Asia-Pacific markets closed mixed Tuesday, as investors weighed renewed uncertainty over U.S.-Iran peace negotiations, while Wall Street benchmark indexes climbed to fresh highs overnight on tech optimism.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended 0.3% lower at 66,734.24, while the Topix declined 0.42% to 3,924.24. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.15% to 8,801.49 and the small-cap Kosdaq dropped 2.29% to 1,026.03.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 ended flat at 8,724.4.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 2.41% as of its last hour of trade, while mainland China’s CSI 300 ended 1.45% to 4,914.56.

India’s Nifty 50 was last up 0.5%.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday shrugged off the possibility that peace talks with Iran could fall apart, telling CNBC, “I don’t care if they’re over, honestly.”

“I really don’t care. I couldn’t care less,” Trump told CNBC’s Eamon Javers in a phone interview midday Monday, adding that he felt the drawn-out negotiations had “started to get very boring.”

Trump was responding to a question about reports earlier Monday that Iranian negotiators were considering ending discussions with Washington and moving to “completely block” the Strait of Hormuz in response to Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

When asked whether Iranian officials had informed him that they would no longer continue negotiations, Trump replied, “No, they haven’t.”

S&P 500 futures slipped 0.2%, while Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.3%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 122 points, or 0.2%.

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose even as oil prices advanced, with Nvidia leading technology higher following the launch of a new chip for PCs.

The broad market index advanced 0.26% to close at 7,599.96, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.42% to close at 27,086.81. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 46.42 points, or 0.09%, and ended at 51,078.88. All three indexes reached new all-time intraday highs and closed at records.

— CNBC’s Sarah Min and Lisa Kailah Han contributed to this report

Blackstone said Tuesday it had raised $13.1 billion for its latest Asia private equity fund, marking its largest PE fundraise in the region.

The alternative asset manager said that Blackstone Capital Partners Asia III exceeded its $10 billion target, with the fund raising more than double the amount of its predecessor vehicle.

“Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing region in the world, presenting compelling opportunities to invest at scale behind our high-conviction themes,” Joe Baratta, global head of Blackstone Private Equity Strategies, said in a statement. 

Blackstone said it has invested more than $7 billion across 12 deals in Asia over the past 24 months, reinforcing its presence in key markets including India and Japan. 

Recent investments include Indian AI cloud platform Neysa, Japanese engineering services provider TechnoPro and South Korean hair salon franchise JUNO.

The firm has also had 15 exits in the region as public markets recover, including the listings of International Gemological Institute and Aadhar Housing Finance in India, as well as the exit of Japan’s Alinamin Pharmaceutical.

The fundraising comes amid a boost in Asia-focused private capital activity, and follows EQT’s recent $15.6 billion Asia buyout fund raise.

Amit Dixit, Blackstone’s head of Asia private equity, said the firm’s “control-oriented strategy” and regional scale has helped differentiate its investment approach.

The private equity industry has been grappling with tougher fundraising conditions amid elevated interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty, with capital raised by Asia-focused funds falling last year to the lowest level in more than a decade, according to Bain & Company.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at critics as a potential agreement with Iran remains elusive, saying that Tehran “really wants to make a deal” and that it will be a good one for the U.S. and its allies.

His comments come as airstrikes between the U.S. and Iran resumed over the weekend, with each side claiming to have hit military targets near the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that typically handles around 20% of the world’s global oil traffic.

“Iran really wants to make a deal, and it will be a good one for the U.S.A. and those that are with us,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

“But don’t the Dumocrats, and various seemingly unpatriotic Republicans, understand that it is MUCH tougher for me to properly do my job and negotiate, when political hacks keep negatively ‘chirping,’ at levels never seen before, over and over again, that I should move faster, or move slower, or go to war, or not go to war, or whatever,” Trump said.

“Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end – It always does!”

U.S. Central Command on Monday said Iran had fired two ballistic missiles overnight targeting American forces stationed in Kuwait.

