Transcription
holding. That's despite sporadic skirmishes in the Straits of Homus. The standoff, though, continues to cause economic pain around the world.
Food prices. Well, they've shot up to their highest levels in more than three years. And farmers are dealing with fertilizer shortages as well as higher diesel costs.
Meanwhile, environmentalists, they are sounding the alarm about satellite imagery showing an oil slick spreading off the coast of Iran's K Island. That's the country's main petroleum export hub. But it's unclear what has caused that spill.
Now, on the diplomatic front, Washington says it's optimistic that will respond to its latest proposal to end the war and resume talks. Our correspondent al-Mdad al-Red is in the Iranian capital, Tehran, with more details. What do we have that is Bakai confirming that they are, that they are right now reviewing the response from the United States? Officials right now are working on that, uh, response. And also, he emphasized the idea of, uh, the focus on the ending the war, the focus on that 14-point plan conveyed to the United States over the past, uh, days. He said that we are right now, uh, concerning about how to end this war, how to mediate between, uh, that gaps between the United States and Iranian. But at the same time, he didn't mention any exact time for delivering the, the, the, that message. The indication is clear that right now, the, uh, the response is reviewing under, uh, definitely under the stakeholders here in the capital, whether it's IRGC, whether it's a top diplomat, whether parliament members, and also from the negotiating team. And at the same time, at the end is by supreme leader. So that could happen at any time. But as is Bakai said, at appropriate time for Iranians.
Sah Azadi is director of the Middle East studies program at George Washington University, and he says if the standoff continues, Washington will be under more political pressure than Tehran. I think they can survive. Uh, they strongly believe that, um, they can outlast President Trump. Uh, you're talking about a country that is, um, um, very much capable of absorbing punishment, uh, uh, taking pain. Um, whereas the US is not, uh, because of just the political culture is quite different from the Iranian side. So whether they can survive this, um, I think yes, um, I think they can survive it. Um, um, and but they're still, I think they're very serious, and they think they, that the time is on their side, whereas President Trump does not have the time on his side.
It's the issue of trust because the repeat, they, I mean, the Iranian history is filled with examples of them signing agreements with great powers that in that were inherently, uh, more favorable, uh, to the foreign side. This is why they're very cautious. That this is why they insist, uh, on changing and amending things in the very last minute because they want to make sure that they keep their heads up. And also, uh, when I said trust, it's really about, um, the other side fulfilling their promises. Um, Iranians have again, many times they sign agreements where the other side did not abide by the terms of the agreement. Most recently, we had the case of the joint comprehensive plan of action, the JCPOA. They signed an agreement. Um, they were implementing it, and it was the United States that, uh, withdrew from it, violated the agreement, and it prevented the other parties to the agreement, uh, from implementing their own commitments.
All right. All right. Well, let's get more now on that surge in global food prices because the United Nations report says the cost of basic essentials rose 1.6% in April. A shortage of fertilizer and higher diesel costs are increasing pressure on farmers worldwide. While vegetable oil prices jumped nearly 6% to their highest levels since July 2022, meat prices rose 1.2%, 2% last month, partly due to limited livestock supplies in countries including Brazil. Overall global food prices are now 2.5% higher than they were a year ago.
Well, Julian May is a food security specialist at the University of the Western Cape, and he explains how rising fertilizer costs are affecting African countries. Well, certainly a good deal of this can be put at the issue of the closure of the straits because this is affecting energy prices, which is a major way of transmitting to food prices in Africa, as well as the cost of fertilizers, um, which will also cascade into affecting production levels in Africa. The longer the conflict lasts, there's the, the risk of disrupting planting seasons. So many African countries are experiencing one of their rainy seasons at the moment and would be preparing to start planting crops which are dependent upon fertilizer. So strong effect. The continent is heavily reliant upon the use of trucks to be able to move food from one part to the other rather than since they aren't well-developed train systems. So that would be one of it. The continent is also very heavily dependent upon oil for a whole range of production issues, including irrigation, as well as the production of mechanization, as well as refrigeration. So it's going to be those highly urbanized areas, as well as those parts of the African food system which are dependent upon staples such as maize. Wheat is less of an issue, but maize certainly will be an issue. But we have to also recognize that Africa is a highly diverse continent, and some areas are still using, um, foods such as plantain or te as staples which are not necessarily going to be as