New sanctions imposed on Iran; Tesla cuts two EV models

Ata mārie and welcome to your Friday recap of international business and political news from overnight.

First up, after a meeting of European foreign ministers, the European Union has designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran as a terrorist organisation. Iran responded by saying its forces were ready to “immediately and powerfully” respond to any attack by the United States, Al Jazeera reported.

The warning came hours after US President Donald Trump repeated a threat to take military action against the country. The USS Abraham Lincoln, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was one of several military assets the US had deployed in recent days.

Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers also imposed new sanctions on Iran, which included travel bans and asset freezes on Iranian officials.

Crude oil prices rose more than 2% on Thursday local time after Trump pondered military strikes on Opec member Iran. Earlier, US crude rose 2.5% to US$64.77 per barrel, while benchmark Brent crude was up 2.3% to US$69.99 per barrel, CNBC reported.

US President Donald Trump.

Elsewhere, Trump's border security chief Tom Homan said he was working on a plan to pull federal agents out of Minnesota as part of a major shift in strategy, the ABC reported.

"What we've been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient, by the book," Homan said.

"President Trump and I, along with others in the administration, have recognised that certain improvements could and should be made. That's exactly what I'm doing here."

Days of violent protests in Minneapolis, along with the killing of two protesters by federal agents, had fuelled public pressure for change. Homan noted "great progress" had been made in talks with local authorities since his arrival several days ago.

Trump, meanwhile, said he would announce his nominee to replace Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve “next week”, and again reiterated his expectation that the new leader would lower interest rates, Bloomberg reported.

“We’re going to be announcing the head of the Fed, who that will be, and it will be a person that will, I think, do a good job,” Trump said.

His comments followed the Fed’s decision to hold rates steady this week. “We should have the lowest interest rate anywhere in the world. They should be two points and even three points lower,” Trump said.

Bloomberg suggested Trump had been considering a shortlist of four candidates: National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, Fed Governor Christopher Waller, former governor Kevin Warsh and BlackRock executive Rick Rieder.

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.

Ukraine received the bodies of 1000 soldiers from Russia in the latest exchange of those killed in the war as part of ongoing agreements to allow families to bury those killed on the battlefield, Al Jazeera reported.

Meanwhile, Trump said he had successfully asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt bombing of cities and towns in Ukraine as the country prepares for an extreme cold snap.

“I personally asked President Putin not to fire into Kyiv and the various towns for a week, and he agreed to do that,” Trump said.

In business news, Tesla’s revenue fell for the first time as the electric vehicle maker feels the heat from Chinese rivals and shifts focus to AI and robotics.

The company reported a 3% decline in total revenue in 2025, while profit fell 61% in the last three months of the year, the BBC reported. In January, China's BYD overtook Tesla as the world's biggest EV maker.

Tesla said it would end production of its Model S and Model X vehicles and would now use its manufacturing facility in California to produce its humanoid robots, called Optimus.

Elsewhere, food sector representatives urged the UK government to introduce a transition period if it agreed to rejig post-Brexit agriculture rules with the EU.

Earlier, the National Farmers’ Union warned British oats used in cereals, snack bars, meatballs, and burgers could be unsellable in the EU because British farmers had been allowed to use fungicides not yet approved by the EU, the Guardian said.

Meanwhile, China agreed to allow British citizens to travel to the country for up to 30 days without a visa, the BBC reported.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer met President Xi Jinping in Beijing, the first UK leader to visit the country in eight years. The trip also confirmed an agreement to cut import taxes on UK whisky from 10% to 5%.