FTSE 100 Live: Stocks rally; Oil dips under $100 as Trump signals end to Iran war

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog.

President Trump has made his clearest indication yet that the war in Iran might soon come to a close, saying the US will “leave” Iran in “two to three weeks” when they are certain the regime will not be able to build a nuclear weapon “for years”.

Speaking at the White House, the President said Iran was “begging” for a deal but described reaching one as “irrelevant” to America’s timetable.

It follows the President of Iran saying the country has “necessary will” to end the war with the US and Israel as long as certain conditions are met.

An indication of an end in sight may bring FTSE 100 and wider markets some reprieve, after oil managed to close in on its highest price since the war broke out on Wednesday.

Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – briefly hit $119, before giving up some gains. The FTSE 100 managed to close up 0.4 per cent.

It came as Trump told Sir Keir Starmer that the UK will have to “fight for yourself” as the US would not provide any support in fuel supplies.

He said that the UK could “buy from the US” or “build up some delayed courage” and “go to the Strait” to take oil tankers.

The move marked yet another splinter in the US and UK ‘special relationship’ but also sent more jitters through the oil market as firms respond to the unfolding energy crisis.

Rachel Reeves has called in supermarkets once more for a summit to discuss how to ease the cost-of-living.

We’ll be bringing you the latest on this and more.

Here are a few of our top stories from yesterday:

• Tottenham Hotspur make £121m pre-tax loss despite Europa League win
• Motor finance compensation scheme set to fuel even more legal action
• Roblox rival Rec Room to shut down after losses
• Awful April: brace for a wave of stealth tax rises
• CMA launches investigation into Microsoft amid cloud contract crackdown
• Marmite maker Unilever creates food empire in $45bn merger
• Trump tells Starmer to ‘go get your own oil’