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Middle East crisis live: US says Iran talks ‘productive’; Israel continues Lebanon strikes as officials reportedly discuss ceasefire

The White House denied reports that the United States has requested an extension to its ceasefire with Iran, which is set to expire next week. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that was “not true” and that talks were “productive and ongoing”, and that the US “feels good about the prospects of a deal” with Iran. A second round of talks “would very likely” take place in Islamabad again, Leavitt said. She added that Pakistan is “the only mediator” in these discussions and praises their efforts. Several outlets have reported today that in-person talks could resume next week. Meanwhile, a delegation from Pakistan arrived in Tehran for further discussion with the Iranian regime. It all comes as Donald Trump said earlier that the war was “very close to over”, while Tehran said messages were still being exchanged via Pakistan. The White House also said that the US blockade of Iranian ports “has been fully implemented” and applies to ships of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports. Leavitt also declined to give a timeline for how long the blockade will last. US Central Command later said it had intercepted an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel that “tried to evade the US blockade”. The ship was “successfully redirected” and heading back to Iran, Centcom said. Centcom added that no vessels had made it through since the US blockade began on Monday. Meanwhile, Benjamin Netanyahu is weighing a possible ceasefire in Lebanon after Washington applied pressure. After direct Israel-Lebanon talks on Tuesday, Israel’s security cabinet met on Wednesday to discuss a ceasefire. But the IDF continues to strike the country in the meantime, with the Israeli prime minister saying in a video statement that Israel was about to “overwhelm” one part of southern Lebanon. He said Israel is “prepared for any scenario” if fighting should resume, adding: “It is too early to say how this matter will end, or even how it will progress.”

US and Iran in indirect talks to extend two-week ceasefire

The US and Iran have been in indirect talks aimed at extending the two-week ceasefire beyond its expiry on 22 April, as Pakistan’s army chief arrived in Tehran to continue mediation efforts. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, denied on Wednesday that the US had “formally” requested to extend the two-week ceasefire but added that Washington remained “very much engaged in these negotiations”. A second round of negotiations would “very likely” be held in Islamabad, she said, adding that the White House feels “good about the prospects of a deal” only days after negotiations to reach a peace agreement failed. “Nothing is official until you hear it from us here at the White House,” she added. The remarks came as Pakistani officials launched a new round of shuttle diplomacy in an effort to negotiate an end to the conflict, travelling to Iran and other countries in the region to marshal diplomatic support for a peace agreement. Field Marshal Asim Munir led a Pakistani delegation to Tehran on Wednesday to convey a message from Washington, while working to arrange a second round of US-Iranian ceasefire negotiations. The high-powered delegation also included the interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, officials in Islamabad said. On the same day, Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan’s prime minister, set off on a four-day tour to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, in an attempt to bolster peace efforts by coordinating support from other regional powers. Reports from the region suggested both sides were in favour of prolonging the truce, though Donald Trump suggested an extension may not even be necessary to secure a peace agreement. “During this visit, the views of both sides are likely to be discussed in detail,” said Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, adding that an exchange of messages between Washington and Tehran had continued even after 21 hours of ceasefire talks in Islamabad had broken up over the weekend. Sources in