Oil prices climb as Trump insists ‘afraid’ Iran wants deal to end war despite rejecting US plan – live updates

The UK government is to reopen a carbon dioxide plant with a government grant of up to £100 million amid fears of famine caused by the war in Iran.

Business Secretary Peter Kyle has signed the grant to reopen the Ensus factory in Teesside in North East England, the Financial Times reports.

It is understood that the grant will pay for the facility to be operational again in the first three months.

The plant was shelved last year after a trade deal with the United States dropped tariffs on bioethanol, its main product.

It will reopen due to its ability to produce CO2 as a byproduct. Gas is vital to many sectors, including the beverages and nuclear industry, but supply has been disrupted by rising energy costs from other sources, such as fertilizer plants.

The grant to the Ensus facility is the UK Government’s first major intervention aimed at tackling potential famines caused by the Iran conflict.

But fears extend much wider than CO2, with former BP executive Nick Butler telling Times Radio the UK could face oil and gas shortages within two to three weeks.

He said: ‘There will be shortages and I think the Government must now seriously plan how to deal with that and part of that is to maximize supply.’

On Tuesday, Shell CEO Wael Sawan made a similar warning at an industry conference.

Ministers continue to insist that oil supplies are reliable.

Energy minister Michael Shanks told MPs on Wednesday that the Government was “absolutely not planning” power cuts or oil rationing and insisted the UK had a “strong and diverse supply pipeline”.

The big question remains how long Iran’s effective blockade of the vital Strait of Hormuz will last.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper will call on Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as she heads to the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting in France.

He will make clear that the UK will help ensure the safe passage of ships through the strait and provide an additional £2 million in humanitarian aid to Lebanon.

Ms Cooper is expected to meet with counterparts including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, France’s Jean-Noel Barrot and Germany’s Johann Wadephul.

The strait remained closed on Wednesday evening, despite Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi claiming it was open to ‘non-hostile’ shipping.

The conflict continued with Washington saying it would hit Iran ‘harder’ if Tehran refused to accept that it was ‘militarily defeated’.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt insisted “productive” talks between Washington and Tehran were continuing.

But in a message on his Telegram channel translated from Persian, Mr. Araghchi said “there have been no negotiations or talks with the American side” and suggested the United States had effectively admitted defeat.

He said: ‘Didn’t they talk about ‘unconditional surrender’ before? What happened now that we were talking and calling for negotiations?

‘I will declare that there are no negotiations, but the fact that they have mobilized their top officials to negotiate with the Islamic Republic shows that they have accepted defeat.’