FTSE 100 Live: Stocks to slump as Middle East strikes dim peace hopes

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. An exchange of fire from Iran and Israel has left markets returning from the weekend with little hope a fully-fledged peace deal with the US could be on the horizon. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it had fired strikes at military targets in western and central Iran, though did not provide details on the scale of damage or exact locations. The strikes came after the Israeli military intercepted strikes from Iran, which came after its own strikes against Beirut. Donald Trump had urged Israel not to respond to the Iranian strike, telling international media outlets: “The Iranian strikes didn’t hurt anybody”. The President added: “Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one.”Trump gave an interview over the weekend where he once again insisted Washington and Tehran were “very close” to signing a lasting peace deal. He said there was “a couple of points” of disagreement that “don’t even seem like big points” with the President claiming Iran had already agreed to a clause that it won’t develop nuclear weapons. Trump is understood to also have made it clear he wants Tehran to forgo the right to acquire such weapons otherwise. The President said that Iran pushed back “a little bit… and then they didn’t”. We’ll be bringing you the latest market reaction to this and more. Here’s a few of our top headlines this morning One in ten graduates to flee UK’s worst job market in 30 years Upgrading the grid risks ending up like HS2 Defence spending plan delay undermines UK credibility, MPs say Starmer scrambles to make savings in bid to boost defence spending Air fares to soar again if fuel costs stay high, British Airways chief warns The liveblog has ended.No liveblog updates yet. Load more