Image source, Reuters

The disruption to the global oil market that has seen prices surge is "temporary", US Energy Secretary Chris Wright claims.

He says that "markets do what markets do" and had increased prices to send a signal to producers to supply more oil.

Wright also says costs have not yet risen enough to "drive meaningful demand destruction" - where high prices or limited supply lead to a sustained decline in demand for a product.

However, our economics editor Faisal Islam points out in an earlier post that there are longer-term impacts from the war and, even if the conflict ends this week, war-damaged facilities in the region would take time to restore.

Image source, House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA

We've just been hearing from the UK prime minister, who's addressing a committee of MPs in Westminster.

Keir Starmer says the UK was aware talks were taking place between the US and Iran.

He also says the UK wants to see de-escalation and an end to the conflict "as swiftly as possible".

"To that end, I welcome the talks reported between the US and Iran," he adds.

Starmer continues by saying "a negotiated agreement" should put "tough conditions on Iran, particularly in relation to nuclear weapons".

Image source, Reuters

Trump has also claimed the price of oil will "drop like a rock" if a deal is done to end the war with Iran.

Oil prices have risen significantly since the conflict began, with Iran threatening vessels in the key shipping channel the Strait of Hormuz.

He tells reporters "we have a very serious chance of a deal" but adds "that doesn't guarantee anything; I'm not guaranteeing anything".

The US president also claims the two countries are discussing 15 points to end the war, with Iran giving up nuclear weapons as points "number one, two and three".

However, Trump says he wants to see a "very serious form of a regime change".

Image source, Reuters

Trump continues by telling reporters at Palm Beach that the US and Iran have "major point of agreement".

Speaking next to Air Force One, he says the talks have been "very strong" and his adviser Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner have been involved.

"We will see where they lead," he says of the talks.

"We have major point of agreement; I would say almost all points of agreement."

The president says the US has been speaking to "a top person" but not the new supreme leader, before adding: "We don't know whether he is living."

The US president next suggests Iran might agree to give up plans for a nuclear weapons programme in exchange for peace.

"Tomorrow morning, sometime their time, we were expecting to blow up their largest electric generating plants that cost over $10bn (£7.5bn) to build," he says.

"It was a very good one, there was no dearth of money. One shot it is gone. It collapses. Why would they want that?

"So they called, I didn't call. They called. They want to make a deal," Trump says.

"And we are very willing to make a deal. It's got to be a good deal, and it's got to be no more wars, no more nuclear weapons.

"They're not going to have nuclear weapons anymore. They're agreeing to that. Any of that stuff, there is no deal," he adds.

More now from Donald Trump, who is still continuing to speak to the media before boarding his plane at Florida's Palm Beach.

On Iran, he says that "they want very much to make a deal; we'd like to make a deal too".

Trump adds that "we're going to get together today, by probably phone".

He also refers to "partners in the Middle East" and later says they are "very much in mind in the discussions".

Image source, Reuters

We're hearing from US President Donald Trump, who's speaking to reporters before boarding his presidential plane, Air Force One, in Palm Beach.

Referring to the five-day postponement of energy strikes, Trump says: "We're doing a five day period, and we'll see how that goes. If it goes well, we're going to end up with settling this."

"Otherwise, we'll just keep bombing our little hearts out," Trump adds.

We'll bring you more from him shortly.

Strike hits building linked to sanctioned Iranian electronics firmpublished at 13:44 GMT 23 March

13:44 GMT 23 March

Image source, Telegram

By Sarah Jalali

Video has been circulating online showing what appears to be the aftermath of a strike on a site linked to an Iranian electronics company that is under US sanctions.

Much of the building, located in the capital Tehran, appears to have been severely damaged and a fire can be seen burning inside.

We verified the location of the footage using satellite imagery and checked that the video is new. We cannot confirm who carried out the strike or what hit the building.

The building is linked to Sairan, which was placed under sanctions by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which described it as a “weapons proliferator operating in support of Iran’s defence sector”.

Image source, Reuters

US President Donald Trump has just been speaking to the AFP news agency.

In a brief phone conversation, Trump says "things are going very well" with Iran, according to AFP.

His remarks follow his earlier social media post, where he said Washington and Tehran had held talks and as a result he had ordered a five-day pause on targeting Iran's power plants.

However, as we mentioned in our previous post, Iran's foreign ministry a short while ago denied that any talks have taken place between the two countries.

Iran's foreign ministry has issued a statement, saying: "We deny what US President Donald Trump said regarding negotiations taking place between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Quoted by CBS News, the BBC's US partner, the foreign ministry adds: "The Islamic Republic of Iran adheres to its position rejecting any type of negotiations before achieving Iran's goals from the war.”

Ghoncheh Habibiazad
Senior reporter, BBC Persian

Iran's Student News Network (SNN), which is an Iranian news agency linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) paramilitary Basij Student Organisation, has quoted an “informed source” in the country's foreign ministry saying they “deny negotiations” and that Strait of Hormuz is “closed to aggressors”.

The source has not been named.

Before that, the IRGC-affiliated Fars and Tasnim news agencies had reported similar sentiments from unnamed officials.

Fars said there has been “no direct or indirect contact with Trump” and that he had “backed down”. Meanwhile, Tasnim reported that “no negotiations” are taking place.

We’re yet to see any named Iranian official comment.

An 11th hour reprievepublished at 12:56 GMT 23 March

12:56 GMT 23 March

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent, reporting from Doha

Image source, Reuters

Is this the end of the war? Not quite.

