Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he expected a formal answer on Tuesday from the United States to Tehran’s proposal to open the Strait of Hormuz, state media reported.

Qatari intermediaries “presented ideas, and we discussed them; they are set to raise the matter with the American side once more, after which the final US response will be conveyed to us”, Araghchi said late Monday.

Iran’s top diplomat, who is in New York for the UN General Assembly, said “the Qataris hope this will be done by tomorrow”.

“The current focus is solely on the Strait of Hormuz, and the reopening of the strait is contingent upon the fulfilment of certain conditions that we have communicated to the other side,” he added.

The Strait of Hormuz lies at the heart of the conflict between the United States and Iran, which began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.

The shipping route carried a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas before the war began.

But Tehran imposed a blockade on Hormuz after the war started, prompting Washington to respond with its own blockade on Iranian ports.

Last week, discussions were held in New York between Araghchi and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

As a precondition for ending its blockade, Iran is demanding a seven-day ceasefire across the Middle East, including in Lebanon, where its ally Hezbollah has been battling Israeli forces.

It is also demanding the unfreezing of Iranian assets abroad, the lifting of sanctions on its oil sector, and an end to the US naval blockade.

By Nkem Okereh 

The Allied People’s Movement (APM), has urged the  World Bank and other international financial institutions to reject fresh loan requests by the president Bola Tinubu led administration

The opposition party in a statement issued on Tuesday by it’s National Publicity Secretary, Abubarkar Yusuf, expressed concerns over Nigeria’s rising debt profile as it rejected the president’s fresh proposal for  $1.5bn credit facility.from the bank 

APM noted that the Tinubu administration had accumulated over N166.7tn in debt, wondering why it has  continued to borrow despite revenue from the removal of the petrol subsidy.

The opposition party stated, “The Allied Peoples Movement has entreated the World Bank and other international lenders to protect the interests of over 200 million Nigerians by withholding fresh loans from the ‘squandermaniac’ All Progressives Congress administration led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“The APM strongly condemns the attempt by President Tinubu to further mortgage the future of millions of Nigerians with a fresh $1.5bn credit from the World Bank, even when his administration does not have any clear-cut strategy to pay back the over N166.7 trillion debt accumulated under his watch.

“It is unacceptable that, even with the trillions of naira derived from the removal of the subsidy on petrol, the Tinubu administration is engaged in its morbid appetite for borrowing, with nothing to show apart from weakening the value of the naira, thereby crippling our productive sector and reducing the purchasing power of the average Nigerian.

“It is distressing that whereas the APC administration always claims that the loans are for plausible causes, most of the funds are diverted to the private pockets of a corrupt cabal while Nigerians continue to struggle with collapsed infrastructure and unemployment, with over 140 million citizens unable to afford their daily meals.”

APM noted that Nigerians had faced severe economic hardship since President Bola Tinubu assumed office in 2023, citing rising taxes and the cost of electricity, transportation, food, healthcare and other basic necessities.

The party further cited the World Food Programme’s assessment that about 35 million Nigerians are expected to face acute food insecurity in 2026, as an indication that the country is facing a high scale of ood crisis.

It added, “It is most disturbing is that, in the face of President Tinubu’s calamitous misrule, which has plunged our nation into misery and a “dark tunnel of uncertainty”, the APC is arrogantly bandying false performance claims and even has the temerity to be contesting the 2027 presidential election.

“It is clear that the APC is mistaking the patience and level of tolerance of Nigerians as a sign of weakness, perhaps believing that they have been conquered. The APC must be made to understand that they are pushing Nigerians to the precipice and there is a limit to which a people can stomach under such circumstances.

“The APM, as a party committed to the well-being of Nigerians, restates its call to international financial bodies, including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other international lenders such as China, the United States, among others, not to give any fresh credit to the Tinubu administration, as such is not in the general interest of our nation.

“Nigerians have reached unanimity to vote out the Tinubu-led APC administration in January 2027. Such an ‘outgoing’ administration should not be entrusted with any credit facility on behalf of our nation.”

Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, (NDC), Peter Obi, has  said that the era of fake campaign promises would be over with him and his running mate, Rabiu Kwankwaso incharge of the country’s affairs

Obi gave the assurance  in a statement he posted on his verified X handle on Tuesday, after paying a courtesy call on the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar.

The former Anambra state governor who spoke at a Town Hall with the people of Sokoto, Obi said they had a very impressive engagement.

He described the meeting as an opportunity to listen, answer questions, and speak honestly about the Nigeria he and his running mate, Rabi’u Kwankwaso want to build together.

He stated that the work ahead is enormous, but with courage, competence, compassion, character, and the collective determination of Nigerians, they could begin to change the story.

“Our message was equally clear: there will be no fake promises. We must unite the country and confront insecurity decisively, while also addressing human insecurity. We must fight poverty, unemployment, hunger, and hopelessness if we are to reduce criminality and create a safer society.

“We discussed money politics and its devastating consequences. When poverty becomes the instrument through which politicians buy votes, citizens are trapped in a cycle where the same system that impoverishes them is repeatedly rewarded. We must break this cycle of bad leadership driven by transactional politics,” he wrote.