Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at U.S. President Donald Trump’s demands for Iran, Finland’s proposed new nuclear policy, and a projected landslide win for Nepal’s youth-favored parliamentary candidate.
‘Unconditional Surrender’
U.S. President Donald Trump demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” on Friday, all but erasing hopes that Washington would be willing to negotiate a cease-fire with Tehran in the near future. “There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that after that happens, the White House will work with its allies and new Iranian leadership (which Trump himself has vowed to personally help choose) to “MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN.”
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at U.S. President Donald Trump’s demands for Iran, Finland’s proposed new nuclear policy, and a projected landslide win for Nepal’s youth-favored parliamentary candidate.
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‘Unconditional Surrender’
U.S. President Donald Trump demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” on Friday, all but erasing hopes that Washington would be willing to negotiate a cease-fire with Tehran in the near future. “There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that after that happens, the White House will work with its allies and new Iranian leadership (which Trump himself has vowed to personally help choose) to “MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN.”
This is a stark contrast from Trump’s initial public stance. Just one day after the U.S.-Israel war against Iran began, Trump told the Atlantic that “They [Iran] want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them.” Since then, White House officials have repeatedly claimed that the conflict is not about regime change, even as Trump continues to make statements to the contrary.
Trump’s unwillingness to negotiate clashes with the hopes of other foreign leaders. According to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, several countries have offered to mediate peace talks. Although Pezeshkian did not specify which nations have reached out, Egypt, Oman, Qatar, and Turkey have reportedly all offered to broker negotiations since the war erupted on Saturday.
“The situation could spiral beyond anyone’s control,” United Nations chief António Guterres wrote on X on Friday. “It is time to stop the fighting and get to serious diplomatic negotiations.”
Yet, Tehran also appears unlikely to come to the table. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC News on Thursday that Tehran refuses to negotiate with Washington. “The fact is that we don’t have any positive experience of negotiating with the United States, you know, especially with this administration,” Araghchi said. “We negotiated twice, last year and this year, and then in the middle of negotiations, they attacked us.”
Pezeshkian echoed those concerns on Friday, writing, “Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict.”
All the while, fighting continues to wreak havoc on the Middle East. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned late Thursday that firepower over Iran was about to “surge dramatically.” And on Friday, Israel intensified its military campaigns in Lebanon and Iran, carrying out heavy bombardments against Hezbollah targets in Beirut as well as the destruction of a sprawling underground bunker designed for Iran’s slain supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The escalating conflict has finally stirred oil markets after a week of relative complacency. On Friday, the benchmark price of crude oil rose 8 percent to more than $92 a barrel in London, with an even bigger 12 percent rise, reaching $90 in Washington. Gasoline and diesel prices around the world—but especially in the United States—followed suit, and other refined products, such as jet fuel, spiked even faster.
Also on Friday, the Trump administration released the first details of its plan to have the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) offer a backstop for maritime insurance to coax tankers back into the Strait of Hormuz, where almost no ships are moving due to sky-high insurance rates and the threat of being attacked by Iranian drones and missiles.
But the U.S. reinsurance plan, starting at $20 billion worth of coverage for select elements of certain ships, is likely inadequate to address the financial challenge of providing cover for the stalled maritime fleet. Experts say that shipping needs insurance coverage on the order of $350 billion to begin to unblock tanker transits in Hormuz—far beyond the DFC’s initial plan or even its entire war chest.
FP’s Keith Johnson contributed to this report.
Today’s Most Read
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- Trump Puts Putin in an Iran Dilemmaby Alexander Baunov
What We’re Following
A new nuclear strategy. Helsinki announced its intention on Thursday to reverse a long-standing ban on hosting nuclear weapons on Finnish soil. “The amendment is necessary to enable Finland’s military defense as part of the alliance and to take full advantage of NATO’s deterrence and collective defense,” Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen said as Russian forces continue to threaten Europe.
Still, Finnish President Alexander Stubb maintains that the policy shift is not about Helsinki facing a new security threat but rather it seeking to better align with its Nordic neighbors and fully participate in NATO nuclear planning. Finland joined NATO in 2023 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine the year before. It shares a more than 830-mile border with Russia.
Although amending Helsinki’s 1987 Nuclear Energy Act still requires approval from parliament, the proposal has already sparked outrage from Moscow, which warned on Friday that such action exacerbates tensions in Europe. “The fact is that by deploying nuclear weapons on its territory, Finland is beginning to threaten us,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. “And if Finland threatens us, we take appropriate measures.” He did not specify what those measures might be.
Big wins for Gen Z. Initial results in Nepal’s parliamentary elections showed sweeping gains on Friday for the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), the party of rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah. RSP is leading in 110 constituencies, even in former Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli’s home turf. Meanwhile, the Nepali Congress party and Oli’s CPN-UML coalition look set to secure a mere 10 seats each.
Such a showing would give RSP a majority in Nepal’s 275-member lower house, all but ensuring Shah’s candidacy for the premiership. Analysts believe that this is largely due to strong voter turnout among young people. Thursday’s election was the first time that Nepalis have gone to the polls since mass Generation Z-led protests and an ensuing deadly government crackdown in September forced Oli out of power. Shah, 35, has since capitalized on Nepal’s political reckoning to push for generational change—with himself at the helm.
But even if the former Kathmandu mayor takes power, experts forecast a rocky future. Since Nepal began holding elections nearly 70 years ago, no government has ever completed a full, uninterrupted five-year term. To maintain power, Shah will be forced to tackle systemic corruption, widening wealth gaps, rising Hindu nationalism, and modest economic growth.
Friends across the ocean. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hosted Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Tokyo on Friday, during which the two leaders signed a new strategic agreement designed to bolster defense, trade, energy, and technology cooperation. “This is a strong foundation on which we can build something even better, more prosperous, more ambitious,” Carney said.
The nonbinding agreement aims to deepen bilateral collaboration in areas of Pacific and Arctic security. This includes holding joint military training exercises, tackling illegal fishing, and addressing growing cyber threats. Takaichi and Carney also vowed to work more closely on critical minerals and energy projects to improve supply chain resilience. Specifically, Carney stressed that “Canada is in a position where we can double our LNG [liquified natural gas] exports by the end of this decade, and double again by the end of the following decade.”
Both Ottawa and Tokyo are in the midst of major defense buildups. Last month, Canada announced that it plans to divert billions of dollars usually paid to U.S. defense companies to its own domestic manufacturers as relations with Washington sour due to Trump’s trade war. Meanwhile, Takaichi seeks to increase military spending and bolster state-led investments in semiconductor manufacturing and artificial intelligence to help counter Chinese threats against Taiwan.
What in the World?
The United States on Tuesday launched military operations targeting “narcoterrorists” together with which Latin American country?
A. Honduras
B. Peru
C. Ecuador
D. Argentina
Odds and Ends
Caviar and codfish eye gel may not sound like the most appetizing meal, but is it art? In Denmark, Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt is considering applying that designation to gastronomy. According to Michelin star-awarded Danish chef Rasmus Munk, “We convey messages through our food; our food is our medium of expressing ourselves.” But to formally recognize gastronomy as an art form, Copenhagen’s 179-seat parliament must first vote on its reclassification.
In the meantime, FP’s World Brief writer is just going to enjoy her frozen Trader Joe’s dinners.
And the Answer Is…
C. Ecuador
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa’s efforts to crack down on drug-related crime, in part through cooperation with the United States, have not led to a reduction in homicides, FP’s Catherine Osborn reports in Latin America Brief.
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