Tehran said Iran demanded an end to Israeli attacks on Lebanon as a precondition for another round of negotiations with the US. Israel has portrayed its talks with the Lebanese government in Washington as a “historic opportunity” to end the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militia’s grip on Lebanon. But Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, indicated in a video statement on Wednesday evening that he had not committed to a ceasefire, saying the IDF was continuing to “strike Hezbollah” in its stronghold in Lebanon of Bint Jbeil and that he had given instructions to broaden a “security zone” by continuing operations in Lebanon. “Our forces continue to strike Hezbollah, we are about to conquer Bint Jbeil,” he said. “In parallel, yesterday I gave instructions to the IDF to continue thickening the security zone.” Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, the Israeli army chief of staff, visited Israeli troops on Wednesday and vowed to eliminate Hezbollah’s presence south of the Litani River, about 30km (19 miles) from the Israeli border. “I have ordered that all of the area of south Lebanon up to the Litani line be turned into a Hezbollah terrorist kill zone,” Zamir said, adding: “We are advancing and striking Hezbollah and they are retreating.” The US military said a naval blockade of Iranian ports imposed after the end of the Islamabad talks had been “fully implemented” and US warships had turned back nine ships, including the Chinese-owned tanker Rich Starry, which had tried to cross the strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. The ship has been placed under sanctions by the US. Maj Gen Ali Abdollahi, the leader of Iran’s joint military command, on Wednesday said its military could halt trade in the Gulf region if the US did not lift its blockade on Iranian ports. Scott Bessent, the US Treasury secretary, has said the US was ready to escalate financial pressure on Iran by preparing for the “financial equivalent” of the US bombing campaign. The administration has “told companies, we have told countries that if you are buying Iranian oil, that if Iranian money is sitting in your banks, we are now willing to apply secondary sanctions, which is a very stern measure”, he said. “And the Iranians should know that this is going to be the financial equivalent of what we saw in the kinetic activities.” China has voiced its objections to the naval blockade, but Trump claimed on Wednesday that he had won agreement from Xi Jinping, China’s president, not to send arms to Iran. The foreign ministry in Beijing had denied over the course of the war that China was supplying weapons to Iran. However, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard aerospace force had acquired a Chinese spy satellite in 2024 and had used it to target US bases in the region during the five-week war. Trump continued his predictions of a swift end to the war, which he has kept up since starting the conflict in partnership with Netanyahu. He told an ABC News correspondent, Jonathan Karl: “I think you’re going to be watching an amazing two days ahead.” The president told Karl the war could be ended before the expiry of the ceasefire next Wednesday, arguing the US could simply withdraw having inflicted significant damage on Iran’s military, or exit after a deal with Tehran. “It could end either way, but I think a deal is preferable because then they can rebuild,” he said. Trump also told Fox News that the war could be over “very soon” and that there would then be a sharp decline in the price of oil, which hovered around $95 on Wednesday as traders remained uncertain on the future of peace talks. After the Islamabad talks ended on Sunday, Trump ordered a naval blockade on shipping coming in or out of Iranian Gulf ports, as a counter to Iran’s near-total closure of the strategic waterway leading into the Gulf, the strait of Hormuz, since the start of the war, and to increase economic pressure. Ali Abdollahi warned that Iran would block all exports and imports across the region, including the Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea, if the US blockade continued. “Iran will act with strength to defend its national sovereignty and its interests,” Ali Abdollahi said.

