Trump says united Ireland would be a 'great thing'

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1:33Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service, live from London. This is Owen Bennett-Jones, well, US President Donald Trump has said he would love to see a unified Ireland. He was speaking to reporters on his visit to Dublin. Well, I don't want to cause any problems, but I will tell you, I'd love to see it unified. I have friends on both sides, great people. they're Irish people how can they be bad right I'd love to see it you know I think it would be a great a great feather in everybody's cap if that happened it's going to happen eventually you also said the UK would have something to say about it but I think it would be a great thing well it's another moment when politicians in London used to a loctite relationship with Washington realize just how much the world has changed the island of Ireland is currently It divided between British Northern Ireland and the sovereign country of Ireland.

2:30And the status of Ireland has led to decades of violence, although there is now a peace agreement in place, secured by the Good Friday Agreement, which we'll be hearing about now. Because Katrina Perry is a BBC journalist in Dublin, also reports on Washington politics. So, surprised that Trump said this? It's a huge surprise that he said this, Owen. And my colleague Chris Page, who was outside Farm Lee when he made those remarks, said that a gasp went up around all of the reporters gathered there. Because you never know what President Trump is going to say, particularly in these kind of freewheeling press conferences where he doesn't know what question he's going to be asked.

3:09But for the last or second to last question to be what he thought of a united Ireland and for him to weigh in and say that it would be a very good idea, that he would love to see it, that he thinks it will eventually happen, acknowledging that the UK would have something to say about that, which it has already, but repeating that this is what he wanted to see, great shock and surprise. There was no expectation that he would get into that. Did he understand the significance of what he was saying, do you think? I think he did, Owen, because he said, I might get into trouble for this, and I have a lot of good friends on both sides of the argument.

3:49And then when he appeared a little bit later on at the home of the US ambassador to Ireland, Ed Walsh, and he was making an address to a gathered audience there, he began that speech by addressing what he had just said, indicating that perhaps someone had had a little whisper in his ear, you know, maybe you need to clean up what you've said there. And he acknowledged that this question was one of those questions, He said, no matter what you say, there's no good answer. I think we're going to read about it tomorrow. But then he repeated, I do think it would be cool. It would be very cool if there was a United Ireland.

4:21And acknowledging, he said, making a joke, oh, I think half the room just left upon hearing me say that. Right. Now, then, the Good Friday Agreement sort of secures the peace deal that's currently in place in Northern Ireland and Ireland. So presumably all the politicians, London, Northern Ireland and Ireland, are they all speaking for the Good Friday Agreement? which has its own method of deciding whether or not Ireland should become unified? Absolutely. It's very clear in the Good Friday Agreement, the subject of a united Ireland, and it can only come about when there are referendums held on both sides of the border where the people of this island vote in favour of a reunification.

5:03And that can only happen, that poll can only be called for in Northern Ireland by the Northern Ireland Secretary of State when there is a clear and obvious consensus that it is going to pass. Now, that is not where opinion polls are at this point in time, but it can't sort of arbitrarily be detailed like that. And that's why the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, got into quite a bit of trouble on his first visit to Northern Ireland when he said a referendum was off the table, because it's not for any individual government to decide. It's to the people of the island to decide. And we've already had some reaction coming in.

5:37We've heard from the UK government that Prime Minister Burnham's view is that there is no majority public support for another referendum and until that changes there will not be one, he says. His view on the Good Friday Agreement still stands. We've had a statement from the leader of the DUP in Northern Ireland, Gavin Robinson, an MP for East Belfast. He says President Trump knows better than most that elections matter. Northern Ireland's constitutional future will be decided by the people of Northern Ireland, not by commentary in London, Dublin or Washington. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, he says, because that is the settled democratic will of the people.

6:15I'm confident it will continue to choose the UK and the security it offers. And then he concludes, as unionists, we are not interested in the destruction of our country by joining with the Irish Republic. Now, we don't have a statement from the Irish government just yet because the Titoch is still involved, the Irish Prime Minister, Micheál Martin, still involved in those official engagements with Donald Trump at the moment. But but I do expect one will come. And that was the BBC's Katrina Perry in Dublin. Oil prices were already topping$100 this week, and that was before the Houthis in Yemen seized control of the entire Red Sea coast, enabling them to block Saudi oil tankers, and also before drone attacks launched from Iraq for Saudi Arabia to shut down a crucial east-west pipeline, which Riyadh has been using to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

7:06So lots going on. And Dr. Mohamed Saloum is a non-resident senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs. He joins us live now from Doha in Qatar. So, Doctor, you've written, you've read an article you wrote about the militias in Iraq. Tell us about them and why they're targeting the pipeline. Right. Well, thank you for having me. Militias, this is not the first time they do it. They did that by the end of last July, which was responded, the Saudis responded with targeting different militia sites in Iraq from north to south, killing reportedly IRGC officers alongside Iraqi militia members, as well as some Houthi members.

