Trevor Lock, hero of Iranian embassy seige, dies aged 85
In pictures: Iranian embassy siege in London
On 30 April 1980, six gunmen took over the Iranian embassy in Kensington, holding 26 people hostage. The gunmen belonged to a dissident Iranian group opposed to Ayatollah Khomeini, the religious leader who came to power in Iran in 1979.Lock was a member of the diplomatic protection squad guarding the embassy when it was stormed. He helped relay messages from the gunmen to police negotiators via an open window and telephone.During the negotiations, the gunmen demanded the release of 91 political prisoners held in Iran as well as an aircraft to take them and the hostages out of the UK.Most of their hostages were Iranians but also included BBC sound man Sim Harris, BBC news organiser Chris Cramer and tourists who had stopped by to collect visas.On the sixth day of the stand-off, the government ordered the SAS to raid the embassy after the gunmen shot dead Iranian press attaché Abbas Lavasani and dumped his body outside the building.More than 30 masked troops entered the embassy from the balcony and front and back doors, throwing grenades through the windows.Gunshots and screams could be heard from inside the building. Some 15 minutes later, the hostages emerged and were escorted by Scotland Yard police to waiting ambulances.During the raid, PC Lock tackled the leader of the gunmen - known as Salim - and saved the life of an SAS soldier.One hostage was killed and two were wounded in the crossfire - the rest were freed safely by the special forces troops.Five of the six gunmen were killed. The survivor was jailed for 28 years.The assault was broadcast live on three channels on the 5 May - a bank holiday. In his account of the embassy hostage incident, author Ben Mcintyre said Lock became "the policeman who discovered accidental courage without looking for it, wanting it or knowing what it was".
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Economist
4 hours ago
- Economist
Forbidden fruit
Your browser does not support this video. | Al Aweer and Dubai In the small town of Al Aweer, about 20km east of Dubai's city centre, lorries full of fruit and vegetables approach, circle and pass each other, in a skilful dance. Think of it as a kind of bulk-trade ballet, set to a score of horns, beeps and roaring engines. At the back of warehouses, staff in branded polo shirts handle crates of fresh produce. At the front, wholesale shops entice customers from elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and beyond. The one-square-km market, already the largest such hub in the Middle East, plans to double in size to cater to the Gulf's expanding population. It is one symbol of the region's consumer appetites. It is also the secret theatre for smuggling on a grand scale—crushing local farmers, compromising supermarket supply chains and providing a lifeline to Iran. The Islamic Republic, on the other side of the Gulf, is in a serious pickle. After its war with Israel, it is more isolated than ever. Its oil exports are still flowing, but it is struggling to collect the proceeds because America keeps cranking up sanctions on anyone helping it move money. Britain, France and Germany are threatening to restore their own embargoes unless it resumes nuclear negotiations in earnest. That is pushing Iran to find new ways to pay for the foreign goods it so desperately needs. Flooding the Gulf with fruit and veg is one of them. Iran now supplies nine out of ten cauliflowers, tomatoes and watermelons imported by the UAE, a near-monopoly built in just a few years. That is a baffling phenomenon. Although Iran's food exports are not under direct sanctions, most shippers, banks and retailers think the country is too risky to bother dealing with. That should make it impossible for its farm trade to thrive. And there is another puzzle. If you visit supermarkets in Dubai, you will see few obvious signs of Iran's success. A paltry amount of shelf space is dedicated to Persian produce. So who is buying Iran's booming food exports? And where do the groceries end up? To find out, The Economist has talked to a range of farmers, wholesalers and retailers, as well as clandestine traders in Iranian goods. To confirm what they told us, we gathered proprietary trade data and corroborated it with official figures. Our investigation suggests groceries from Iran are being flogged in secret and en masse to unknowing customers across the Gulf—including countries that profess to import none, such as Saudi Arabia. The intricate supply chain reveals conflicts of interest at the highest levels. Middlemen make fortunes; local farmers get squeezed. Iran made perhaps $4bn-5bn from such exports in 2024. And it is just getting started. Blessed with a varied climate, fertile soil and ample sunlight, Iran has the natural endowments to be an agricultural powerhouse. The industry, which provides a living for 23m Iranians and 80% of their food, already accounts for a fifth of non-oil exports. The government subsidises water, fertilisers and energy until they are virtually free. It also bankrolls farmers so they can afford the nifty technology, such as hydroponics, to grow high-value produce. Iran's greenhouse cultivation has more than tripled in area since the early 2010s. Much of its modern irrigation equipment comes indirectly from Israel, a leader in the field. (It usually arrives as part of bigger packages of kit and services provided by companies based in friendlier countries, such as the Netherlands.) Lately a growing share of the equipment has also come from China and Russia. The government bestows such largesse on farmers because their foreign sales are now so valuable to the country. Their exports are one of the few ways the country can obtain the imported goods it so desperately needs. Foreign currencies, such as dollars and dirhams, are vanishingly scarce and therefore exceedingly precious. Anything that eases this hard-currency constraint is worth lavishing with vast domestic resources. The veggie-melon hegemon Neither Iran nor the UAE release up-to-date, detailed trade figures. But we managed to gather private data, based on customs reports from third countries, which provide a fresh and comprehensive picture. Although the source wishes to remain anonymous, The Economist has cross-checked its figures with partial statistics released by the United Nations and other official bodies. The numbers suggest Iran's strategy is proving wildly successful. It already dominates the market for 15 commodities in the UAE, from aubergines to melons. The story is similar, on a smaller scale, in Oman and Qatar. Volumes are soaring; quality is improving, too. Once limited to basic tomatoes on the vine, Iran now excels at the cherry variety, the trickiest kind. Sources say it is building strawberry farms which could crush the competition in two to three years. To understand how Iran's produce gets to market, start at the farm gate. Unlike oil, which is pumped by a state-owned monopoly, the country's veggies are produced by 36,000 small growers. That output is bundled and stacked onto trailers, which are towed to Bandar Lengeh in the south of Iran. It is then loaded at dawn onto smallish ships, which ferry it to Sharjah, in the UAE's north. The journey takes only six hours. Transporting a container of fruit from Iran's farms to Emirati warehouses costs just 8,000 dirhams ($2,200). Shipping fruit from Egypt or Turkey costs four times as much. KUWAIT IRAN Dayyer The Gulf Bandar Abbas Bandar Lengeh Other possible sea routes Sirik BAHRAIN Jask QATAR Sharjah Riyadh Abu Dhabi Al‑Qifiri'ah Gulf of Oman UAE Ibri SAUDI ARABIA Muscat OMAN 200km Possible routes to market 1 Departs from Bandar Lengeh port, Iran 2 Shipped to Sharjah port in UAE 3 By road to Al Aweer food market 4 By road to Al Aziziyah or Halaga food markets in Saudi Arabia. Or 5 By road to Silal central market in Oman 6 On to Ibri in Oman 7 Along the Oman-Saudi Desert Highway to Al Qifiri'ah in Saudi Arabia, and then on to food markets. Most of the Iranian produce coming into Sharjah is registered at customs. But then it has to be paid for. Doing so openly is hard, because Emirati banks are reluctant to process transactions involving Iran. The trade therefore relies on an informal payment system called hundi. It is run by tiny entities with offices across Dubai, which often feature 'transportation', 'goods' and 'services' in their company names. In the UAE, their agents collect dirhams from food importers, which they pass on to exporters of appliances, auto parts and machinery that Iran desperately needs. These goods are then shipped across the Gulf to Iran. Foodstuffs, priced in Iranian rials, flow one way. Vital manufactured goods, priced in dirhams or dollars, flow in the opposite direction. But dirhams need never be exchanged for rials. From Sharjah, local lorries pull the trailers to Al Aweer—which is where the real magic happens. The Gulf-wide trade in Iranian produce is run by the market's wholesalers, according to interviews with direct witnesses. It is they who place orders with Iranian traders, find buyers in the UAE and beyond, and orchestrate logistics. They also feed intelligence back to Iran on the evolution of consumer demand, say two market participants. Emirati merchants are behind Iran's novel push into strawberries, for example. Wholesalers rarely import from Iran directly, preferring to source the goods via one or more intermediaries. That affords some deniability. In a message seen by The Economist, an executive at one such firm makes oblique references to his Iranian offerings, boasting about the big volumes he is able to secure. Most wholesalers of Iranian goods also hide their origin by mixing them with groceries from elsewhere. Camouflaging teams sometimes occupy a warehouse's entire floor. One classic trick is to keep legitimate produce on the top layer of a box while swapping the rest for cheaper fruit. Sometimes the Iranian food is repackaged in fake versions of boxes from reputable brands, in the hope of deterring inspections. These tactics shield wholesalers from unwanted scrutiny. Hiding Iranian fruit also helps them make a lot more money. On the day we visited one trader in Al Aweer, he had a container of cut-price Iranian broccoli just outside his office. In 2024, he said, an Iranian exporter offered him ten containers a day of tomatoes—equivalent to 200 tonnes—at the cost of 1 dirham per kg (including transport). Farmers in the UAE must typically charge 2 dirhams per kg to break even; Dutch supplies cost at least five times that. By pretending they are selling full boxes of this pricier fruit, without any cheap Iranian varieties in the mix, wholesalers inflate their margins. The same goes for the supermarkets that buy their produce. Purchasing officers who turn a blind eye to the fraud often get a kickback from the wholesaler. It is not rare for managers of fruit-and-vegetable sections to do some blending themselves, too. They might mix Iranian tomatoes with Dutch varieties to make a bigger display. 