Trump needs a better Iran deal than Obama’s – but faces major hurdles

If talks between Iran and the US reconvene within the next few days in Islamabad, Donald Trump will have two major political hurdles to overcome – first showing that any deal he secures is better than the one signed by Barack Obama in 2015 and from which he withdraw in 2018, and secondly proving the deal is more favourable than the one on offer in Geneva in February before he launched his war. Otherwise he will have inflicted massive damage on the world economy when alternatives were available that were less costly in blood and treasure. He will also have to show that Iran has made no permanent gain by taking control of shipping passing through the strait of Hormuz. These are the yardsticks, or tests, around which his negotiating team will be keeping an anxious eye. Of course, comparisons between the 159-page 2015 joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPOA), the product of a specific moment in time, and whatever comes out of Islamabad cannot be exact since the nature of the Iran’s nuclear programme has altered so much since 2015. Moreover other issues, such as Iran’s ballistic missile programme or the stewardship of the strait of Hormuz, have greater prominence than in 2015. In one respect, any Islamabad deal will be better than the JCPOA since it will contain no sunset clauses, one of Trump’s major criticisms of the Obama deal. The new deal will have datelines for specific events to be triggered, but overall the deal is intended to be for ever. These are broadly four sticking points on which the Trump team will aim to claim progress over his hated Democrat predecessor. The first is Iran’s domestic enrichment of uranium. In the Geneva talks held on 26 February the two sides provisionally reached a position whereby the US team, on Trump’s instruction, demanded Iran suspend all domestic enrichment for 10 years. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, indicated he thought three years was the maximum the Iranian system would wear. The US in last week’s talks in Islamabad raised their demand to a 20-year suspension, and Trump in a New York Post interview said he “did not like the 20-year offer”, and wanted the ban on enrichment to be permanent. In practice, nobody knows how long it would take Iran, given the damage inflicted on its key enrichment facilities, to start enriching again. In the 2015 talks Obama conceded Iran could enrich for 15 years, but only at the level of purity required for a civilian nuclear programme – 3.67%. The agreement did not explicitly grant Iran a right to enrich as a point of principle. The second issue is Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. The 2015 JCPOA limited Iran’s stockpile of uranium at 3.65% to 300kg. Now Iran has 440.9kg of uranium enriched to 60% uranium-235, a level that can be quickly enriched to weapons-grade – 90%. Nearly all of the 60% material is in gas form (UF6) and stored in small canisters, roughly the size of a scuba tank. Iran says that from July 2019 it built this stockpile at these higher purity levels as a bargaining chip in response to the US and Europe’s failure to lift sanctions as promised in the 2015 deal. At Geneva on 26 February Iran offered to “downblend” this stockpile of highly enriched uranium – an irreversible process – from 60% to 3.67%, the maximum level set in the JCPOA. The 2015 deal contained similar provisions to both downblend, or export the excess stocks. The US in Islamabad said it wanted the entire stockpile taken out of Iran, ideally under US supervision. It is not clear why downblending inside Iran under full IAEA supervision is a substantially worse option from the US perspective than shipping the uranium out of the country. In Geneva Iran offered a new confidence-building measure, saying it would not build any stockpile of uranium, and uranium would be enriched only on the basis of need. This would be a gain that Trump could claim surpassed any Obama deal. The third issue is sanctions relief. The 2015 deal was to release a headline $100bn (£74bn) in Iranian assets frozen abroad, and to lift restrictions on Iran’s oil trade. It left in place restrictions on terrorism, human rights abuses and missile proliferation. At Geneva more than 80% of the sanctions on Iran were set to be lifted, leaving human rights-related sanctions in place. But the Trump administration faces a political constraint on sanctions relief. In 2015 figures such as Marco Rubio, then a senator, lambasted Obama, saying: “Iran will immediately use the money that it’s receiving in sanctions relief to begin to build up its conventional capabilities. It will establish the most dominant military power in the region outside the United States, and it will raise the price of us operating in the region.” Trump as a result wants some restrictions on what Iran spends the sanctions relief. Iran for its part cannot accept such restrictions and needs some guarantee that the sanctions relief is permanent, and not reversible as in the past. It is here that the trust deficit between the two sides makes a solution so difficult. Finally there is the nexus of non-nuclear issues such as support for proxy forces, ballistic missiles and above all the future of the strait of Hormuz. Trump always complained that the JCPOA treated Iran’s nuclear programme in isolation, and did not address Iran’s wider behaviour. Can he defer these wider issues or does he want them included in some way in a grand bargain? Iran itself seems divided on how to handle the US blockade of its ports, including whether to say it is a breach of the ceasefire and something that must end before the Islamabad talks can reconvene. More broadly, Ali Nasri, the Iran-based international lawyer, said on Tuesday two conflicting views existed inside Iran on how to handle the strait issue. One, more confrontational, view backs exploiting the strait to generate revenue, gain compensation for war damages and to assert national pride. The other sees it as a strategic negotiating lever to gain in the short term a lasting ceasefire, sanctions relief and security guarantees. “Later as the threat environment subsides, and the Trump presidency likely ends, a carefully crafted legal system could pave the way for Iran to exert greater authority over the passageway,” he suggested. He likened this choice facing the country to the famous marshmallow test at Stanford University on delayed gratification in the 1970s. “The success and progress of the country in the future depends on our ability to manage the temptation of instant gratification and choose a gradual, calculated and long-term path.” So somewhere between Trump’s self-imposed Obama test, and Iran’s marshmallow test lies the winding path to peace.

Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti facing ‘escalating abuse’ in Israeli jails

The jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti is at immediate risk in Israeli jails, where he has been attacked three times in as many weeks, including in one assault last month where prison guards set a dog on the 66-year-old, his lawyer has said. Barghouti is often called Palestine’s Nelson Mandela. He is respected across otherwise feuding Palestinian factions, has broad popular support across occupied Palestine, repeatedly engaged with Israeli officials before his detention and long backed a two-state solution. On Wednesday, the 24th anniversary of his imprisonment, international celebrities including Cate Blanchett, Bryan Adams and Don Cheadle added their names to a high-profile demand for his release that is already backed by hundreds of cultural figures and former global leaders. His lawyer, Ben Marmarelli, said in a statement after a prison visit where Barghouti provided details of the most recent attacks that the Palestinian leader faced a “clear pattern of escalating abuse: violence, medical neglect, and treatment that places him at immediate risk” in jail. Marmarelli said that on 25 March prison guards entered Barghouti’s cell in Megiddo prison with a dog and forced him to the ground where “the dog repeatedly attacked him”. The following day Barghouti was assaulted during a transfer to Ganot prison, and on 8 April guards at that jail beat him severely, left him bleeding for more than two hours and denied requests for medical treatment, he said. “Despite all of that, his mind was sharp, focused, and deeply engaged with everything happening outside those prison walls,” Marmarelli said. Barghouti’s trial for murder was criticised as flawed by legal experts, and Mandela himself reportedly described it as a legal attack on a legitimate political struggle. Barghouti was convicted of ordering attacks that killed civilians during the second intifada and has remained in jail since, spending long stretches in solitary confinement. Mandela, South Africa’s first democratically elected president after the end of apartheid, in 2002 told his lawyer Khader Shkirat: “What is happening to Barghouti is exactly the same as what happened to me. The government tried to de-legitimise the African National Congress and its armed struggle by putting me on trial.” Israel has rejected repeated requests for Barghouti’s release during prisoner exchanges, and recent years have brought growing concerns about his health, given widespread, systemic torture and abuse of Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Prisoners do not get enough to eat, despite repeated orders from Israel’s supreme court to increase food provision. “In an atmosphere where Israel is emboldened in its abuse of prisoners the only way to protect Marwan is to secure his immediate release,” Marmarelli said, adding that the visit took place under what he described as “absurd conditions”. The two men were divided by glass and without working phones, so were forced to shout to make themselves heard in their conversation. “While Marwan is held in an Israeli jail there can be no way to guarantee his safety,” he said. The Palestinian leader was seen in public footage for the first time in a decade last summer when the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir released a video of himself taunting a gaunt-looking Barghouti in jail. His son, Arab Barghouti, later said the family feared for his life, after receiving reports that he had been beaten unconscious by eight Israeli prison guards. Family visits to the jail are barred, but former detainees released under a ceasefire deal provided evidence of the attack. Arab Barghouti thanked the artists speaking up for his father and called for others to join the campaign. “Artists and musicians were critical in the movement to free Mandela and end apartheid in South Africa and I hope they can play a similar role for Marwan and Palestine,” he said. “More than ever we need these voices to focus attention and turn hope into action.” In Bethlehem Palestinian artists marked the anniversary of Barghouti’s detention with a mural on the Israeli-built separation wall. The Israel Prison Service did not respond to requests for comment on Barghouti’s treatment.

Pope Leo shares message of unity amid spat with Trump: ‘We can live in peace’