These attacks followed what the U.S. described as “self-defense strikes” on Iranian radar and command and control sites for drones in Goruk and Qeshm Island over the weekend. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, meanwhile, said it targeted an air base used in the U.S. attack in retaliation.

Iran has said any deal to end the war must include guarantees for a ceasefire in Lebanon, amid Israel’s expanding ground offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the capture of the strategic site of Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon over the weekend.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday said the U.S. and Israel were responsible for the consequences of any ceasefire violation. “The ceasefire between Iran and the US is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon. Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts,” Araghchi said in a post on X.

An Axios report published Saturday said Trump had requested several amendments to the latest terms his envoys had reached with Iranian officials. The report, which cited two unnamed U.S. officials, said Trump’s request hinged on several issues, notably Iran’s nuclear material. CNBC was unable to independently verify the report.

Kuwait, positioned in the northwestern corner of the Persian Gulf, reported Monday that its air defenses had been intercepting missile and drone attacks. In a statement posted on social media, Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry condemned Iran’s attacks, saying they represent “a dangerous escalation” on the country’s security and “undermine efforts aimed at de-escalating tensions” in the region, according to a translation.

The U.S. president has repeatedly said Washington and Tehran have been close to agreeing to a deal since a ceasefire came into effect in early April, although talks have shown little progress in recent weeks.

Oil prices were higher Monday morning. International benchmark Brent crude futures with August delivery advanced 3% to $93.91 per barrel, paring earlier gains, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures with July delivery rose 3.6% to $90.51 per barrel.

Brent and WTI closed off by 11.1% and 9.6% last week, respectively, notching their worst weekly performance since mid-April.

Guntram Wolff, senior fellow at Brussels-based economic think tank Bruegel, said market participants are “way too optimistic” about the prospect of a diplomatic breakthrough.

“The problem I would say is that we have been promised a good deal for a long time now and it’s more than 90 days gone,” Wolff told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Monday.

“I understand it will take time to really have a solid deal but have the fundamentals changed? No, they haven’t. Iran continues to have significant capabilities to inflict a lot of damage, it can continue to control the Strait of Hormuz, it still has nuclear-enriched materials, so the fundamentals haven’t changed,” he added.

The AI revolution is 50 times bigger than the dot-com revolution in the 2000s, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son told CNBC Monday.

“I think this is like more than 10x, probably 50x bigger than dot-com,” Son told CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal in Paris, a day after the company announced that it’s investing 75 billion euros ($87 billion) to build AI infrastructure in France, including 5 GW of AI data center capacity.

The SoftBank chief said the dot-com crash experienced a painful burst, which proved to be just a small bump in a much bigger long-term growth story.

“This is the biggest revolution of technology and realization that mankind ever experienced, so this is just like the beginning of the internet,” Son added.

When asked about his concerns for a potential downturn, Son referenced the Wall Street crash of 1929 and said, “there’s always a correction.”

“Now, if you look at the history, electronics and motorization crashed in 1929, but went up for many, many years, for the next 100 years after that… so there may be some correction, but that will be the best investment opportunity to me.”

SoftBank partnered with OpenAI last year on the Stargate project, a joint venture building AI infrastructure in the United States.

Son said he doesn’t think Softbank is over exposed to OpenAI in its investment portfolio as the AI startup makes up just over 20% of the group’s net asset value, while British semiconductor design firm Arm is its largest holding, making up over 50% of its net asset value.

He added that OpenAI “will be very successful” amid talks of the company planning to IPO soon.

Softbank’s investment, which marks the company’s largest AI infrastructure investment in Europe, involves building 3.1 GW of AI data centers in the northern Hauts-de-France region by 2031, including in Dunkirk, Bosquel and Bouchain. The Tokyo-listed company closed 14% higher.

“It’s a massive size of investment coming,” Son told reporters during a Monday press briefing with French President Emmanuel Macron. “We are doing that in the U.S. already, we are expanding a lot in the U.S., so we have the momentum, which we can make France the center of Europe, and Europe needs this kind of AI technology.”

