By John Towfighi, CNN

New York (CNN) — Stocks fell and oil prices surged Thursday as the war with Iran continued to stoke fears of higher energy costs and disruptions to the global economy.

The major US stock indexes were down 1% or more, extending a recent bout of volatility. The Dow fell 655 points, or 1.38%. The S&P 500 was down by 1.3%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite sank 1.66%.

US crude oil prices surged 9.8%, to $95.83 per barrel. Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, rose 9.3%, to $100 per barrel.

Oil prices climbed as Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first public message, warning that the crucial Strait of Hormuz will remain closed as a “tool of pressure.” The message, read on Iran’s state television by an anchor, also said that all US bases in the region “will be attacked” unless they shut down.

The Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway off Iran’s coast through which 20% of global oil consumption flows, has been effectively closed since the war began. That has sent oil prices soaring and dimmed the outlook for stocks across the globe.

“The implicit closure of the Strait of Hormuz remains the hinge factor for global markets,” Felix Vezina-Poirier, chief strategist at BCA Research, said in a note.

The Strait of Hormuz has become a flashpoint in the war, with US officials demanding it reopens and the Iranian regime doubling down on preventing business as usual.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Thursday that the strait must ultimately reopen as the United States continues military operations in Iran.

“Now the Strait of Hormuz needs to be and will be reopened,” Wright said on “CNN News Central.”

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency said in its monthly oil report Thursday that the Middle East conflict is “creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.”

US Treasury yields moved higher as investors recalibrated expectations for potentially higher inflation caused by higher energy prices. The 10-year yield rose to 4.24%, its highest level since early February.

The US dollar strengthened against other major currencies, benefitting from safe haven demand. The US dollar index was up 0.4%, hitting its highest level this year.

Wall Street’s fear gauge, the VIX, jumped 9%, reflecting the heightened volatility in markets. CNN’s Fear and Greed Index slipped into “extreme fear.”

“For now, oil remains the primary market driver, with developments around the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz acting as either an accelerator or a brake on risk appetite,” Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist at LPL Financial, said in a note.

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CNN’s Ivana Kottasová and Alejandra Jaramillo contributed reporting.

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By Mohammed Tawfeeq, Sandra Gonzalez, CNN

(CNN) — Two Oscar-nominated Iranian films will have a moment on the global stage at Sunday’s Academy Awards as Hollywood contends with how to address a fraught political reality on a night often seen as a celebration of escapism.

The films, documentary feature “Cutting Through Rocks” and best international film nominee “It Was Just an Accident,” have propelled Iran into one of its most prominent awards seasons in recent memory. The former is the first Iranian documentary ever nominated for best documentary feature.

The nominations arrived in January against an already charged political backdrop, as the Iranian government violently cracked down on protesters, killing thousands. When Hollywood’s biggest stars gather Sunday for the annual awards show it will be more than two weeks into an unpopular war launched against the country by the US and Israel.

Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki, the husband-and-wife directing duo behind “Cutting Through Rocks,” said celebrating the documentary’s success had been difficult amid the turmoil, speaking to CNN’s Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour before the start of the war.

The film is about a rural midwife and motorcycle rider named Sara Shahverdi who becomes the first woman to run for government in her village, fighting for the rights of women and girls. It offers a glimpse into the generational changes that were happening inside Iran.

“It was not an easy journey for Shahverdi, but these small sparks of hope keep me hopeful about what the future can bring,” Khaki said, speaking before the war.

“The only thing that gives me hope about the future of our country is its people — people like Sara Shahverdi in the film, and people like Sara Khaki behind the camera, who share the same mission of bringing change to their communities,” her husband, Eyni, added.

Doing the rounds of awards season has been exceedingly difficult amid the growing uncertainty. Filmmaker Jafar Panahi, whose thriller “It Was Just an Accident” centers on a group of people confronting the man they suspected of torturing them in a Tehran prison, has faced impossible situations on his promotional tour.

Speaking to CNN amid the deadly protests in January, Panahi said that even while he was promoting his film, his “heart and mind are there,” in Tehran.

En route to the Golden Globes later that month, he sat in traffic watching video of a morgue near Tehran overflowing with the bodies of protesters, he recently told NBC News.

“Security did not allow us to leave our cars, and I had a sense of suffocation,” Panahi said. Once he reached the red carpet, he said, “I really did not even have the ability to speak. I kept stepping out and trying to create a balance in my mind. I kept going out to smoke.”

