Donald Trump has threatened to “decimate” every bridge and power plant in Iran if no agreement is reached on re-opening the Strait of Hormuz by 8pm ET (1am BST) this evening. The head of the International Energy Agency warned this morning that the Iran energy shock is worse than the oil crises of 1973, 1979 and 2002 combined. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is considering blocking Kanye West from entering Britain to headline the Wireless Festival in London this summer because of his history of anti-Semitic remarks. The American rapper, who has described himself as a Nazi and released a song called Heil Hitler, says he would be “grateful” to meet members of the UK’s Jewish community ahead of his performance. The Artemis II astronauts are on their way home after conducting their historic fly-by of the moon. The four-strong crew travelled 252,756 miles from Earth, further than any human before them, and are scheduled to splash down off the coast of San Diego on Friday night.

Every night since the war began, says Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s former vice president and foreign minister, in Foreign Affairs, crowds have gathered across the Islamic Republic chanting: “No capitulation, no compromise, fight with America.” Iranians are furious with the US, and not just because of its present aggression. Tehran helped the US against al-Qaeda after 9/11, only for George W Bush to include Iran in his “axis of evil”. The Obama administration negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal, then Donald Trump tore it up and applied “maximum pressure” sanctions. Now this. So you can see why, with Washington seemingly stymied by Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz, Iranians don’t want to negotiate. Continuing to resist the US and Israel militarily would be “psychologically satisfying”. But it would be a mistake.

Instead, Tehran should use its “upper hand” to strike a deal: it should offer to place enrichment limits on its nuclear programme and to reopen the strait in exchange for an end to all sanctions, in particular on the sale of Iranian oil. The two sides should also sign a mutual non-aggression pact agreeing not to strike each other in the future, with the re-closure of the strait the obvious penalty if the US or Israel break their word. It’s a deal the Americans probably wouldn’t have accepted before the conflict began. But they might do so now. Tehran has demonstrated that it cannot be defeated through assassinations and air strikes alone. And if Trump follows through with his bombastic promises to demolish Iran’s infrastructure, the Iranians will respond with escalatory attacks of their own. Far better, for everyone, to take this opportunity to agree a “durable settlement”.

🕊️🇮🇷 Contrary to common perception, Trump is possibly the “most hawkish” person in his administration on the Iran war,say Barak Ravid and Marc Caputo in Axios. One official says we should ignore claims he is being “egged on” by the likes of Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth or Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “Those guys sound like the doves compared to the president.”

The Chinese government is having to ban people from storing the cremated remains of their loved ones in abandoned flats, says Ella Kipling on BBC News, instead of paying for expensive cemetery plots. So-called “bone ash apartments” have become increasingly popular as cemetery space is scarce, pricey and must be renewed on a 20-year lease, while the burst property bubble has left Chinese cities full of empty homes. The ban came in last week ahead of the Qingming Festival, known as Tomb Sweeping Day, when relatives tend to the graves of loved ones.

Prue Leith learned the hard way that cookery writers have to get their ingredient measurements right. The celebrity chef told a Spectator event last week that she once provided the Daily Mail with a handwritten marmalade recipe in which she had put “2tbs of black treacle” but forgot to cross the “t”. Several readers who used two pounds of the stuff wrote in to complain about their ruined saucepans. Worse, Leith received a squishy-feeling envelope that security feared could be IRA Semtex, and the building was evacuated. It turned out to be a lump of “marmalade toffee” with a dental brace containing two teeth embedded in it, and an “enormous orthodontist’s bill” which the Mail had to pay.

It’s been a year since Donald Trump declared America’s “Liberation Day”, says National Review. So have his tariffs had the “glorious effects” he promised? “Hardly.” America’s manufacturing sector, which the US president claimed would come “roaring back”, is still shedding tens of thousands of jobs. Investment in new factories declined last year. The costs of the tariffs are overwhelmingly being passed on to Americans, rather than being paid by foreign manufacturers, with merchandise prices around 6% higher than they would have been otherwise. The goods deficit, Trump’s biggest bugbear, actually widened last year to more than $1.2trn. “What were we supposed to be ‘liberated’ from, again?”

Hang on, says Oren Cass in the FT. A year ago economists issued dire predictions: sharply higher inflation, slower growth, a recession and millions of jobs lost. “None of this happened.” Inflation has slowed, real GDP growth has accelerated. Industrial output, which had fallen over the past decade, has increased by 1.6%. Surveys show increased optimism among manufacturers. The chief economist of Bloomberg – an organisation not known for its fealty to Trump – noted all this positive data last week, acknowledging that “tariffs probably played a role”. Yes, manufacturing jobs are still declining, but the rate is slowing, and if you factor in job openings the numbers are actually up over the past three months. Re-industrialisation was never going to happen overnight. Tellingly, the doomsters insist that this strong economic performance is to be expected because the tariffs have been watered down, first through negotiation with other governments and then by the Supreme Court. But the levies now in place still represent “robust protectionism”. That globalism diehards are tolerant of this underlines the extent to which “the old orthodoxy has collapsed”.

If you’ve ever wondered how many people live near you, says Matt Muir in Web Curios, have a look at the Circle Population website. You can pick any location in the world, and it’ll tell you the estimated population of whatever radius you choose, between 3km and 100km. Within 3km of Knowledge Towers, for example, live more than 413,000 people. Click here to give it a go.

Americans have never taken much of an interest in fish, says JM Hirsch in AP News. They eat an average of just 8.5kg a year, compared to the global average of 20kg and a whopping 90kg in Iceland. So the nation’s food industry is trying a new tack: “surreptitious seafood” – essentially fish that’s disguised as meat. There are fried tuna nuggets, made to resemble chicken; the salmon snack strip (a bit like a Peperami) that, according to its maker, “doesn’t taste fishy”; fried calamari snacks that look a bit like chips; salmon salami; tambaqui “spare ribs” and tuna “meatballs”.

It’s English TikToker “STPGuy”, says The Economist, who has racked up thousands of followers and millions of views for his calm, measured assessments of the nation’s sticky toffee puddings. Considerations for the entirely deadpan reviews include density, sauce-to-pudding ratio and fancy culinary additions. His favourite so far is the rich, moist, perfectly-sauced STP at Hawksmoor in London’s Piccadilly, which he describes as the “Rolls Royce of STPs”. It’s not just about how it tastes, he says, but “how it makes you feel”. Watch more of his reviews here.