The firm will largely rely on project financing rather than its own capital for the investment, Son said, referencing the company’s 10-gigawatt project in Ohio, which will soon secure long-term take-off agreements with customers.

“Our own money that we need is very, very condensed, so I’m confident that we’re going to get big purchase orders from our customers that we already have relationships [with], so we can extend that momentum into France,” Son said.

The Japanese investment giant is partnering with French engineering company Schneider Electric to establish a large-scale industrial production hub in Dunkirk as part of the broader buildout.

Oil prices rose Monday after Israel ordered troops to push deeper into Lebanon, renewing concerns that clashes with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group could threaten a fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, gained 2.45% to $93.35 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate futures added 2.8% to $89.78 per barrel.

The escalation in hostilities, which followed the U.S.-brokered Israeli-Lebanon talks in Washington on Friday, dimmed hopes that Washington and Tehran were nearing an extension of their ceasefire arrangement. 

“Together with Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, I instructed the IDF to expand the maneuver in Lebanon,” Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. The order came despite a ceasefire declared in April. 

Goldman Sachs said risks to its fourth-quarter 2026 Brent and WTI forecasts of $90 and $83 per barrel remain “two-sided,” with the bank warning that while persistent Middle East supply disruptions could push prices higher, weakening demand could create meaningful downside risks.

Goldman estimated that weak April oil retail sales data from China and Western Europe together implied around 2 million barrels per day of downside risk to its already subdued demand forecasts.

“Japan’s door to dialog is always open” to the international community even as it increases defense spending and revises its arms exports guidelines, according to defense minister Shinjiro Koizumi.

Speaking at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, Koizumi said that Tokyo has consistently respected international law, adding that “Japan’s path as a peace-loving nation has been valued by the region and by the international community. This fact will not be shaken by false claims because it is a fact.”

He also said about accusations Japan is engaging in “neo-militarism” that there’s “nothing further from the truth.”

China’s defense ministry on May 28 had called on the international community to jointly contain Japan’s “neo-militarism,” according to state media outlet Xinhua.

Japan has recently taken steps to expand its defense posture, including lifting its ban on lethal arms exports and mulling changes to Article 9 of its constitution, which renounces war and the maintenance of armed forces.

Koizumi said, “Think about it. There is a country that has a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and strategic bombers. Japan has neither of such weapons, and yet Japan is labeled neo-militarist. Isn’t it strange?”

The Japanese defense minister highlighted Beijing’s lack of a ministerial-level official at the Dialogue, saying that he was “feeling sad” that he was unable to meet with Chinese counterpart Dong Jun at the forum.

Koizumi said that differences in perception and frictions do arise between nations, but that a repetition of “unfounded claims in the other side’s absence” was not what was needed.

Beijing had sent a lower-level delegation led by Major General Meng Xiangqing from the People’s Liberation Army National Defence University, after Dong skipped the Dialogue for a second year running.

Earlier at the Dialogue, Meng had taken a swipe at Tokyo, noting that 2026 was the 80th anniversary of the opening of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, where Japanese leaders were tried for their crimes in World War II in 1946.

In his remarks, Koizumi also called for “trust, transparency and talks” in the Asia-Pacific, so as to maintain peace and security in the region.

The Japanese defense minister said transparency is “the baseline for reducing tensions and preventing crises.”

He said that Tokyo will build up its defense capabilities with a “high level” of transparency,” and added that Japan is reinforcing these capabilities because of new ways of warfare that are emerging around the world, including AI, cyber warfare and the usage of unmanned systems.

“We will make the necessary preparations with a sense of responsibility,” Koizumi added.

Koizumi, also said that China continues to increase its defense spending at a high level and is “rapidly expanding its military capabilities across a wide range of areas without sufficient transparency.”

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation had noted back November 2022 that its members were concerned about China’s rapid and opaque military buildup, according to Reuters.

This has caused serious concern to Tokyo and in the international community, with Koizumi also saying that Japan believes it is essential to have “persistent, candid dialog and communication” without shying away from difficult issues.