He found out about the US-Israeli strikes while traveling from Barcelona to New York to tape an interview on “The Daily Show.”

Panahi’s own history informs his work. He has faced detention, jail and a ban on making films, traveling, and speaking to the media.

“It Was Just an Accident” is his first movie since his travel and filmmaking ban was lifted. It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes last May and was nominated for four Golden Globes.

Iranian filmmakers have had whirlwind awards seasons before. From the internationally acclaimed work of Asghar Farhadi, whose fi

Por Aaron Blake, CNN

Si hay una figura que personificó la capacidad del presidente Donald Trump para formar una coalición ganadora en 2024, ese podría haber sido Joe Rogan, el influyente podcaster que causó sensación al respaldar a Trump en vísperas de las elecciones tras entrevistarlo.

(Por otro lado, se ha hablado mucho sobre la falta de participación de la campaña de Kamala Harris en el podcast de Rogan y el efecto perjudicial que esto podría haber tenido en su candidatura presidencial).

Dieciséis meses después, Rogan personifica los problemas de Trump para mantener la cohesión de esa coalición.

Rogan ha roto con Trump en varios temas importantes desde mediados de 2025. Y las encuestas muestran que los temas que ha elegido son algunos de los mayores lastre políticos de Trump, incluyendo la guerra con Irán, los archivos de Jeffrey Epstein y la aplicación de la ley migratoria.

La gran novedad es la guerra con Irán. Rogan declaró el martes que el continuo ataque de Trump contra el país incumplió las promesas que les hizo a sus votantes.

“Pero parece una locura basándonos en sus argumentos de campaña”, dijo Rogan. “Es decir, por eso mucha gente se siente traicionada, ¿verdad? Su argumento era que no habría más guerras y estas guerras estúpidas y sin sentido, y ahora tenemos una que ni siquiera podemos definir con claridad por qué la hicimos”.

Rogan también se había mostrado escéptico sobre los planes de Trump de atacar a Venezuela antes del derrocamiento de Nicolás Maduro en enero. Pero afirmó que la operación al menos fue “limpia”. El enfrentamiento militar para detener a Maduro duró solo unas horas, a diferencia de la guerra con Irán, que lleva casi dos semanas sin un final claro a la vista.

“Simplemente no tiene ningún sentido para mí, a menos que estemos actuando en beneficio de otros, en particular de Israel”, añadió Rogan. “Simplemente no tenía ningún sentido para mí”.

Casi todas las encuestas muestran que la guerra con Irán es impopular, con una mayoría que se opone y una proporción de 2 a 1 entre los independientes. De hecho, podría ser el nuevo conflicto militar más impopular en mucho tiempo.

Rogan lleva meses expresando su incredulidad sobre la gestión de los archivos de Epstein por parte de la administración Trump.

Al igual que con Irán, lo ha presentado como una traición a los partidarios de Trump, insinuando incluso que su creencia en que Trump haría públicos los materiales de Epstein si ganaba las elecciones fue parte de su apoyo.

“Hay mucho que decir sobre cuándo pensamos que Trump iba a llegar y que muchos asuntos se resolverían. Vamos a drenar el pantano. Vamos a resolverlo todo”, dijo Rogan en julio. “¿Y cuando tienes esta línea dura y rígida, de la que todo el mundo lleva hablando desde siempre, y luego intentan manipularte con eso?”.

El mes pasado, calificó la afirmación del FBI de que no hay pruebas de que Epstein tuviera clientes como “la mayor manipulación que he oído en mi vida”.

Dos días después, el 12 de febrero, criticó las extrañas e inconsistentes prácticas de redacción del Departamento de Justicia.

“¿Qué es esto? Esto no es bueno. Nada de esto le conviene a esta administración”, dijo Rogan. “Se ve terrible. Se ve terrible”.

Rogan criticó a Trump en particular por referirse al asunto como un “engaño”, e incluso consideró la idea de que Trump supiera lo que Epstein había estado haciendo. “Se ve terrible que Trump dijera que nada de esto era real, que todo esto es un engaño. Esto no es un engaño”, añadió Rogan. “¿Acaso no lo sabían? Quizás él no lo sabía, si quieren ser generosos. Pero definitivamente no es un engaño”.

Una encuesta de CNN realizada en enero reveló que solo el 6% de los estadounidenses se mostró satisfecho con lo que el gobierno federal había publicado de los archivos de Epstein hasta ese momento.

Una encuesta más reciente