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.”

The extension is the time the lawmakers are herding the request of the presidency for further delays as the 2025 budget had earlier suffered previous extension of its full implementation 

The Senate passed the bill, extending the 2025 budget capital component implementation, after a clause-by-clause consideration.

The a bill for an Act to Amend the 2025 Appropriation Act to further extend the capital components of the Act from 30th September, 2026 to 31st December, 2026 was presented by the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central)..

Senator Bamidele had presented the previous bill that senate approval for the earlier extensions

The Senate Majority Leader, in his bill, noted that the rationale for the amendment was both compelling and pragmatic, adding that the execution of capital projects under the 2025 Appropriation Act had not reached optimal levels, despite the release of allocated funds to MDAs.

In his presentation, Bamidele said “I am forwarding a Bill for an Act to Amend the Appropriations (Repeal & Enactment) Act 2025 to Extend the Implementation of the Capital Aspect of the Appropriations (Repeal & Enactment) Act 2025 from 30th September, 2026 to 31st December, 2026 and for other Related Matters, 2026 (SB. 1067).

“A Bill for an Act to Amend the Appropriations (Repeal & Enactment) Act 2025 to Extend the Implementation of the Capital Aspect of the Appropriations (Repeal & Enactment) Act 2025 from 30th September, 2026 to 31st December, 2026 (SB. 1067).”

The Senate consequently approved the majority leaders proposal and extended the budget implementation for the third time, to December 31

Similar, at the green chambers, the House of Representatives, on resumption from annual recess, repealed it’s earlier approved September  30 extended date for the implementation of the 2025 Appropriation Act

Like the Senate, the Reps approved 31st December, 2026 for the new implementation date.

The Executive bill was considered and passed after the consideration of the 2025 Appropriation Act at the Committee of Supply chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Benjamin Kalu.

Leading debate on the motion, Majority Leader, Hon. Julius Ihonvbere solicited the support of members to amend the Appropriation (Repeal and Enactment) Act, 2025 to extend the implementation of the Capital aspect of the Appropriation (Repeal and Enactment) Act. 2025 from 30th September 2026 to 31st December 2026 and for related matters.

He explained that the extension of the 2025 Appropriation Act because necessary “due to several factors and forces impinging on the Nigerian economy, it has been very difficult to conclude the implementation of the capital aspects of this particular bill, and the dates previously determined for the implementation would expire on the 30th of September.

“And as a responsible parliament to ensure that non-implementation will not be blamed on the expiration of our own determination, we have decided to move and let it be moved that this be extended to the 31st of December, 2026.”

After the passage of the 2025 Appropriation Act, the House proceeded on another holiday s it adjourned plenary to Tuesday, 13th October, 2026.