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Swedish PM offers deal that could see far-right allowed into government

The Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, has said that he will allow the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD) into government for the first time – and give its members key ministerial posts – if his coalition wins the next general election. Despite becoming Sweden’s second biggest political party after the Social Democrats in the last election, SD currently only play a supporting role in the minority-run coalition. But Kristersson, who leads the centre-right Moderates, said on Wednesday that if his four-party coalition won September’s election SD would hold “big political influence and important ministerial posts within immigration and integration”. In a joint press conference with SD’s leader, Jimmie Åkesson, Kristersson, whose polling after four years in government is not looking favourable, said: “We have agreed to jump-start the next term and form a strong majority government if we get the voters’ trust.” The announcement was a watershed moment for Swedish politics, which to date has largely treated SD, a party with neo-Nazi roots, as a pariah. Nooshi Dadgostar, leader of the Left party, said the prospect of the Sweden Democrats in government with the Moderates was “disgusting” and urged political leaders to “think again”. “Now there is a lot at stake and now we know that we can have right-wing extremist ministers in the government,” she told Dagens Nyheter. “Now we have to come together to offer a different path for Sweden.” Since replacing the Moderates as Sweden’s second biggest party in 2022 and entering into a supporting role in Kristersson’s coalition, the SD’s policies have had considerable influence on the government – particularly on immigration. Their rhetoric has shaped policy across the political spectrum, including on the left-leaning opposition, the Social Democrats, who have also adopted hardline immigration and integration policies, like their Danish counterparts under Mette Frederiksen. Standing by Kristersson’s side on Wednesday, Åkesson, who has led the SD since 2005, when it was a small party on the fringes of Swedish politics, said that after the next election he expected his party to get influence proportional to its size. “We have been clear that after the next election we will either be a governing party or an opposition party,” he said. SD’s policies include stopping people from countries outside Sweden’s “immediate area” from claiming asylum in the Scandinavian country, a step that would contravene human rights law, and ensuring that “more of those who do not have the right to be in Sweden to leave than come to Sweden”. Mass immigration to Sweden, the party claims, has “changed Sweden for the worse” and resulted in “many societal problems”. Islamophobia is also prominent. In a recent documentary, Åkesson claimed that to be Muslim and to be Swedish was “a contradiction”. Wednesday’s announcement comes after the leader of the ailing Liberals, Simona Mohamsson, shocked her party last month by abruptly switching positions on SD, announcing that her party would accept being in government with a far-right force she had previously denounced as racist. She also held a press conference alongside Åkesson in which they hugged. Magdalena Andersson, the leader of the Social Democrats and former prime minister, said Kristersson and Åkesson’s proposal would lead to a “historically weak prime minister”. “It is obvious that it is Jimmie Åkesson who is holding the baton,” she told broadcaster SVT. “In an organisation where the person who is formally the boss is not the real boss, there will be instability and an organisation without the power to act.” The left-wing opposition parties have so far not presented a proposal for an alternative government.

Middle East crisis live: Iran says Trump’s claim of ceasefire request ‘baseless’

There is no evidence yet that the strait of Hormuz has been mined, France’s navy chief has said. Speaking at the War & Peace security conference in Paris, Admiral Nicolas Vaujour, said: It is clearly an issue we are working on, should mining be confirmed, which, as of today, has not been established. He also called on China to “engage more directly” and pressure Iran to restore store traffic flows in the critical waterway. We have not seen China’s navy step in to reopen the strait. On the other hand, there is direct political dialogue between Chinese and Iranian authorities to ensure that a certain number of vessels can pass. Will that be enough to restore normal traffic flows? I don’t believe so. As a result, China will probably have to engage more directly in the debate and show its impatience with the fact that the strait remains closed.

