains significant leverage through its treaty with Panama, which could allow it to defend any intervention on national security grounds, she said.

But Beijing has claimed a partial victory, by derailing Washington’s initial plans to acquire CK Hutchison’s global port holdings outright, Goujon said.

China needs to make the U.S. “clawback in Panama as difficult as possible to avoid setting a precedent,” Goujon said, noting that Chinese state-owned shipping giant Cosco’s Chancay port in Peru — a key infrastructure investment by Beijing in Latin America — is also in U.S. crosshairs.

The U.S. has raised sovereignty concerns over the port of Chancay, a deep-water facility near Lima. In a post on X on Thursday, the U.S. State Department’s bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said Peru could be “powerless” to oversee the critical port which was “under the jurisdiction of predatory Chinese owners.”

The Panama canal — a crucial trade passage that links the Atlantic and Pacific – handles roughly 40% of all U.S. container traffic each year. CK Hutchison’s subsidiary, Panama Ports Co., has operated them since 1997 and received a 25-year agreement renewal in 2021.

The canal was built in the early 20th century by the U.S. which operated it for decades before handing full control to Panama in 1999.

Analysts expected the dispute to drag on, potentially straining U.S.-China relations, already frayed by one year of tariff tensions, Beijing’s tightened grip on rare earth exports, disputes over Taiwan and Washington’s restrictions on tech exports.

CK Hutchison said Thursday that the continued operation of the two ports “depends solely on actions of the Panama Supreme Court and the Panamanian State,” which it cannot control.

China’s embassy in London Tuesday criticized the U.K.’s decision to expand a visa program for Hong Kong residents, calling the move an interference in its internal affairs after a court sentenced pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison under a national security law.

The U.K. on Monday expanded the British National Overseas (BNO) visa scheme on Monday to allow children of BNO status holders — who were under 18 at the time of Hong Kong’s handover to mainland China in June 1997 — to apply for the route independently of their parents.

“BNO has misled Hong Kong residents to leave their homes, only to face discrimination and hardship in the U.K., living as second-class citizens,” an embassy spokesperson said in a statement in Chinese translated by CNBC.

The embassy described the scheme expansion as “despicable” and “reprehensible.”

“China has always firmly opposed the UK’s manipulation and interference in China’s internal affairs,” the embassy spokesperson said.

The scheme was launched in 2021 after Beijing imposed the sweeping national security law on Hong Kong. Since then, over 230,000 people have been granted visas, and almost 170,000 have relocated to the U.K.

The diplomatic tensions followed the sentencing of Lai by a Hong Kong court on Monday, in one of the city’s most prominent prosecutions. That was the heaviest penalty ever meted out under the national security law.

The 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper was a vocal critic of Beijing and was among the first prominent figures arrested in August 2020. He was jailed on charges of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and publishing seditious materials. Lai pleaded not guilty to all counts.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer raised the case with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit to Beijing last month, calling for the release of Lai, who is a British citizen. Critics and Lai’s family have argued that the U.K. did not take sufficient and concrete steps to reverse the course.

The sentencing showed how the Beijing-imposed national security law has “criminalised dissent, prompting many to leave the territory,” the British government said in a statement, adding that it will “rapidly engage [with Beijing] further on Mr Lai’s case.”

The expanded visa route came amid what the British government described as a “deterioration of rights and freedoms” in Hong Kong. The government estimated that 26,000 people will arrive in the U.K. over the next 5 years.

Hong Kong’s chief executive John Lee said Tuesday that Lai deserved the harsh sentencing for all the harm that he had done, including “using Apple Daily to poison the minds of citizens” and “colluding with foreign forces to take sanctions and hostile actions against China and Hong Kong.”

Other governments have renewed calls for Lai’s release following the ruling. Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State, called the ruling “unjust and tragic” and urged the authorities to grant humanitarian parole for Lai.

A simmering dispute over two container ports at either end of the Panama Canal risks becoming a geopolitical flashpoint between the world’s two largest economies: the U.S. and China.

It follows a contentious decision from Panama’s top court voiding a license of a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison for operating two key terminals on the waterway, through which some 40% of all U.S. container traffic transits every year.

The ruling was seen as a major victory for the U.S., given that the White House has made blocking China’s influence over the global trade artery one of its top priorities.

China has sought to raise the stakes in recent days. In its strongest rebuke yet, Beijing warned on Wednesday that the Central American country “will inevitably pay a heavy price both politically and economically,” unless it changes course.

The Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of China’s State Council called the court decision “logically flawed” and “utterly ridiculous.”

In response, Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino dismissed China’s threats, saying on Wednesday that he “firmly rejected” the statement from the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office.

Mulino said on social media that Panama was a “rule-of-law country” that respects decisions from its top court, noting that decisions taken by the judiciary were independent of the central government.

