On the second day of the ceasefire between the United States and Iran’s regime, with continued transit restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz and rising tensions between Lebanon and Israel, stock markets in Asia scaled back their optimism about the ceasefire and turned downward.
In the early hours of trading, the overall Asian market index fell by about 0.7%, with Japan’s stock exchange remaining unchanged, while China recorded a 0.6% decline and South Korea a 0.4% drop.
In India as well, markets turned negative after initial optimism, and some indices experienced declines of up to one percent. This drop came despite the fact that just a day earlier, in response to the two-week ceasefire, India’s stock index had risen 4%; however, growing concerns over Middle East tensions and doubts about the durability of the ceasefire reversed the market trend.
The concerns were not limited to East Asian markets, and in West Asia Saudi Arabia’s stock index also fell by 0.2%,
The Israeli military announced that Ali Youssef Harshi, the nephew and secretary of Naim Qassem, the secretary-general of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, was killed in the army’s strike on the Beirut area.
An Israeli military spokesperson said on Thursday that the strike had taken place on Wednesday and that he had played a key role in managing Qassem’s office and protecting him.
On Wednesday, Israel carried out extensive strikes against Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, and according to the Israeli military, overnight it targeted two main crossings that Hezbollah used to move from north to south of the Litani area in Lebanon and transport thousands of weapons, rockets, and launchers.
Hezbollah began another round of clashes with Israel by attacking it on March 2 in support of Iran’s regime. Israel said it would respond forcefully, and since then it has carried out airstrikes that have killed more than 1,000 people.
Israel had already weakened Hezbollah’s military capabilities through strikes on its positions since the start of the Gaza war on October 7, 2023.
Regime ambassador deletes news of Iranian delegation’s trip to Islamabad
Iran’s regime ambassador to Pakistan deleted, without any explanation, his post on the social media platform X about the imminent trip of an Iranian delegation to Islamabad for talks with the United States.
Reza Amiri-Moghaddam wrote in a post on X on Thursday, April 9, that the delegation would arrive in Islamabad tonight.
He made no reference to the composition of the Iranian regime’s negotiating delegation.
This came as Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the regime’s parliament (Majlis), had earlier claimed that the ceasefire had been violated and said that under such circumstances, “neither a bilateral ceasefire nor negotiations have any meaning.”
These talks are scheduled to be held in Islamabad on Saturday.