Trump says he is ‘absolutely’ considering withdrawing US from Nato

Donald Trump has said he is “absolutely” considering withdrawing the US from Nato, warning that the matter was “beyond reconsideration” after the refusal of US allies to join the US-Israeli war against Iran. The president’s threats, his most determined to date, have left the alliance facing its worst crisis in its 77-year history, a former US ambassador has said. Trump has long been vocally sceptical about the benefit of Nato membership to the US, but since North Atlantic allies have refused to take part in the month-long, faltering US-Israeli assault on Iran, the president has stepped up his rhetoric. He told Reuters news agency on Wednesday he was “absolutely without question” considering withdrawing, after telling the Telegraph the matter was “beyond reconsideration”, insisting he had never been “swayed by Nato”. He signalled that he would express his disgust for Nato in an address to the nation scheduled for Wednesday evening. It could be politically and constitutionally difficult for Trump to formally withdraw from the 1949 Washington treaty, Nato’s founding document, but Ivo Daalder, the US permanent representative at Nato headquarters from 2009 to 2013, said the serious damage to the alliance had already been done. “This is by far the worst crisis Nato has ever confronted. Military alliances are, at their core, based on trust: the confidence that if I am attacked, you will come help defend,” Daalder wrote in an online commentary. “It’s hard to see how any European country will now be able and willing to trust the United States to come to its defence.” Trump launched the war on Iran on 28 February in partnership with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, but without consulting Nato allies. He did not invoke article 5 of the treaty, which triggers collective defence from other members in the event of an “an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America”. Such an attack has not taken place. More than a month into the war, there is no sign of the regime change or collapse that Trump and Netanyahu had hoped for, and Tehran’s response – closing the economically vital strait of Hormuz – has caused an oil price surge and a worldwide shortage of fertiliser and other essential goods, threatening a global recession. Trump has swung between claiming a negotiated end to the war is imminent and threatening a ground assault, while calling on US allies to join the fight and force the strait back open. None of Washington’s traditional partners have come forward. Some European allies have declared the US-Israeli attack to be illegal and several have withheld the overflight rights and use of bases on their territory. Trump has consequently lashed out at European capitals, denouncing them as “cowards” and expressing particular contempt for the UK. “You don’t even have a navy,” Trump told the Telegraph. “You’re too old and had aircraft carriers that didn’t work.” The anti-Nato rhetoric has been echoed by the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, and by the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who was a staunch supporter of the alliance when he was a senator. Rubio told Fox News: “We are going to have to re-examine whether or not this alliance, that has served this country well for a while, is still serving that purpose or has now become a one-way street, where America is simply in a position to help Europe but when we need the help of our allies, they deny us basing rights and overflight.” The UK’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, has shrugged off the administration’s jibes as “noise”, insisting that “Nato is the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen”. He restated his position on the Iran conflict that “this is not our war, and we’re not going to get dragged into it”. In a phone call with Trump on Wednesday, Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, said he told the president that “a more European Nato” was taking shape and that Europe was “shouldering responsibility”. In response to previous Trump criticism, the UK and other European allies have raised their defence spending and tried hard, with diminishing success, to persuade him to maintain US support for Ukraine’s defence against Russia. Nato’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, has gone out of his way to flatter Trump, to the extent of expressing support for the Iran war, despite the opposition of almost all the alliance’s other 31 members. “Backing one ally when 31 oppose isn’t the best way to maintain unity,” Daalder said. “We also now know that Trump does his own thing and doesn’t listen to anyone, including Trump whisperers.” In an effort to “Trump-proof” the alliance, Congress passed the National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) in 2024, prohibiting a US president from unilaterally withdrawing the US from Nato without two-thirds Senate approval or an act of Congress – a provision co-sponsored by Rubio. The NDAA also prohibits using any federal funds to facilitate a withdrawal. The Democratic senator Mark Warner said on Wednesday: “Congress will not sit by while this president tries to unravel an alliance that has kept Americans safe for decades. Our commitment to Nato is ironclad, and we will use every tool available to defend it.” Any attempt to leave Nato formally would be likely to trigger a constitutional crisis that would almost certainly go to the US supreme court. However, the court has a record of siding with the executive in disputes over foreign policy issues. “Other presidents have withdrawn from treaties,” Daalder said. “In any case, whatever the legal status, Trump can undermine Nato by withdrawing troops, pulling US personnel from the Nato command structure and doing little if anything in case of an attack – all perfectly legal.” Nathalie Tocci, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies Europe, pointed out that Trump had threatened to leave Nato before and the threats were not as damaging as his “betrayal of Ukraine” and his insistence this year that the US would seize Greenland, the sovereign territory of a Nato ally. “The fact that Trump hates Europe is an ascertained fact,” Tocci said. “All this is part of a coherent Trumpian onslaught on Europe and European leaders are finally moving away from the sycophantic Rutte approach to him.” Ruth Deyermond, a senior lecturer at the department of war studies at King’s College London, said the crisis facing the alliance would not simply recede at the end of Trump’s White House tenure. “This is wishful thinking,” Deyermond said on Bluesky. “The failure to understand the importance of the alliance for US security and the taking of allies for granted isn’t unique to the Trump administration.” “This is why the old Nato is gone and Europeans, plus Canada, need to develop a new security framework to replace it,” she said. “It’s frightening, difficult, and expensive, but that doesn’t make it less necessary or urgent.” Starmer signalled on Wednesday that he would use an upcoming summit with EU countries to solidify economic and security ties, calling for: “A partnership for the dangerous world that we must navigate together.”

