Overview
- On Wednesday Miliband met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington to press for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and a lasting ceasefire as a way to ease rising prices for British households.
- The US State Department said the pair reaffirmed commitment to safe transit through the strait, insisted on preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon, and discussed Europe taking a greater role in its own security.
- Miliband told officials he would push continued UK support for Ukraine and urgent international action to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
- Reporters challenged Miliband about his past public insults of President Trump and he declined to answer, and Washington’s ambassador to the UK Warren Stephens recently said those 2016 comments were 'wrong'.
- Miliband is due to meet World Bank president Ajay Banga to link talks on development, climate resilience and multilateral finance with efforts to blunt the economic pain caused by disrupted Gulf shipping.