7:52And so what the Iranians and their allies in Iraq and also some Houthi elements are trying to do is basically making sure that oil prices skyrocket, because this pipeline is critical for Saudis to transfer oil from the eastern province to the Red Sea. Now, it has been hit in two places. So this is an IRGC hit. It is not an Iraqi militia hit. But I think what is remarkable is the Saudis have not yet responded by targeting the militia sites. And I think this is due to the fact that they have formed an intelligence committee with the Iraqi side and also a hotline. And the Iraqi government is responding by closing several border crossings with Iran.

8:43So I would assume, or this indicates that the Iraqis believe either some Iranian elements from the IRGC are still trapped in Iraq and they're trying to arrest them, or some IRGC-affiliated militia men are trying to flee the country to Iran. Interesting. But basically, the Saudis are relying now on the Iraqi authorities to close down the militia. Definitely. But I think the Saudis, they would have given, this is my understanding from the security framework that has been signed a few weeks back, that they would give Iraqis some time. I don't know what is the time. I don't think it has been published or been said publicly, but I would assume a week or so for the Iraqis to hunt down or arrest those responsible for the attacks.

9:32It's not clear yet whether Saudis would attack these militias, but it is interesting that they have held back so far. But basically, I mean, to summarize what you're saying, Iranian proxies are still active in Iraq and Yemen and effective. Definitely. They are still in Iraq and they have not been targeted in Iraq during the previous war or wars since June 2025. And the Houthis, as we see, they are getting closer to the Bab al-Mandeb citrate. So what I see here is basically I think the conflict is going in that direction. They're trying to drive up oil prices, putting pressure on the U.S. to stop its war against Iran.

10:22Whether this would work or not, I don't know. Maybe it might drag Saudis into the war if they respond this time around. Because militias in Iraq, and I will end there. They deny today any involvement in these attacks, but Saudis have evidence, obviously, and they have submitted it to the Iraqi side. Thank you so much, Dr. Mohanad Saloum. Well, let's get an assessment now of whether this tactic will work. Christophe Ruhl is a senior research scholar at Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy, expert on oil markets. So, Christophe Ruhl, do you believe that oil prices will now go up? I mean, this is a significant amount of supply that's been closed off, isn't it?

11:02Good afternoon. Yes, it is. And what is even more worrisome is that the fact that the Hutis are closing in and there is this East-West pipeline, which was very helpful in alleviating some of the pressure which came from closing the Strait of Hormuz because it was in use before. So this is bringing Saudi oil to the Red Sea. It was in use before, but not fully utilized. So when the Strait of Hormuz closed, three or four million barrels per day could be diverted there. And this pipeline is now closed after these drone attacks. But it's also, of course, in reach for these Houthi rebels in Yemen. And that will have certainly an impact on oil prices if that disturbance continues.

11:43And it's so hard to defend a pipeline, isn't it? I mean, they're long and often above the surface. I think this is the big takeaway which we have to keep in mind. It's obvious that a disruption like that brings up oil prices in the short term. We are getting used to these ups and downs in response to the military and political situation. But recall that not too long ago, the Secretary of the Treasury of the U.S. has said that the Strait of Hormuz soon will disappear as a problem. It will basically evaporate because of all these pipelines being built and attempts to create infrastructure to diversify oil supplies.

12:18And in many ways, that was never a correct statement. In many ways, a pipeline is much more of a sitting duck than a boat or a ship which you can hide for a period of time in some of the ocean. Pipelines are extremely vulnerable and there is no immediate solution for energy security for these oil transports from that part of the world. The only solution is a political one which guarantees some sort of calm in the attacks. Having said all this, I mean, we may now be in a new situation, but when this all started, there was much talk in the media. Have we had people on saying, you know, it's going to be a disaster in weeks, the whole economies are going to collapse and all the rest of it?

12:56And it hasn't happened like that, has it? Do we exaggerate the importance of the oil price? In some senses, yes. And it is also unlikely to happen right now. It's not going to be a sudden collapse. There's two important safety valves which have been underestimated. One is, for me, the key issue which has changed since the big oil crisis in the 70s. So that is the importance of oil has dramatically declined. You used to be, one used to need about a barrel of oil to produce$1 ,000 worth of global GDP. Imagine this is 158 liters. That's a lot of oil. That's down now by 60%. That means we need less and less oil to keep the global economy going.