Grounds for doubts over Henry’s coffee | Brief letters

I am loth to mock a Guardian news item, but the timely report in your print edition (Does shock find push our love of coffee back to reign of Henry V?, 1 April) fails to mention an earlier excavation in the grounds of Maxwell House, in the village of Brew. Among the relics discovered by the archaeologist Corr Tardo were late Roman amphorae, hinting that Nero may have been drinking a cappuccino as Rome burned. David Jeffrey West Malvern, Worcestershire • Your report may have implications for our interpretation of Shakespeare’s Henry V. If the “tun of treasure” offered by the French ambassador to King Henry contains not tennis balls but coffee beans (no doubt from the then French protectorate of San Serriffe), the implied insult could be that the young king is a hot-headed caffeine-fuelled chancer. Austen Lynch Garstang, Lancashire • Remnants of coffee found in 15th-century cups during an excavation of the drought-stricken Ness reservoir in east Suffolk? Saw what you did there! Helen Ryan Blandford Forum, Dorset • Having fallen, albeit briefly, for the Bob Dylan lyrics April Fools’ Day piece in the paper (Dylan’s draft lyrics for I’m Not There found in a Ginsberg book, 1 April), I found myself in urgent need of a caffeine infusion to restore my wits. Glenn Hackney Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire • This report in your print edition is an April fool joke, right (Palace confirms king’s US state visit as president steps up insults, 1 April)? Not a patch on San Serriffe, by the way. Lyn Dade Twickenham, London • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