CK Hutchison, for its part, said Wednesday that it had taken Panama to international arbitration, adding it “strongly disagrees with the [court’s] determination.”

Analysts expect the fallout from the ruling to last for quite some time.

With questions lingering over the security risks posed by CK’s management of the ports and whether any mitigation measures are in place, it looks like “a simple contest for dominance in Latin America,” said Scott Kennedy, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“The most likely scenario is a drawn-out legal fight in multiple jurisdictions, along with substantial political and economic pressure imposed by both Beijing and Washington,” Kennedy added.

Relations between the two superpowers deteriorated last year as President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on Chinese exports, drawing Beijing to tighten its grip on rare earth exports. Geopolitical tensions including Beijing’s stance on Taiwan, support for Russia war in Ukraine and U.S. military action in Venezuela and Iran have also weighed on relations.

CK Hutchison had negotiated a $23 billion deal with a BlackRock-led consortium in March last year to sell its non-Chinese port subsidiaries. It later drew criticism from Beijing which described the deal as “kowtowing” to American pressure.

Chinese officials have sought to reshape the deal, demanding that it undergo China’s merger review process and have reportedly proposed state-owned shipping group Cosco to join the acquiring consortium.

In a sign of further escalation, China directed state firms to halt talks over new projects in Panama, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, and asked shipping firms to consider rerouting cargo through other ports.

China’s customs authorities also plan to step up inspections on Panamanian imports, including bananas and coffee, according to Bloomberg.

That said, chances of any response from Beijing propelling Panama to reverse course remain low, given Trump’s view of the canal as a strategic chokepoint, said Jack Lee, analyst at China Macro Group.

China’s response will likely be carefully calibrated and largely symbolic aimed at signaling disapproval rather than forcing a policy reversal, Lee said, adding that the Panama episode exposed Beijing’s vulnerability in safeguarding its economic interests in the region when challenged by U.S. pressure.

China has ramped up investment in strategic infrastructure across Latin America, including a major deep-water port in Peru. The Port of Chancay, operated and majority owned by state-owned Cosco, is expected to cut shipping times by about half.

Analysts at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, warned that the Chinese government appears to have “the maritime industry in a chokehold.”

FDD’s Elaine K. Dezenski and Susan Soh said in an article published Monday that China controls more than 100 overseas ports on every continent except Antarctica and manufactures more than 95% of shipping containers and 70% of ship-to-shore cranes.

China dominates the world’s shipbuilding orderbooks with nearly two-thirds of global orders flowing to Chinese yards in 2025, according to an industry report, citing data from maritime research firm Clarksons.

Meanwhile, around 40% of U.S. container traffic travels through the Panama Canal every year, which in all, moves roughly $270 billion in cargo annually.

Any expansion of Beijing’s maritime dominance, therefore, could put the U.S. and its allies at risk of the same dependency they face with critical minerals and rare earths, according to the FDD.

United Nations Secretary-António Guterres recently called out the U.S. and China’s power struggle, warning that global problems “will not be resolved by one power calling the shots.”

“We see — and many see in relation to the future — the idea that there are two poles, one centered in the U.S. and one centered in China,” Guterres said at a news conference on Jan. 29.

“If we want a stable world, if we want a world in which peace can be sustained, in which development can be generalized, and in which, in the end, our values will prevail, we need to support multi-polarity,” he added.

The Chinese government has condemned a ruling from Panama’s top court, warning the Central American country “will inevitably pay a heavy price” unless it changes course.

The rebuke comes shortly after Panama’s Supreme Court ruled to void Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison’s license to operate ports at either end of the Panama Canal.

The ruling was seen as a major victory for the Trump administration’s security ambitions in the Western Hemisphere, given that the White House has made blocking China’s influence over the critically important waterway one of its top priorities.

In a commentary posted on Tuesday on its WeChat account, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council said the “logically flawed” and “utterly ridiculous” ruling was opposed by the Chinese government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government.

“The Panamanian authorities should recognize the situation and correct their course,” the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office said, according to a Google translation.

“If they persist in their own way and remain obstinate, they will inevitably pay a heavy price in terms of politics and economics!”

In a brief statement on Jan. 29, Panama’s top court said the terms under which Panama Ports Co., or PPC, a subsidiary of CK Hutchison, runs the Port of Balboa on the Pacific Coast and Cristóbal on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal violated its constitution.

The ruling came around a year after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to seize control of the Panama Canal, saying the waterway was “vital to our country” and claiming, “it’s being operated by China.”

CK Hutchison, for its part, said Wednesday that it had launched international arbitration proceedings against Panama after the country annulled its licenses to operate two Panama Canal ports.

In a statement, the company said PPC would seek “extensive damages” over the ruling, without specifying the damages sought.

Shares of CK Hutchison closed up more than 2% on Wednesday. The stock has climbed over 23% so far this year.