13:39And you verse the argument. And then it means that a disruption, which is as devastating as we've seen in the 70s and 78, after the Iranian revolutions would now need a much, much higher oil price to happen. When you calculated, the oil price would have to go to 300 to have a similar effect on the economy. That is one thing which means we have just much more leeway. And the other is that we have China now sitting on so much strategic stocks that they could react and just decline their imports in response to hummus. And that has also helped in the short term. Okay, very helpful to help us understand what's going on.

14:15That was Christopher Rull, who's with Columbia University, formerly with BP.

14:27It is just over a month since an avalanche on Broad Peak Mountain on the Pakistan-China border killed 10 climbers. Among them, the British-Nepalese record-breaker and Netflix documentary subject Nirmal Purja, known as NIMS. Well, Mingmar Galdi Sherpa was the leader of the team which recovered Purja's body and also three others. And actually in doing that, he faced many difficulties, escaping another avalanche himself, also overhanging columns of snow and ice that were threatening to collapse. And our Pakistan correspondent Caroline Davis has been talking to him. Every year, thousands travel from around the world to climb and trek in the Karakoram mountain range.

15:13At its heart, Broad Peak, one of only 14 mountains in the world, over 8 ,000 metres high. On 30 July, Mingma Gyalji Sherpa, known as Mingma Ji, was leading a group on nearby K2. He'd seen his friend Nims just days earlier. Originally competitors, both trying to be the first to summit K2 in winter, the two had bonded and decided to summit together in 2021, holding the record for their country Nepal. On that day, Mingma Ji was expecting a call from his team on Broad Peak to say that they had reached the next camp. It never came. We knew something was wrong by like three, four, like around like four in the evening.

15:58Actually, we wouldn't say like something wrong because sometimes people, sometimes the climbers, they just turn off the radio and don't speak much just to save the radio because we can only charge the radio at the best camp. But something had happened. An avalanche had thundered down the slope. Ten climbers were ascending at the time. With communication limited on the mountain, it took hours for Mingmiji to know what had happened. The following morning, a drone operator was able to see the destruction. There were bodies which were carried all the way down at the base of the mountain, and he confirmed that nobody was looking alive.

16:40Mingmiji and his team left K2 and began a recovery mission. Two bodies had already been found. Four more, including Nims and Ming Miji's childhood friend Kilum, were spotted up the mountain. But on day one, there was a setback. Another avalanche moved some of the bodies to a new and more dangerous position, with glacial ice blocks hanging precariously to the left and right. as the days continued. In the sun, the snow began to melt. The small team reached the bodies, clipping them onto ropes, moving them down the mountain. The recovery complete, Mingmaji still thinks about the moment he saw the bodies of his friends.

17:27I feel like they were still kind of like alive, waiting for me. So I told them, OK, I'm here to take you guys back home. When you did reach Nims' body, Did you find anything that would indicate what had happened with the avalanche?

18:07they might have survived. Four bodies were recovered from the mountain that day. Nims, Kiloo, Nima Sherpa from Nepal and Wang Zhong from China. The bodies of Pakistani climber Sahil Saki and Malory Gies from the US were found days later. The body of Nwang Sherpa from Nepal still remains on the mountain. Nims' family have said that they are deeply grateful to everyone involved in the search and recovery effort, calling Mingma Ji and his team extraordinary. The avalanche, the rescue, has changed Mingmiji. He's no longer sure of how long he'll keep climbing. On his phone, videos, memories of climbs and celebrations.

18:46His favourite the day they finally reach the top of K2 in winter. When we were there together, singing our national anthem, Kilo is there, Names is there. The biggest bond started from three of us. We had the biggest bond from winter K2.

19:10And that report from Caroline Davis in Pakistan.

19:18The 9-11 attacks killed nearly 3 ,000 people and people of many faiths. The victims included Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists. The perpetrators, though, were all Muslim and attitudes to Islam in the US did start changing that day. A Pew Research Center survey this spring found that 43 % of US adults said Muslims are less patriotic than other Americans. Now that compares with 92 % of Muslims who say they are proud to be American. Quite a disparity. Well, Amani Al-Katabar is an American author, activist and tech entrepreneur. She was nine years old when 9-11 happened and went on to found MuslimGirl.com, a blog for Muslim women.

