After a one-week pause Chinese VLCCs resumed loading Saudi crude but shifted routes away from the Red Sea to sail around Africa. On Aug. 4 COSCO’s 330,000 dwt VLCC Yuanxihu arrived off Egypt’s Sidi Kerir terminal in the Mediterranean to await loading. The ship had entered the Red Sea on July 11 and remained off Yanbu after Houthi forces announced a maritime blockade of Saudi waters. On Aug. 1 Yuanxihu, in ballast, transited north through the Suez Canal with its destination shown as Sidi Kerir.

Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) on Tuesday evening rejected a Bloomberg column claiming Korea is becoming uninvestable, saying the piece relied on unspecified data. The FSC said investors need not worry that Korea would be deemed uninvestable given the country's emergence as an indispensable global AI supply‑chain and investment destination, and specifically disputed the column's characterization of 'forced liquidations'.

Fox News reported the U.S. Treasury removed Iran-related sanctions from its website. A Treasury official said this "does not represent any change in U.S. policy toward the Iranian government, the IRGC Quds Force, any designated terrorist organization or its supporters or agents." The official said the removal was a routine administrative action following a review of a specific case involving Baghdad Airlines.