Stocks to dip ahead of Trump’s Iran deadline

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog.

The London market is set to return from the bank holiday break with a major hangover.

Whilst the City enjoyed an Easter break, volatile trading continued with Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil – hovering around the $110 mark after see-sawing between gains and losses throughout the session.

It followed an bombastic expletive-filled Truth Social post ramped up tensions in the Middle East as Donald Trump issued a message the regime in Tehran: “Open the f***in’ strait you crazy b***ards, or you’ll be living in Hell- JUST WATCH!”

The President would go on to double down on these comments with a pledge to target civilian infrastructure and promised he would return the nation “back to the Stone Ages”.

Trump’s 10-day deadline on Iran was set to finish on Monday, but he said he had decided to extend it to “be a nice person” the day after Easter.

A post on Truth Social said strikes would start at 20:00 EDT on Tuesday – which equates to 01:00 on Wednesday for the British timezone.

Meanwhile, Iran’s General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi said on Saturday that “the doors of hell will be opened to you” if Iran’s infrastructure is attacked, according to state media reports.

As the City returns to business as usual, we’ll be bringing you all the latest reaction and analysis.

Here’s a few of our top headlines from the last few days: