Iran Response

• Il Presidente degli Stati Uniti Donald Trump ha denunciato pubblicamente la risposta dell'Iran a una proposta di pace statunitense, definendola 'totalmente inaccettabile' in un contesto di negoziati stagnanti nelle ultime settimane. • L'Iran ha inviato la sua risposta per 'porre fine alla guerra' attraverso mediatori pakistani, mentre regge un fragile cessate il fuoco nonostante intermittenti tensioni nel Golfo e segnalati attacchi di droni. • Lo scambio aggrava le tensioni: l'Iran ha liquidato il rifiuto di Trump come 'irrilevante' e ha avvertito i paesi che applicano le sanzioni USA di possibili 'difficoltà' nel transitare attraverso lo Stretto di Hormuz.

• Il presidente Trump ha dichiarato il 9 maggio 2026 che gli Stati Uniti sono ancora in attesa della risposta dell'Iran all'ultimo piano di pace, sottolineando che potrebbe arrivare 'da un momento all'altro'. • I prezzi del carburante in tempo di guerra hanno raggiunto una media di 4,53 dollari per gallone a livello nazionale, segnando un aumento di 25 centesimi per la seconda settimana consecutiva in mezzo alle tensioni in corso. • L'assenza di risposta aumenta i rischi nello Stretto di Hormuz, dove le recenti azioni navali sottolineano le fragili dinamiche del cessate il fuoco.

• Gli Stati Uniti stanno monitorando la risposta dell'Iran a una rinnovata proposta di pace in seguito a attacchi reciproci, come riportato dalla corrispondente della Casa Bianca di Fox News, Aishah Hasnie. • Il Presidente Trump persegue un accordo diplomatico tra le tensioni in Medio Oriente, con l'ex rappresentante speciale per l'Iran Brian Hook che ha lodato la strategia di 'deterrenza disciplinata' dell'amministrazione. • Gli sviluppi segnalano una potenziale escalation al ribasso nel conflitto, evidenziando l'attenzione della politica estera di Trump verso la sicurezza e la negoziazione.

Diplomatic efforts continuing despite fighting in and around contested strait of Hormuz in recent daysMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said that Washington is expecting a response from Iran on Friday to its proposals for an interim deal to end the conflict in the Middle East, as Iran accused the US of breaching the increasingly fragile ceasefire announced last month.In recent days there have been the biggest flare-ups in fighting in and around the contested strait of Hormuz since the informal truce began. The rise in violence followed Donald Trump’s announcement – then rapid pause – of a new naval mission aimed at opening the strategic waterway. Continue reading...

Pakistani intermediaries deliver 15-point plan but some proposals proved intractable in previous negotiationsIranian officials expressed initial disapproval of a US ceasefire plan on Wednesday, even as intermediaries suggested direct talks between the two could start as early as this weekend.Representatives from Pakistan who reportedly delivered the US plan to Iran told the Associated Press that it was a 15-point proposal that would include sanctions relief for Iran, dismantling Iran’s nuclear programme, restricting its use of missiles and reopening the strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for about 20% of the world’s oil. Continue reading...

Energy minister Michael Shanks reassures drivers ahead of chancellor’s statement to MPsGood morning. At lunchtime Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will give a statement to MPs that will cover what the government is doing, and (more tentatively) might do, in response to the soaring global energy prices caused by the Iran war. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, also creating a global energy shortage, the Conservative government ended up spending £40bn supporting families and firms with energy bills over the following winter. Reeves’s problem is that she has not got £40bn spare. With spring upon us, and people starting to turn down their central heating, the issue may not seem particularly pressing in many households (although heating oil and petrol prices are already soaring.) But, by the end of this year, this could be the sort of colossal economic crisis that gets remembered for half a century.As Chris Mason explains in a good preview, Reeves is expected to cover three points. She is expected to confirm that the government wants to give the Competition and Markets Authority new powers to deal with any potention profiteering by oil companies. She will confirm that the government wants to go “further and faster to secure the next generation of nuclear power and to reclaim Britain’s place as a leading nuclear nation” (as the Treasury puts it in its overnight preview).[Drivers] should do everything as absolutely normal because there is no shortage of fuel anywhere in the country at the moment. We monitor this every single day, I look at the numbers personally. There’s no issue at all with that …People should go about their business as normal. That’s what the RAC and the AA have said. It’s really important people do that. There’s no shortage of fuel and everything is working as normal.Look genuinely, people shouldn’t change their behaviour or their habits in the slightest. Continue reading...

US president was meeting with Japanese PM when he said: ‘Who knows better about surprise than Japan?’Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxIt would be funny if it wasn’t so Trumpy.Hosting the Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, in the Oval Office on Thursday, Donald Trump could not resist mocking Japan about its 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor during the second world war. Continue reading...