The ongoing squabble between the Trump administration and the Vatican over the war in Iran took another twist on Wednesday when Pope Leo shared a message of peace and healing after the latest angry broadside from the White House. On Tuesday, JD Vance capped several days of insults by insinuating the pontiff was not being truthful in matters of theology, and did not understand the concept of war. “How can you say that God is never on the side of those who wield the sword?” the vice-president said during a Turning Point USA event at the University of Georgia, at which he was heckled by anti-war protesters. “Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps? It’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology … you’ve got to make sure it’s anchored in the truth.” A day earlier, Vance, a Catholic convert, advised the US-born Pope Leo XIV “to stick to matters of morality” after an earlier post on X in which Leo denounced the US-Israel war in Iran. “God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs,” Leo wrote. On Wednesday, the pope spoke with reporters onboard the papal plane heading for Cameroon on an 11-day visit to Africa. He did not directly address Vance’s comments, or a barrage of recent social media insults by Donald Trump, who labelled him “weak” and “terrible”. But his comments made clear that the five-day spat, which began on Saturday when Leo said during evening prayers at St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City that a “delusion of omnipotence” surrounded the Iran war, was on his mind. He used as a conduit his visit on Tuesday to Annaba, the ancient city of Hippo where St Augustine, the theological and philosophical giant of the early church, lived as a bishop for more than 30 years. “His writings, his teaching, his spirituality, his invitation to search for God and to search for truth is something that is very much needed today, a message that is very real for all of us today as believers in Jesus Christ, but for all people,” Leo said. By going to Hippo, Leo said he wanted to offer the church and the world a vision that St Augustine offers in terms of seeking “unity among all peoples and respect for all people in spite of the differences”. He did not take any questions from reporters, but continued to push the message that dialogue and healing, rather than force, anger and hatred, were essential ingredients in resolving conflict. Leo recalled that the vast majority of Algerians are Muslim, but that they respect and honor St Augustine as “one of the great sons of their land”. Such an attitude, he said, helped build bridges between Christians and Muslims, and promoted dialogue. “The visit to the mosque was significant to say that although we have different beliefs, we have different ways of worshiping, we have different ways of living, we can live together in peace,” Leo said. “And so I think that to promote that kind of image is something which the world needs to hear today.” Leo’s approach to the quarrel contrasts sharply with that of Trump. As well as repeatedly insulting the head of the Catholic church on his Truth Social platform, the president was on Monday forced to take down a “blasphemous” AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus Christ-like healer after backlash from his supporters on the religious right. Trump’s attacks have generally not played well even among his own loyal base, and certainly not in Rome, where a majority of tourists and business owners who spoke to the Guardian defended the pope. This week’s dispute is not the first time that Trump, a fervent promoter of white Christian nationalism, has mocked the Vatican or upset the 1.4bn-strong Catholic church. In May last year, during the official mourning period for Pope Francis, Trump announced he “would like to be pope”, and posted an image of himself dressed in a white cassock and miter, and wearing a gold crucifix necklace. On Wednesday, Trump shared an AI image of himself being held by Jesus Christ with a caption that referenced the exposing of “satanic, demonic, child sacrificing monsters”, and said “God might be playing his Trump card.” Trump wrote alongside the image and its accompanying text: “The Radical Left Lunatics might not like this, but I think it is quite nice!!!” The Associated Press contributed reporting

Peace activist, 91, walks across Ireland in protest against US military stopovers

A 91-year-old peace activist has crossed Ireland on foot and arrived in Dublin to petition the government to bar US military flights. Lelia Doolan completed a two-week, 220km (138 mile) trek on Wednesday, ending at the gates of parliament accompanied by throngs of supporters. The film producer and activist made the journey to protest against the US military’s use of Shannon airport in County Clare. “US military planes are landing without anybody ever agreeing in government to search them or see what’s in them. Shannon is a civilian airport. It’s not a military airport.” US personnel with sidearms pass through Shannon but the government says the airport is not used in US combat operations and that there is no evidence that weapons and supplies for US attacks enter Irish airspace. Doolan, however, said the agreement to permit some US military flights violated Irish neutrality and that people had been “fooled” into thinking the practice had to continue. “It doesn’t have to continue.” She started from the airport on 31 March and met supporters in Limerick, Nenagh, Roscrea, Portlaoise, Newbridge, Naas and other stops on her way to the capital, covering most but not all of the distance on foot. Activists have for decades protested against the agreement that lets US military aircraft refuel at the airport, on the west coast. The conflict in the Middle East has galvanised renewed action, including an incident last week when a man in his 40s was arrested after allegedly damaging a US air force C-130 Hercules transport aircraft that was parked on a remote taxiway. Controversy over US military flights has spread throughout Europe, including Italy, which last month denied the use of an airbase in Sicily. Doolan said she felt a duty to protest against the traffic of US military personnel through Ireland and to avow Irish neutrality. It did not take much for a woman to be considered “troublesome”, she said. “That’s why there is so many of us”. She exhorted those who wished to make a difference to act on the impulse. “It’s very simple. Just do it.” Supporters joined Doolan, who turns 92 next month, for sections of the “walk with Lelia” campaign. The journey, which was also in memory of Doolan’s late friend and fellow campaigner Margaretta D’Arcy, included traditional music sessions. Hugs, cheers, Palestinian flags and opposition politicians greeted Doolan when she reached Leinster House, which hosts the Dáil and Seanad chambers of parliament. Doolan – who had celebrated her 90th birthday with a skydive – paid tribute to those she met during the walk. “If you only knew how wonderful the people of Ireland are. If only you knew how engaging they are, decent and intelligent they are.” She read a poem titled Kindness, by Naomi Shihab Nye, and joined supporters in a peace song. In the Dáil, Ivana Bacik, the leader of the Labour party, praised Doolan and urged the government to stop allowing US military planes use Shannon. The taoiseach, Micheál Martin, expressed his respect for Doolan and said he would try to meet her, but said the airport had no role in the Middle East conflict. “We need to be very careful that we don’t miscategorise Shannon airport. I think that will damage Shannon airport.”

