TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly rose in cautious trading Tuesday, as oil prices continued to surge ahead of a deadline that U.S. President Donald Trump set for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping traffic or risk its power plants and bridges being bombed.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained less than 0.1% to close at 53,429.56. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.7% to 8,728.80. South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.8% to 5,494.78. The Shanghai Composite edged up 0.3% to 3,890.16. Trading was closed in Hong Kong for a holiday.
On Wall Street, stock prices drifted higher, with the S&P 500 rising 0.4%, coming off its first winning week in the last six. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 165 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5%.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude jumped $2.41 to $114.82 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added $1.46 to $111.23 a barrel. That remains well above its roughly $70 price from before the war.
Oil prices have been seesawing amid uncertainty about what will happen in the war with Iran and how long it will slow the global flow of oil and natural gas. Iran on Monday rejected the latest ceasefire proposal and instead said it wants a permanent end to the war.
The Mizuho Daily by the research team in Singapore at Mizuho Bank noted Trump's latest actions mark “an escalation cycle that has now been extended several times since his first ultimatum in late March.”
“Given the differing perspectives, hopes of a complete resolution to the conflict remains elusive while countries continue to work on bilateral solutions,” it said.
As talks continued, Iranian and Omani officials also were working on a mechanism for administrating the strait through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped in peacetime. Iran’s grip on it has shaken the world economy.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 29.14 points to 6,611.83. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 165.21 to 46,669.88, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 117.16 to 21,996.34.
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. The 10-year Treasury yield was sitting at 4.33%. That’s still well above its 3.97% level from before the war.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged up to 159.86 Japanese yen from 159.62 yen. The euro cost $1.1541, down from $1.1543.
Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama
People stand in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia's most decorated living veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, faces war crime charges on allegations that he killed five unarmed Afghans while serving in Afghanistan from 2009 and 2012, police and media reported on Tuesday.
Police have not confirmed the name of the 47-year-old former soldier who was arrested Tuesday. But he has been widely reported in the media to be Roberts-Smith, a former Special Air Service Regiment corporal who was awarded both the Victoria Cross and Medal of Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan.
Police charged him Tuesday with five counts of war crime murder. He will remain in custody overnight and make his first court appearance on Wednesday, a police statement said.
He will potentially apply for release on bail Wednesday.
Roberts-Smith is only the second Australian veteran of the Afghanistan campaign to be charged with a war crime.
Former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz, 44, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of war crime murder. He is accused of shooting Afghan man Dad Mohammad three times in the head in an Uruzgan province wheat field in May 2012.
War crime murder carries a potential sentence of life in prison. It's a federal crime in Australia, defined as the intentional killing in the context of armed conflict of a person who is not taking an active part in hostilities, such as civilians, prisoners of war or wounded soldiers.
Police arrested Roberts-Smith at Sydney Airport on Tuesday after he arrived on a flight from Brisbane, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said.
“It will be alleged that the victims were not taking part in hostilities at the time of their alleged murder in Afghanistan. It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and were under the control of ADF members when they were killed,” Barrett told reporters, referring to the Australian Defense Force.
“It will be alleged the victims were shot by the accused or shot by subordinate members of the ADF in the presence of and acting on the orders of the accused,” Barrett added.
In September last year, Australia's highest court removed Roberts-Smith's last chance to clear his name of court findings that he unlawfully killed four Afghans.
The High Court said it would not hear his appeal against a federal judge's civil court finding in 2023 that he likely killed noncombatants unlawfully in 2009 and 2012.
Three federal court judges had unanimously rejected his appeal against that ruling.
Roberts-Smith sued for defamation after several newspapers published articles in 2018 accusing him of a range of war crimes.
But while the civil courts found the war crimes allegations were mostly proven on a balance of probabilities, the new charges would have to be proved in a criminal court to a higher standard of beyond reasonable doubt.
The charges follow a military report released in 2020 that found evidence that elite Australian SAS and commando regiment troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and other noncombatants.
Barrett said few soldiers were involved in the new allegations.
“The alleged conduct related to these charges is confined to a very small section of our trusted and respected ADF which helps keep this country safe,” Barrett said.
“The overwhelming majority of our ADF do our country proud. Today’s charges are not reflective of the majority of members who serve under our Australian flag with honor, with distinction and with the values of a democratic nation,” she added.
The Office of the Special Investigator was established to work with police on the war crime allegations. The office’s director of investigations Ross Barnett said allegations of 53 war crimes had been investigated and 39 of those investigations had concluded without charges. Around 40,000 Australian military personnel served in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021, of whom 41 were killed.
FILE - Ben Roberts-Smith arrives at the Federal Court in Sydney, Australia, on June 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett speaks to media during a press conference following the arrest of former Australian soldier in Sydney, Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP Image via AP)
