Rubio: US Search-and-Rescue Teams Deploying to Venezuela; Oil Prices Fall Back to Pre-War Levels

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said U.S. search-and-rescue teams were being deployed to Venezuela following deadly earthquakes. Two powerful earthquakes wreaked havoc in and around the capital, Caracas, trapping people beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings and setting off powerful aftershocks.

Oil prices fell to their lowest levels since before the outbreak of the Iran war on Thursday as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz continued to recover, signaling that crude exports from the Gulf are steadily returning to normal and easing prolonged supply disruption fears.