'Instead of 4-5 dirhams, they sell the lot for 20-25 dirhams' per kg, says an insider. There is a lot of money to be made. One local supermarket chain is known for flying its staff in business class and lodging them in five-star hotels. Other UAE supermarkets, which include the local franchises of European giants like Carrefour and Waitrose, try harder to root out the deception. That explains why many retailers replace their grocery chiefs nearly every year. Rootless veggies and undercover kiwis The UAE is also a base for shady re-exports. One insider reckons a third of the country's imports of Iranian veggies end up in other countries. Much of this produce is smuggled. Saudi Arabia, for example, has long blocked fruit imports from Iran, a regional rival subject to Western sanctions that are tricky to navigate. The kingdom's customs officers will reject an entire shipment if they find a lone box with Farsi writing or even Persian numbers. Its enforcers also require sanitary certificates for incoming cargo that specify where it is from. Yet fooling them is easy, says an Emirati trader who does it a lot. 'We just put a sticker on the carton with a new origin: Azerbaijan, Turkey—anything but Iran.' To launder Iranian produce, traders also re-use paperwork issued for legitimate shipments: Italian kiwis and Spanish broccoli are frequent covers. This kind of fruit impersonation annoys bona fide exporters. Diplomats from various European countries have complained about it, to no avail. The crushing dominance of Iranian produce, facilitated by local firms, also makes a mockery of government plans to revive homegrown agriculture. In its national economic strategy, the UAE aims to top the Global Food Security Index—a benchmark by Economist Impact, our sister company—by 2051. Dubai is building a two-square-km 'Food Tech Valley'. Abu Dhabi is planning the world's largest indoor farm, to grow 10,000 tonnes of greens a year. Sharjah is sowing 1,400 hectares with wheat. Such flashy ventures, backed by a who's who of state funds and Western investors, are all meant to advance one goal: 'enhancing local food production'. In reality, local farms are withering. The UAE counts 35,000 estates, some of them large. One vegetable grower in Al Ain, the country's farming hub, employs nearly 400 staff to cultivate an area equivalent to 100 football pitches. He says his production of tomatoes has plummeted because a glut in overall supply has dragged prices down. The government's laissez-faire approach, he says, is 'destroying local farmers'. Emirati officials are aware of the problem. Their trade analysts have access to up-to-date data, says someone familiar with the country's government. Last year the economy ministry launched an anti-dumping investigation into mushrooms exported from Iran, according to a poster seen by The Economist. But the trade continues apace. Adding a layer of intrigue, some of Al Aweer's biggest wholesalers are controlled by people in power. Silal, an outfit founded to bolster food security during the covid-19 pandemic, belongs to ADQ, one of Abu Dhabi's sovereign-wealth funds. NRTC, a 50-year-old trader with 1,000 staff, is 41% owned by IHC, a conglomerate run by an Emirati royal. Why would the UAE—and other Gulf countries—tolerate Iran's green invasion? Perhaps they hope cheap imports will keep inflation down. They may also think that appeasing Iran will reduce the chances it lashes out against them if Israel strikes again. Some even posit that some Gulf leaders are ready to sacrifice local farming to help save scarce groundwater in a notoriously dry part of the world. Whatever the reason, relying on Iran is hardly a safe choice. Should it be bombed again, trade may dwindle. More frequent droughts are making its output increasingly volatile anyway, exposing importers to price shocks. However tempting, bingeing on Iranian produce looks like a recipe for trouble. Illustration:More from
Daily Record
6 hours ago
- Daily Record
BBC Breakfast viewers left furious over 'painful' segment on show