Families condemn UK ‘impotence’ over UAE ‘social media misuse’ detentions

The families of UK citizens held in the United Arab Emirates over allegations that they shared images of the conflict with Iran have voiced frustration at the British government’s failure to help. Several British citizens are among more than 100 foreign nationals who have been detained under draconian Emirate rules that outlaw publishing or sharing material that could “disturb public security”. UK government ministers have refused to condemn the arrests, amid claims they are too fearful of offending the Emirates because of their economic clout. The campaign group Dubai Watch, which is supporting nine British detainees, said their identities could not be revealed for fear of reprisals. But it has shown the Guardian anonymised correspondence from their increasingly anxious families. A mother whose daughter is being held wrote: “This experience is exhausting, mentally and emotionally.” She described reading media reports about the continuing conflict in which Iran has retaliated against US and Israelis strikes by firing drones and missiles against its Gulf neighbours, including the UAE. She said: “I have just read another article, and quite frankly I could do one purely on the inadequacies and sycophantic responses from this [UK] embassy.” She also expressed increasing fears for her daughter’s safety as attacks continued. The mother said: “I spoke to [my daughter] last night and they are no longer allowed to go outside in the courtyard as it’s now deemed too dangerous to do so. This is an even bigger worry as they are all just sitting ducks.” Another message from a woman whose husband had been detained under the same law said the case had been “mishandled”. She added: “We are scared because nobody is telling us the truth. Can you please help us.” Police in Abu Dhabi said those detained had “filmed sites and events and disseminated inaccurate information via social media platforms during the ongoing events, an action that could stir public opinion and spread rumours among community members”. In a statement, the officials said these “violations” amounted to a “misuse of social media”. Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, confirmed that one of the detainees was a St Albans’ constituent. She said their family was frustrated by the lack of consular help. Cooper told the Guardian: “I’m deeply concerned that my constituent has been held with very little contact with their family, with no clear access to legal counsel, and no confirmation that UK consular officials have been permitted to visit them. The family are distressed and desperate for information about their wellbeing.” Cooper also criticised the UAE’s round-up of anyone it has accused of sharing images of the conflict. She said: “The response from the authorities appears wholly disproportionate given the nature of the allegations. Cooper added: “I have written to UK ministers asking them to urgently seek clarification from the UAE authorities on the legal basis for my constituent’s detention and to ensure that British embassy officials can visit them as soon as possible to confirm their safety and welfare.” The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office confirmed that five UK nationals were receiving consular assistance in the UAE. David Haigh, a human rights lawyer and founder of Dubai Watch, said: “There’s an awful lot more than five cases. The embassy is overwhelmed.” He added: “There hasn’t been any government intervention because it would offend the UAE and they don’t want to do that. Impotent is the best way to describe the response. They’re too scared – it’s all about the money and investment from the UAE. “If another country had done this there would be very senior level discussions to stop it. The people being detained are not terrorists; they are average holidaymakers who have taken pictures and thought, wrongly obviously, that it would be OK.” Haigh said: “Lawyers that I trust have told there are about 35 [British citizens] in Dubai and about 40 more in Abu Dhabi and the other Emirates. And that number has gone up, so I would say you’re now looking at around 90.” The Foreign Office said: “We are providing consular assistance to a small number of British nationals detained in the UAE in connection with this issue, and our ambassador is engaging with the Emirati authorities about their cases.” Last month, Dubai police confirmed it had arrested 109 individuals of various nationalities who had shared images of war damage in Dubai and elsewhere in the UAE. The numbers detained are feared to be many more. In Dubai, which was home to more than 200,000 British citizens before the conflict, police send out regular warnings against spreading misinformation and filming war damage. The force warns: “Photographing or sharing security or critical sites, or reposting unreliable information, may result in legal action and compromise national security and stability.”