20:03And she joins us now. Why did you set up the blog? Tell us. I grew up under the shadow of post-9-11 Islamophobia, where most of the time people that weren't Muslim were speaking on behalf of Islam and especially Muslim women. And the narrative that because Muslim women are oppressed, we should be formulating all these foreign policies in Muslim nations that ultimately disproportionately impacted Muslim women and children more than anyone else. And so that lack of a narrative for our voices in the media around us and, you know, against all of the weight of the propaganda was the reason why I felt it necessary for us to create a space for us to reclaim that narrative and to speak for ourselves.

20:48Now, the fact is, despite efforts like yours, the attitudes towards Muslims in America are hardening, aren't they? I mean, there's more anti-Muslim feeling in these polls today than there was six months after 9-11. It's quite striking. It is, and it's very sad. I think that there has been a resurgence of anti-Muslim sentiment that, unfortunately, many polls have seen far exceed even those immediately after 9-11. And they are in large part fueled by the rhetoric used by our lawmakers and by politicians. uh obviously politicizing this these divisive tactics uh for political gains and political purposes uh and ultimately bearing down the way on innocent people and and really uh creating a lot of uh that rhetoric among different communities okay so you're blaming politicians and opinion formers for this but uh i mean do you also discuss the role of those muslims in america and elsewhere around the world who do support i mean it's a small minority but who do support violent jihad?

21:51I mean, do you think they're playing a role in causing these clashes and differences? I think even that question in and of itself really poses what the issue is. When the media tries to hone in on a number of individuals to paint a picture of one of the largest religions in the entire world, over a billion people globally, as if they're one homogenous group, and that we're all responsible for each other's actions and by that logic can be collectively punished or blamed for the actions of individuals, that is a tremendous, tremendous harm and has been one of the primary forces behind a lot of the anti-Muslim sentiment that we see today.

22:35But when you say that homogenizes, it obviously doesn't. If I'm, in my question, saying it's a very small number of people who think these things, that's quite the opposite of what you just basically said that I said. it doesn't warrant the question then i'm not sure why any muslim would be asked to speak on behalf of individuals outside of their own actions not doing that just asking whether you discuss it on the blog and whether it plays a role i think that for the longest time especially after 9-11 muslims globally were expected to denounce violence to apologize for the violence to make statements asserting their patriotism, like you said.

23:18And it's a burden that's not placed on any other religion. Okay, thanks very much. That was Omani Al-Khatabha there. And welcome back to NewsHour. The right-wing anti-establishment party in the UK, Reform UK, has received a nearly$50 million donation from a British cryptocurrency billionaire, Ben Dello. It's a record for a UK party. Ben Dello said he did it because he wanted a fair, fight and level playing field. The mainstream parties are not so sure that that kind of donation will ensure the playing field is level, but the government is also talking about capping political donations, which in turn has been described as the establishment keeping outsiders out.

24:02Well, the BBC's Nomia Iqbal has been covering this. Lots of political parties do have wealthy donors. So why is this one getting so much attention? I think it's because the scale of it is extraordinary. Yes, there's lots of wealthy donors in British politics, but£36 million, that's the biggest single political donation in UK history. But I think also the timing of it. It comes at a time where it's very sensitive politically for reform. They're being massively scrutinised over their funding, over their finances. And then you've got the government that's considering whether the rules around And very large political donations should be restricted.

24:38So I think all of that makes it very extraordinary. And tell us a bit about Ben Dolo, the donor. He is a British billionaire. He's from Sheffield. He was living in Hong Kong. He says he's now moving back. We're in the process of moving back to the UK. He's the co-founder of this cryptocurrency exchange, BitMEX. He also pleaded guilty in the US to failing to maintain adequate anti-money laundering controls. He was later given this full unconditional pardon by Donald Trump. That was last year. And he has given this interview to the Daily Telegraph. I'll just pull out one of the quotes, which I think is really interesting.

25:15He says, unlike the people who express mock concern for the health of our democracy while doing everything they can to keep it as a cartel, I want a fair fight and a level playing field. Now, he regularly donates to reform and he was going to donate one million a month to reform. But because of those potential rules restricting donations, he's decided to front load the cash before the next general election, which could be 2029. And so he's essentially saying to Reform, here's the money, show us that you are a government in waiting, which Reform says it is. So tell us a bit about what the party leader, Nigel Farage, has said about the donation.

25:53He said he was honoured and humbled by the confidence that he has shown in Reform. and he says the party's priority is now to use that money and essentially build a detailed programme for government. He says the money will help to attract skills and the sort of talent that they need. The sums of money involved in UK politics are tiny compared to, let's say, US politics. Why do parties need this kind of money? Because there are so many restrictions on British parties spending money in an election campaign. What would this money be used for? If you look at Reform UK, they have made the point that they are not the established party.