BBC Breakfast fans were not pleased as the show explored many of the shops on British high streets that are operated by immigrants. BBC Breakfast viewers were fuming during Thursday morning's instalment of the show following a controversial immigration segment, which discussed the illegal shops opening up on British high streets. Hosts Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt presented from the red sofa as they introduced the coverage from one UK town which has been taken over by shops selling illegal cigarettes, drugs and Turkish barber shops used as a 'front' for criminal activity. Members of the public confessed they would be too scared to walk down the street at night. UK editor Ed Thomas was then seen walking down Newport high street with a local Trading Standards enforcer. He explained: 'Steve says most of the shops are staffed by Iranian and Iraqi Kurds." Ed and Steve then spoke with one legitimate businessman, who moved to the UK from Turkey and worked hard over the course of 26 years to build up his shop so he could leave it to his children. Ed explained: "He's angry. He wants the illegal shops closed for good." The shopkeeper alleged that the illegal stores are selling everything from "heroin" to "women". The BBC star then headed to Swansea, where one Trading Standards officer had hit the same shop 12 times, the Express reports. The officer said: "What we find is that [the shops are] used for tobacco in the day, drugs at night." Unhappy BBC Breakfast viewers at home were left fuming over the segment as they took to social media to share their frustrations over the ongoing situation. Praising the show but complaining about the state of Britain, one wrote: 'It's non-stop issues with illegal and legal immigrants… "I'm glad BBC is starting to show us snippets of what's happening in Britain – the rest, I need to look elsewhere.' Another chimed in: 'Shut the shops and deport them. Where are the government and authorities? "Never thought I'd say this but voting Reform might be the only option for people who want the country back as it was.' Yet another user penned: 'Watching BBC Breakfast is actually painful because I recognise so much of my own high street and it's just making me furious that actual shops have closed down for vape shops and weird barbers." Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. Meanwhile, on rival breakfast show GB News, Conservative MP Esther McVey branded the current small boats crisis as a 'state' of emergency as she slammed Keir Starmer during her appearance on the show. She said: "We have got to take it into our own control and I've said parliament needs to be recalled. "This is a state of emergency - the numbers for immigration. We need to get everybody back. We've got to agree on what we're getting to do."
Scotsman
7 hours ago
- Scotsman
The Gone cast: who is in series 2 and which actors are new?
The Gone series 2 will start on BBC Two this evening 📺 Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The Gone returns for a second season tonight (July 31). Theo Richter and DS Diana Huia are back. But who are the new faces in Mt Affinity this season? The Gone is back as viewers are invited to take another trip to Mt Affinity. BBC Two will once again be broadcasting the episodes as they make their UK debut. The thriller is a New Zealand-Irish drama. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad But who is in the cast and what can you expect? Here's all you need to know: When is The Gone on TV? The Gone series 2 starts on July 31 | BBC The second season of the crime thriller will return to BBC Two this evening. The first episode is set to begin at 9pm today (July 31) with the second following tomorrow (August 1) at the same time. What to expect from The Gone tonight? The preview for the first episode of The Gone season two, via Radio Times , reads: 'When journalist Aileen Ryan goes missing, Irish detective Theo Richter and Kiwi detective Diana Huia are compelled to remain in the small town of Mt Affinity in New Zealand and lead the search. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'After discovering Aileen went missing while chasing a lead on the town's historical Mountain Murders, the detectives enter a game of cat and mouse with the Goatman.' Who is in the cast of The Gone? The show is back for its second series as viewers are transported back to the small New Zealand town of Mt Affinity. The cast includes: Richard Flood as Theo Richter Acushla-Tara Kupe as DS Diana Huia Carolyn Bracken as Aileen Ryan Vanessa Rare as Wiki Huia Scott Wills as Bruce Harris Wayne Hapi as Buster Huia Rachel Morgan as Sinead Martin Ella Gilbert as Valerie Armstrong Michelle Fairley as Judge Hannah Martin Simon Mead as Ronan Garvey Manu Bennett as Tamati Davidson Poroaki Merritt-McDonald as Ginge Which actors are new for season 2 of The Gone? For the return to Mt Affinity, The Gone has added a number of new faces. It includes: Daya Tumua-Sao-Mafiti as Oliver Jones Darren Young as Officer Jacobs Caleb Armstrong as Derry Jr. Géraldine Creff as French Tourist Renee Sheridan as Sharyn Anna-Maree Thomas as Officer Reid John Leigh as Vaughan Phil Brown as Ross Maley KC Michael Koloi as Corrections Officer Acacia O'Connor as German Tourist Where do you know The Gone cast from? Richard Flood plays the Irish detective Theo Richter in both seasons of the crime thriller. He played Dr. Cormac Hayes in Grey's Anatomy from 2019 to 2022. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He was also Ford in the American remake of Shameless - alongside the likes of Jeremy Allen White, William H. Macy, Emmy Rossum and Justin Chatwin. You may have also seen him in the Irish soap opera Red Rock. Michelle Fairley, who plays Judge Martin, famously played Caitlyn Stark in HBO's Game of Thrones. She has also had a lead role in the Sky show Gangs of London, appearing in all three seasons so far, and also had a part in Netflix's Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.
