Top Stories This Morning: Iran Claims to Have Struck U.S. Ships; Meta Launches AI Agent "Muse"

Iran claimed to have carried out strikes against U.S. ships and oil tankers in the Persian Gulf in response to the U.S. sinking of five Iranian tankers. The U.S. has escalated its trade war with Canada by blocking imports of certain Canadian goods and imposing new tariffs on others. Meta introduced Muse, a personal AI assistant that can make purchases, book tickets, and perform other everyday tasks. Read about these and other topics in our roundup of key events as of the morning of September 9.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stated that it had struck two U.S. ships and eight oil tankers in the Persian Gulf in response to the U.S. destruction of five Iranian tankers, CNBC reports. According to the IRGC, the vessels were attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, an area Iran has declared “off-limits and unsafe.” Amid this new escalation, the price of Brent crude approached $100 per barrel.

The day before, the U.S. military reported that it had destroyed five Iranian tankers following two attempts by the IRGC to attack a U.S. Navy ship with ballistic missiles. In addition, Iran claimed to have seized an American unmanned underwater vehicle in the Strait of Hormuz; however, CENTCOM described the vehicle as malfunctioning and stated that it did not contain any classified data or equipment.

In response to Canadian tariffs, the Donald Trump administration has banned imports of a number of goods from Canada, including certain dairy products, alcohol, non-alcoholic beer, and motorcycles, according to Bloomberg. The U.S. has also expanded Section 338 tariffs to include certain cheeses, aluminum and paper products, boats, golf carts, and mattresses.

These measures followed the implementation of Canadian tariffs on hundreds of U.S. goods and the increase of tariffs on many types of steel from the U.S. to 50 percent. Trump also continues to threaten to raise tariffs on Canadian cars to 50 percent starting January 1.

Meta has introduced Muse, an AI agent capable of performing tasks on behalf of users—such as making purchases, buying movie tickets, signing up for classes, and filling out forms, according to Bloomberg. The service will launch in the U.S. on Tuesday and will be available to users 18 and older.

Muse will be able to connect to email, calendars, fitness trackers, and other services and continue performing tasks in the background. The free version will be the standard option, and Meta will also offer plans priced at $20 and $100 per month with greater computing power.

Qualcomm has signed a long-term agreement with Amazon under which Amazon will be able to purchase up to $60 billion worth of AI chips for data centers and other products, Reuters reports. The companies will also jointly develop chips for inference and high-speed optical communication technology.

Qualcomm will grant Amazon warrants worth approximately $4 billion, allowing it to purchase Qualcomm shares at $161.26 per share as it buys products. The deal supports Qualcomm’s plans to expand its data center business, for which the company expects to generate $15 billion in revenue by 2029, the agency notes.

— Japan's broad-based Topix index rose 0.1%, while the Nikkei 225 fell 0.1%.

— Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.4%, while mainland China's CSI 300 Index remained virtually unchanged.

— In South Korea, the KOSPI rose 1.6%, and the KOSDAQ rose 2%.

— Australia's S&P/ASX 200 remained virtually unchanged.

— Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.1%, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were virtually unchanged.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor