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Middle East crisis live: Trump casts doubt on Iran war ceasefire over continued closure of strait of Hormuz | US-Israel war on Iran

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Summary

Welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.

The fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran showed further strain on Friday, a day before delegations from both countries are due to meet in Pakistan, as Donald Trump accused Tehran of breaching promises on the strait of Hormuz and Israel struck Lebanon with attacks that Iran claims violate the truce.

Trump said in a social media post late Thursday that Iran was doing a “very poor job” of allowing oil to go through the strait. “That is not the agreement we have!“

There is no sign Iran is lifting its near-total blockade of the strait, which has caused the worst-ever disruption to global energy supplies. Tehran cited Israel’s ongoing attacks on Lebanon, which included the heaviest strikes of the war on Wednesday, as a key sticking point.

Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz.
Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz. Photograph: Reuters

In the first 24 hours of the ceasefire, which Trump announced on Tuesday, just a single oil products tanker and five dry bulk carriers sailed through the strait, which typically carries a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows and 140 ships a day before the war.

  • Donald Trump has said he is “very optimistic” a peace deal with Iran was within reach as a diplomatic delegation led by his vice-president JD Vance prepared to head to Pakistan for high-stakes talks aimed at ending the war this weekend. Iran’s leaders “talk much differently when you’re at a meeting than they do to the press. They’re much more reasonable,” the US president said, in line with his administration’s narrative that there’s a disconnect between what Tehran says publicly and privately.

  • Trump also confirmed that he had asked Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to be “more low-key” in Lebanon to help ensure the success of the upcoming US-Iran negotiations in Islamabad. “I spoke with Bibi and he’s going to low-key it. I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key,” Trump told NBC News, adding that he believed Israel was “scaling back” its operations in Lebanon.

  • Netanyahu said he had instructed his cabinet to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon aimed at disarming Hezbollah – all the while insisting that “there is no ceasefire” in Lebanon and that Israel will “continue to strike Hezbollah with force”.

  • Israel has since launched a fresh wave of strikes against what it called “Hezbollah launch sites” in Lebanon, after the IDF earlier ordered people to flee Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs. Later in the day, Hezbollah said it had fired a rocket salvo towards northern Israeli settlements.

  • While Israel continues to insist that the war will go on and “talks will be held under fire”, Lebanon is demanding a ceasefire before direct negotiations can begin. Joseph Aoun, the Lebanese president, said this was “the only solution”. Lebanon is also insisting that it needs the US as a mediator and guarantor of any agreement. Those talks will take place next week, hosted by the US state department in Washington.

  • Iran’s ⁠president ⁠Masoud Pezeshkian said ⁠Israeli strikes on ⁠Lebanon violate the ceasefire agreement and would render ‌negotiations meaningless, adding that Iran would not abandon the Lebanese people.

  • The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Lebanon forms “an inseparable part of the ceasefire” deal. In a post on X, he said “there is no room for denial and backtracking”.

  • Keir Starmer also said that Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon “shouldn’t be happening”. The British prime minister also dismissed an argument put forward by US vice-president JD Vance on Wednesday that there had been “a legitimate misunderstanding”, saying the issue “isn’t a technical one of whether it’s a breach of the agreement or not”. It is “a matter of principles as far as I’m concerned”, Starmer said.

  • A statement attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said Iran will take management of the strait of Hormuz into a new phase, but did not elaborate on what that would be. In the statement, read out on state tv, he also said Iran remains determined to “take revenge” for his father, who was assassinated on the first day of the war, and all those killed in the war. “We will certainly demand compensation for each and every damage inflicted, and the blood price of the martyrs and the compensation for the wounded of this war,” he said.

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Key events

Donald Trump has said that right wing influencers Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones are “not ‘MAGA,’ they’re losers”.

The four had been reliable supporters of Trump for most of his presidency, but in recent weeks have spoken out over their opposition to the war in Iran.

In a long post on his Truth Social platform, the president launched highly personal attacks on the four, who are among the most influential voices in the right wing media ecosystem.

double quotation markAs President, I could get them on my side anytime I want to, but when they call, I don’t return their calls because I’m too busy on World and Country Affairs and, after a few times, they go ‘nasty’.”

Tucker Carlson campaigning in 2024 with Donald Trump. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters

The war on Iran has widened the cracks in Trump’s already shaky Maga movement, with many commentators and supporters saying that such an operation is a betrayal of Trump’s promise to put America First and extradite the US from messy foreign conflicts.

Carlson on Monday called the president’s rhetoric toward Iran, including an expletive-filled threat on Easter, “vile” on “every level.” Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones asked on his Info Wars show: “How do we 25th Amendment his ass?” Former Fox News host and popular conservative media personality Megyn Kelly said the recent ceasefire with Iran “sounds very much like surrender,” but conceded that she supported it.

