The United Nations World Food Programme warned Sunday that the Iran war is driving tens of millions more people into acute hunger as oil prices remain above $100 per barrel, the latest escalation in a global food crisis, The Guardian reported. Jean-Martin Bauer, the WFP’s director of food and nutrition analysis service, said the organization’s pessimistic scenario is “unfortunately materialising.”
“If oil prices were to remain about $100 per barrel until the end of June, an estimated 45 million more people worldwide would face acute hunger, in addition to the nearly 320 million people considered acutely food insecure at the start of the year,” Bauer said, according to The Guardian.
Weeks of complicated talks marked by sharp rhetoric and flare-ups of violence have not managed to reach a deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, critical to global oil supplies. US and Iranian negotiators have been working to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, but both sides have continued to call for changes and neither appears ready to compromise.
The fragile ceasefire came under renewed threat over the weekend. The US military said it shot down four Iranian drones launched toward the Strait of Hormuz and struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in response. Iran followed hours later, saying it had targeted US bases in the region. Kuwait and Bahrain both issued air raid alerts. Bahrain reported that Iran fired ballistic missiles and drones at it and Kuwait.
Trump is under pressure to find a way out of the war, which has shocked markets and proved unpopular at home as November’s midterm elections draw closer. His administration has promoted what it calls a crackdown on fraud in states run by Democrats, while he once again used the pardon power to excuse financial crimes committed by a Republican. Trump granted a pardon to Stephen Buyer, a former Republican congressman from Indiana who served nearly two years in prison for insider trading.
In other developments reported by The Guardian: A judge dismissed a breach of contract lawsuit brought against jazz drummer and vibes player Chuck Redd after he canceled a Christmas Eve performance at the Kennedy Center following the announcement that Trump’s name would be added to the facility. California’s slow vote-counting process in the state’s primary election has prompted accusations from Trump of “election rigging,” though experts said the system is designed to protect against fraud. A deepening US-European rift over the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina opened with a dispute over a top administrative post, leading to a US threat to “reconsider” its role in international peacekeeping.