He acknowledged that nations will have different positions and views, “but that is precisely because we need to have talks.”

China is losing a chance at dialogue by not having a ministerial-level delegation at an annual defense forum in Singapore, Germany’s chief of defense General Carsten Breuer said on Saturday.

Speaking at a media roundtable on the sidelines of the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, Breuer said that China is losing this chance at a time when the world is “contested.”

This was “dangerous,” he said, warning that, “in my 42 years as a soldier, I’ve never experienced such dangerous times like we are living in the world as today.”

Breuer’s comments came after China’s defense minister Dong Jun skipped the conference for a second straight year, with Beijing sending a lower-level delegation led by Major General Meng Xiangqing from the People’s Liberation Army National Defence University.

“I strongly recommend to use each and every dialog forum to discuss with each other and to compare not only notes but also opinions … . [From] my perspective, this is necessary.”

His comments also come after U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth called out China earlier on Saturday, saying that “no state, including China, can impose its hegemony and hold the security or prosperity of our nation and our allies in question.”

This does not mean there is no contact with China. The German defense chief said that dialog is still occurring with the members of the Chinese delegation here, “but of course, it would be better to have it on a higher level,” Breuer added.

Breuer was asked if the conversations he had were a “real dialogue,” or a matter of both sides simply stating their positions and walking away.

“I see it as a real dialogue … of course, you have your national positions, and this is clear, but also within those national positions, you can explain, and this is what we are doing, especially on the military side,” the German general replied.

Other countries top defense officials hold different views, however.

“I feel that as a value proposition, their presence here is reduced to a minimum…which is to promote the party line rather than to engage constructively,” Philippines national defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro told CNBC.

“So, insofar as I’m concerned, it’s no major loss for me,” Teodoro added.

The Philippines’ maritime struggle with China is getting increasingly intense, according to national defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro.

The two countries have been locked in a struggle around some disputed territory in the South China Sea. China claims almost all of the sea, including areas that overlap with exclusive economic zones from countries like the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia, and has been building out structures on some shoals in recent years to bolster its claims.

China “continues its acts unabated, and they’re unrepentant with their expansionism,” Teodoro said in an interview with CNBC’s Sri Jegarajah on the sidelines of the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. “We are in for a long-term struggle.”

“It’s our exclusive economic zone,” Teodoro continued, “and future Filipinos need it in a 7,600-island archipelago with a big population which is subject to the ravages of climate change.”

Teodoro noted that the Philippines has tried to resolve the issue through negotiations, and previously filed an arbitration case on it under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

When asked what success would look like on that front, Teodoro said it “would be stopping China’s further advancement” and any construction of artificial islands in the area.

The U.S. Congress continues to have strong support for Taiwan even as it remains a focal point in relations with China, according to members of a delegation at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

“There’s really strong bipartisan support for Taiwan and Taiwan security, and making sure we build on so much of the progress that has been made” regarding the island’s ability to defend itself, Senator Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill, said in a media roundtable at the Dialogue.

Taiwan, which asserts the right to self-government but is also claimed by China, has been in focus given remarks made over time by U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump has referred to $14 billion in arms sales to the island, which has been approved by Congress, as a “negotiating chip” with China.

“Our commitment to Taiwan – it’s not changing,” said Representative Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., in another media roundtable at the Dialogue. “If you look at the work we have done with Taiwan, there can be no assertion that the United States has not been there” for the island.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth didn’t mention Taiwan in his earlier remarks at the Dialogue. However, Representative Michael Baumgartner, R-W.A., downplayed the significance of the omission.

Hegseth “mentioned the status quo with emphasis,” Baumgartner said. “That includes Taiwan in my view.”

Weapons sales to Taiwan were approved by Congress “in a bipartisan manner,” noted Representative Greg Meeks, D-N.Y.. “We’re focused on Taiwan and its security,” and “we’re willing to give them what they need to defend themselves.”