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European stock markets hit record high and oil price falls to three-month low after US-Iran peace deal – business live | Business

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European stock markets hit record high

European stock markets have hit a record high at the start of trading, as relief over the US-Iran peace deal ripples across global markets.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index has jumped by 0.9% to 639 points, over the previous record high set just before the Iran war started, with shares rising in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid and Milan.

Mining and travel companies are driving the rally, while oil company shares are sliding.

That follows sharp gains in Asia-Pacific markets overnight, where Japan’s Nikkei surged by 5% on hopes that the strait of Hormuz will reopen within days.

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, says global equity markets are starting the week firmly on the front foot after President Trump announced that a deal with Iran had been reached, adding:

double quotation markThe move has given investors a clear reason to dial back some of the geopolitical risk premium that has hung over markets, especially as the Strait of Hormuz is expected to reopen and oil prices move sharply lower.

Energy prices have been one of the clearest transmission channels from Middle East tensions into inflation, bond yields and equity sentiment, and there is likely to be a concerted effort to get prices down even further once this deal is finalised.

There are still details to be ironed out before markets can fully trust the agreement, but for now the direction of travel is clear: lower oil, calmer nerves and a renewed appetite for risk.

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Peace deal should keep mortgage rates down

Mortgage borrowers can breathe a sigh of relief at the news of a peace deal in Iran, says Adam French, head of consumer finance at Moneyfactscompare.co.uk.

double quotation markWhile we are far from being out of the woods yet, a lasting peace deal should dramatically reduce the risk of the Bank of England’s worst-case scenario for inflation and interest rates becoming a reality.

“Under that scenario, Base Rate could have risen to 5.25%, potentially pushing typical rates on new mortgages towards 6.75%. Instead, today’s news means mortgages rates, which have already been slowly falling for several weeks, have likely already passed their peak – at least until the next unwelcome crisis.

“Borrowers can be optimistic but with a word of caution, as inflation and economic data will continue to influence the outlook. However, a lasting peace should remove one of the biggest risks to mortgage costs and may help restore a more stable environment for hard-pressed remortgage borrowers and prospective buyers.”

Even before this morning’s drop in UK bond yields (see earlier post), average mortgage rates have dipped slightly.

Moneyfacts reports:

  • The average 2-year fixed residential mortgage rate today is 5.61%. This is down from 5.62% the previous working day.

  • The average 5-year fixed residential mortgage rate today is 5.58%. This is down from 5.59% the previous working day.

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Roy Hattersley, former Labour deputy leader, dies aged 93

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Paying tribute, Sir Keir Starmer said Lord Hattersley “was a giant of the Labour movement”.



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A £350 swimming pool fee ruined our easyJet holiday | Consumer rights

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My partner and I paid £2,150 for a week’s all-inclusive break in Marrakech with easyJet Holidays.

We chose the Jaal Riad Resort Hotel because of its pool and spa. When we arrived, we were told that use of the heated pool cost £24 a person an hour, the Jacuzzi £24 for 20 minutes, and the hammam was £16 for 20 minutes.

Nowhere were these extra fees listed when booking. EasyJet Holidays rejected my complaint and referred me to a line buried at the bottom of the list of facilities that said charges may apply. We were planning on using the pool regularly but could not afford it. If we had known, we would have booked elsewhere.
DP,
Cambridgeshire

Hidden charges can hugely inflate the cost of holidays. Resort fees are the most pernicious – some hotels charge up to £50 a person a day for facilities whether or not they are used.

Then there’s the daily tourist tax levied via the accommodation provider during the stay in some countries, and ancillary fees for upgraded wifi for sun loungers.

EasyJet Holidays makes a big deal of the pool – it’s a prominent photo on the webpage for the hotel.

No asterisk refers potential bookers to the crucial caveat that a couple, wishing to avail themselves once a day during a week’s stay, would have to pay almost £350 extra.

Even the eagle-eyed who alighted on the paragraph of small print at the bottom of the page, would be none the wiser.

Enjoy the pool! (T&Cs apply, may cost £24 an hour per person, please read small print) Photograph: Maria Korneeva/Getty Images

Only after declaring that the facilities are subject to height and weight restrictions, seasonal availability, opening times, and age and dress code, does it mention that they “may” attract additional charges. These are not listed.

This is potentially unlawful, according to consumer lawyer Gary Rycroft.

“The facilities were prominently marketed as part of the holiday experience, and extra charges were not clearly disclosed before purchase,” he says. “Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act 2024, businesses must not omit material information that would influence a consumer’s decision about whether to enter into a contract.”

EasyJet is defensive. “We always strive to make it clear that use of hotel facilities may incur additional charges,” it told me.

The company said then that it was reviewing the description to “further highlight that the use of the spa facilities is chargeable”, although, at the time of writing, three weeks later, the webpage remained unchanged. It has also now offered a £500 goodwill payment.

As the holiday season begins, you need to read the small print to avoid nasty surprises.

We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number. Submission and publication of all letters is subject to our terms and conditions.



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