‘Don’t lose sight of Ukraine,’ Nato chief tells European allies – as it happened

… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today! Hungarian election winner Péter Magyar has confirmed work is under way to form the new Hungarian government by mid-May after holding talks with the country’s president, Tamás Sulyok, a loyalist of the outgoing prime minister, Viktor Orbán (11:43). Magyar urged Sulyok to resign from the post or face legislative removal as part of a broader overhaul of Hungary’s democratic institutions after years of Orbán rule, which is also expected to include suspending state media news broadcasts (12:37 and 15:56) Meanwhile, the US president, Donald Trump, unexpectedly praised the incoming Hungarian prime minister saying “the new man is going to do a good job,” as he distances himself from Orbán, despite repeated support for him in the build up to the election (13:29). Separately, Ukraine’s allies met in Berlin and online to discuss their continued support for Kyiv amid concerns that the Middle East conflict could affect the support for wartorn country (16:44). Top Nato, German, British and Italian leaders have pledged to continue their backing for Ukraine, with hopes that the change of government in Hungary could also unblock the EU’s planned loan for Kyiv (16:52, 16:56, 17:03, 17:10, 17:52). If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

New EU entry-exit system causing up to three-hour delays, say airports

Travellers going through some European airports are reportedly waiting up to three hours at border checks because of the EU’s new entry-exit system (EES). Passengers in airports in countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Greece are waiting several hours at border checks, the Airports Council International (ACI) body has said. Olivier Jankovec, the director of the ACI European division, told the Financial Times: “This situation, in the coming weeks and certainly over the peak summer months, is going to be simply unmanageable. “We are seeing those queueing times now, at peak times, when traffic is just starting to build up.” The EES came into effect on Friday in the Schengen countries – 25 of the EU’s 27 states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. It requires passengers from non-EU countries, such as the UK, to register their personal information and biometrics at the border. The system has been gradually introduced since October, and has already caused long delays at some airports. On Sunday the BBC reported that more than 100 passengers were unable to board an easyJet flight from Milan to Manchester before it took off because of delays at passport desks. Airport representatives and the European Commission held a meeting to discuss problems with the system on Tuesday. The ACI is said to have asked to extend existing exemptions, as well as the power to fully suspend the new checks. Jankovec told the FT that the ACI needed the ability to “fully suspend EES registration whenever there are excessive waiting times at border control that are just unmanageable”. A spokesperson for the European Commission said: “What we can see from the first days of full operation is that the system is working very well. In the overwhelming majority of member states there are no issues.” The commission said that the average registration of a passenger was 70 seconds, although the ACI has claimed that it can take up to five minutes. The spokesperson said there were a “few member states where technical issues have been detected” but that they “are being addressed”. They said: “It is up to member states to ensure the proper implementation of the EES on the ground.” The spokesperson added that since the EES was introduced in October, it had registered more than 52m entries and exits, as well as more than 27,000 refusals of entry. Of those, almost 700 people were identified as posing a security threat. In the run-up to Easter and before the EES was launched in full on 10 April, passengers crossing the Channel from the UK to France were told that they did not have to provide any biometric information because of delays in France’s developing the technology needed to collate and process the data. Issues with the EES come as European airports also braced for potential jet fuel supply disruption caused by the blockade of the strait of Hormuz. On Friday the ACI wrote to the EU’s energy and transport commissioners predicting the bloc was three weeks away from systemic shortages. Europe consumed about 1.6m barrels a day of jet fuel last year, of which roughly 500,000 were imported, according to the International Energy Agency, with about 75% coming from the Middle East. Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of Europe’s biggest airline, Ryanair, has said the EES was causing queues of up to four hours at some airports, describing the system as “a shit show and a shambles” and a punishment for Brexit. He suggested that the EU should postpone the full introduction until October.