Britain to host 35 countries for strait of Hormuz talks, says Starmer

The UK will convene 35 countries – excluding the US – to explore ways to reopen the strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping route for oil and gas that has been blocked by Iran. Keir Starmer, the prime minister, said the next phase of discussions in the joint British and French efforts to secure the waterway would be held on Thursday, with Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, alongside international leaders. Donald Trump has said it will be up to other countries to make the strait safe if the US ceases its strikes on Tehran, criticising the lack of backing for his war from European nations. Starmer said on Wednesday the meeting would bring together 35 countries to “assess all viable diplomatic and political measures we can take to restore freedom of navigation, guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers and to resume the movement of vital commodities”. No 10 said it would be the first time the countries had convened to discuss a viable plan to reopen the strait. The prime minister said British military planners would meet afterwards “to look at how we can marshal our capabilities and make the strait accessible and safe after the fighting has stopped”. But Starmer, who convened energy and shipping bosses at No 10 on Monday, said the clear-up would last a long time after the hostilities had ceased. “I do have to level with people on this, this will not be easy,” he said. “They were clear with me, the primary challenge they face is not one of insurance, but one of safety and security of passage. So, the fact is, we need all of this together – a united front of military strength and diplomatic activity, partnership with industry, so they too can mobilise once the fighting has stopped and, above all, clear and calm leadership. That is what this country is ready to provide. “Because my guide from the start of this conflict has always been the British national interest. And freedom of navigation in the Middle East is in the British national interest.” The meeting will convene the countries who signed a joint statement last month. Several more have joined since. They include the UK, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, as well as Japan, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria. It commits the countries to a “readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the strait”. It is understood the US has not been invited directly to participate in the talks, with the focus on those who signed the joint statement, as well as other European allies and leading maritime and regional players in the region. About 1,000 ships are stranded by Iran’s partial blockade of the strait in response to the strikes by the US and Israel. Before the conflict, tankers carried about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies through the channel, and about a third of the global fertilisers necessary for half of the world’s food production. Only about 130 ships have made the passage since the war began, the number that would normally pass through every day. The Ministry of Defence has sent military planners to US Central Command to look at options for getting tankers through the strait. On Wednesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement on state TV that the strait of Hormuz would remain closed to “enemies of this nation” and that it remained under control of its navy. Trump posted on Wednesday that there would be no ceasefire with Iran until it had relinquished control of the waterway. “We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!” he wrote.

Macron praises Europe’s predictability in face of countries that ‘hurt you without even informing you’ – as it happened

… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today! French president Emmanuel Macron praised Europe’s “predictability” during a visit to Japan, contrasting it with countries that “could hurt you without even informing you” in an apparent swipe at Donald Trump (13:37). His comments come as several European countries were forced to respond (11:31, 13:48, 15:55, 16:06) to latest quotes from US president Donald Trump implying he was considering pulling the US out of Nato amid his growing frustration with some allies (11:06, 11:13, 15:13, 15:49). Trump is expected to come back to the issue in his overnight address to the nation. But Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, said he spoke with Trump this afternoon and insisted that “problems are there to be solved, pragmatically” (17:02). In other news, Russia dismissed Ukraine’s suggestion of an Easter ceasefire as a “PR stunt” and a delaying tactic by Kyiv, further complicating the latest talks about ending the conflict (14:01). The European Union has sought to ramp up pressure on Hungary to drop its veto on the €90bn loan for Ukraine, with the European Commission saying it will push ahead with its preparatory work for the loan to be paid out (12:41). UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer suggested his country could seek a closer relationship with the EU as a result of increasingly “volatile” global situation (11:42). 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.

In Europe, lobbyists are using soaring fuel prices to make the case for more dirty energy