President Trump’s all-capitals post on his Truth Social outlet talked very specifically about postponing his threat to "obliterate" Iran’s main power plant tonight if the country didn’t release its chokehold on the vital Strait of Hormuz.

Whatever negotiations have been taking place behind the scenes - Trump says they were productive.

Iran’s news agency is implying there weren’t any - the net effect is that this imminent crisis, at least, has been kicked down the road.

Because Iran had made it clear it would retaliate in kind - almost certainly targeting key power plants on this (the Arabian) side of the Gulf.

Quite beyond what that would do to oil prices and the global economy, the human cost here would be considerable, as homes, hospitals and drinking water plants risked running short of power.

CNBC news anchor Joe Kernen says he's just had a quick phone call with US President Donald Trump, who he reports says there have been "very intense discussions" with the Iranians.

Kernen asked who the US has been speaking to and was told by the president "well, they have representatives", he says.

In terms of the people in Iran involved in possible negotiations, Kernan says Trump tells him: "I consider this regime change, because these are new people that I'm talking to.

The president characterised them as having "great conversations", Kernen says.

Image source, PA Media

The UK government has welcomed President Trump's latest announcement.

"Any reports of productive talks are welcome," Keir Starmer's official spokesperson has said.

No 10 has "always said that a swift resolution to the war is in global interests", the spokesperson says, before adding "the Strait of Hormuz specifically needs to be reopened".

We've just seen an update from the Israel Defense Forces, which says it is striking targets in the Iranian capital.

In a message shared on the messaging app Telegram, the IDF says it is "currently conducting" strikes in the "heart of Tehran".

One stray missile or tweet could change it allpublished at 12:25 GMT 23 March

12:25 GMT 23 March

Faisal Islam
Economics editor

In the half hour after President Trump posted about the constructive conversations with Iran, there were remarkable changes in markets.

Broadly put, energy prices tumbled in expectation of a more normal supply of oil and gas. The Brent crude oil price fell 12% to below $100 (£75) a barrel.

Stock markets: Turned around on expectations of a pathway to end the war, with US markets predicted to open up 2-3%.

The markets for government debt, the bond markets, or for the UK the gilt markets, saw extraordinary falls in the effective interest rate.

These yields had spiked very high this morning in anticipation of a prolonged conflict with a permanent impact on supply, igniting a wave of inflation and an energy shock.

In the UK: The markets were pricing in a remarkable four rate rises this year at one point. Much of that reversed in anticipation equally remarkable half hour with the 10 year yield falling 0.4 percentage points to 4.78%.

To be clear, all these markets are still in worse shape versus where they were before the conflict.

Even if everything ended this week there are still scars to the supply of gas, for example, with the damage done to key facilities in Qatar.

Image source, Reuters

Strait of Hormuz: There is a significant continuing risk factor now from Iran’s demonstrated ability to control the flow of commercial shipping through the key shipping channel using relatively low tech methods.

There is, however, an opportunity for an off ramp, and avoidance of a rather wild escalation to, for example, nuclear power plants and desalination facilities.

This could all turn around with one stray missile, or stray tweet, but things have already moved on considerably from where we were even at 11:00 GMT.

Ghoncheh Habibiazad
Senior reporter, BBC Persian

Amid the government-imposed internet outage inside Iran, some people are still finding ways to use the internet. All those that I’ve been speaking to are against the current establishment.

A man in his twenties in the capital Tehran sends me the news of the US president's decision even before I double check it on Donald Trump's Truth Social account.

He reacts by telling me “the end of this will be very costly for the people of Iran, whether the Islamic Republic remains, or realises it is in its final days”.

Trump is “driving us crazy”, a twenty-something woman in a northern Iranian city says.

“I just called my friend and laughed. What is this life that we are living?” another man in his twenties from Tehran says.

Meanwhile, a twenty-something woman from Tehran tells me “he’s so unpredictable. I have no idea what’s going to happen".

What does a 'complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East' look like?published at 12:05 GMT 23 March

12:05 GMT 23 March

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

It sounds pretty all-encompassing, but it will need to resolve the host of issues that have led us to where we are.

Quite apart from the questions that have arisen since the US and Israel attacked Iran over three weeks ago – primarily Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and other actions which have thrown the global economy into turmoil – there are a number of key areas, some of which were on the table when US and Iranian negotiators last met for talks in Geneva, just before the war.

Iran’s enrichment of uranium: Will Tehran agree to strict limits on enrichment and hand over 440kg (970lbs) of highly enriched uranium still in its possession?

Ballistic missiles: The last three weeks have told us much about Iran’s missile capabilities. Again, will Tehran agree to limits?

Regional activities: Iran’s sponsorship of proxies and allies around the Middle East has been a major source of instability. Any comprehensive deal is going to have to address Iran’s support for Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and Shia groups in Iraq.

If those are the areas where the US and Israel most want to see progress, Iran will also want concessions and may still feel strong enough to demand them. Sanctions relief will be high on the list, as well as an end to all talk of regime change.

Ghoncheh Habibiazad
Senior reporter, BBC Persian

Iran's Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has quoted an unnamed Iranian source as saying there is "no direct or indirect contact with Trump".

The source says after "hearing that our targets would include all power stations in West Asia, he backed down".

Nick Edser
Business reporter

Markets have reversed earlier moves after Donald Trump said the US and Iran had had "very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East".

Brent crude has fallen 13% to about $96 a barrel. The FTSE 100 index is now up 0.5% having fallen more than 2% earlier.

Gas prices have fallen from 159p a therm to about 139p.

The yield on 10-year UK government bonds, which had risen to 5.121% earlier, is now down to 4.89% - which is lower than at the start of the day.