On the one hand, experts say, Europe is better prepared for this energy crisis than the last. On the other, it is still waging a culture war against the most obvious path out. Fuel prices have soared to ruinous levels since the Iran war left ships of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) stranded in the Gulf. The pain is most acute in Asia, but high energy prices are already causing panic in Europe. Shortages could hit the continent this month, oil company Shell warned last week. Donald Trump’s “go get your own oil” comments on Tuesday sent prices to their highest level since the start of the US-Israel attack on Iran. They briefly dipped below $100-a-barrel on Wednesday amid hopes that the war may soon end. Despite this, efforts to hasten the shift away from an economy that runs on dirty foreign fuels, towards cheaper, cleaner domestic renewables, remain muted. Instead, soaring energy prices have provided lobbyists with more ammunition to attack the carbon price with further claims that the bloc’s flagship climate policy is threatening factories and jobs. Its incoming methane standards have also come under renewed fire. Will Europe’s second fossil energy crisis of the decade push leaders to cut reliance on imports of fuels that foul the air and heat the planet? The 2022 energy shock hit Europe when its energy mix was particularly shaky. The Russian invasion of Ukraine caught governments by surprise, despite the Russian gas giant Gazprom draining German gas reserves in the months leading up to the war and stern warnings from allies that followed. Subsequent gas shortfalls coincided with weak output from nuclear power plants, which needed repairs, and hydropower dams, which had been hit by drought. Now, as the Iran conflict sends fuel prices soaring once more, Europe stands on steadier ground. Wind and solar overtook fossil fuels in the European Union’s power generation last year, after officials hastened the rollout of renewables by shortening the permitting process. The cost of clean alternatives has continued to fall, making it easier than it was in the last crisis for households to buy solar panels, electric cars, heat pumps and batteries. Yet in that time, EU officials and national leaders have begun unwinding key parts of the Green Deal they used to back. Wary of rightwing populists attacking climate policy – and eager to appease struggling industries that blame green rules for their plight – the dominant centre-right group in the European parliament has made near-term “competitiveness” its top priority. The costs of pollution have taken a back seat. Foreign pressure has not helped. Last week, MEPs approved a trade deal with the US that is linked to Trump’s demand for Europe to buy $750bn of its energy – most of which is fossil based – over three years. While the energy demand was not part of the vote (lawmakers do not have the power to make companies buy US fuels), the deal has alarmed campaigners fearful of the signal it sends to a country already using energy as a weapon. The shift in political mood is clearest in Germany. Europe’s biggest polluter is watering down laws to phase out gas boilers, which the previous government brought in after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and last week its economy minister told an audience of oil and gas executives that the EU should relax its net zero target. Meanwhile, the prospect of joining the rest of the democratic world by implementing a blanket speed limit on its motorways is still a political taboo. Pleas from the International Energy Agency to survive the oil price shock with more radical measures – avoiding flights, driving slower, working from home – have been roundly ignored. Perhaps the greatest threat to the green transition is the attacks on the EU’s flagship emissions trading system, which puts a price on carbon pollution. Several EU member states and the powerful chemical lobby set it in their crosshairs well before the war broke out. On Wednesday, EU officials announced plans to weaken its carbon price by ending the automatic cancellation of extra permits in a buffer pool. The move fell short of the more radical overhaul demanded by some member states, but alarmed green groups who fear it will lead to “significantly higher” emissions after 2030. The picture is far from the open return to fossil fuels embraced by the US. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, announced last month that she would mandate lower taxes on electricity than fossil fuels – a key lever for the transition – and boost investments in industrial decarbonisation. A handful of national leaders have also repeated calls to hasten the move to a clean economy, even as they consider broad subsidies to shield consumers from fuel price spikes. Still, the scale of action outlined by climate scientists and economists remains elusive. During the 1973 oil crisis, when Europe first reckoned with its fossil dependence, a handful of countries embarked on innovative and far-reaching transformations of their energy systems. From Dutch bike lanes and Danish windfarms to French nuclear power plants and Nordic district heating systems, European leaders have shown that a crisis can spur change. The imperative has since grown, but the imagination seems to have shrunk. *** The misrule of law Europe’s eyes turn towards Hungary ahead of a pivotal general election on 12 April, in which Viktor Orbán faces possible defeat. Under Orbán’s premiership, a liberal democracy, governed by the rule of law – as membership of the EU requires – has, in effect, been reshaped into a one-party state. Democratic institutions have been systematically hollowed out: the judiciary is stacked with government loyalists and the independent media has been defanged. But even if Orbán is swept from power this month, similar forces are a threat to democracy elsewhere in Europe. Italy, Croatia, Bulgaria and Slovakia were identified on Monday as “consistently and intentionally” eroding the rule of law. Other countries are also showing symptoms of backsliding. There are chilling signs that the Orbán media playbook is being used as a blueprint. The Italian government has used defamation suits to silence journalists and public intellectuals. In France a far-right-led parliamentary inquiry into public broadcasting has been accused by Le Monde of acting like an “ideological war machine”. In Germany, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party has the country’s network of public broadcasters in its sights. A new series by the Guardian’s Europe correspondents gives a powerful picture of what’s happening – and why it matters. The good news is that the fightback is also under way. Until next week. To receive the complete version of This Is Europe in your inbox every Wednesday, please subscribe here.