this is business live from bbc news with sally bundock and victoria fritz. the us tightens sanctions on iran — ending waivers for its biggest crude oil customers including china, india and turkey. live from london, that's our top story on thursday. is the price of oil set to rise again? the us is to tighten sanctions on iran's oil industry today — raising fears of a squeeze in global crude supplies.

the sacked uk defence secretary denies leaking discussions about huawei. today we're asking — what does this mean for the chinese telecoms firm's global contracts? when it comes to the financial markets in europe, they are headed lower. we will explain the movers and shakers. and we'll be getting the inside track on biotechnology. we look at the fight against cancer. we speak to the boss of one private business harnessing the body's own immune system to treat everything from infectious diseases to eye cancer. today we want to know — what is your view on huawei? are you concerned about their alleged closeness to the chinese government — or is this just a misleading idea? let us know — just use the hashtag #bbcbizlive.

hello and welcome to business live. get in touch. it's really good to hear from you get in touch. it's really good to hearfrom you on huawei, for example. it's a hot topic. today the us is tightening its sanctions on iran's oil industry — imposed last november over the country's nuclear ambitions and policies in the region. that's raised fears of a squeeze in global crude supplies — which could push up prices further. let's show you some of the details. washington had granted 180 day waivers to eight countries — including china, india and turkey — allowing them to keep buying iran's oil despite the sanctions. last week it said they had to stop by may 1st or face sanctions themselves. let's have a look at how this has played out in the oil markets.

you can see how that news pushed up the price of benchmark brent crude — although it has fallen back a bit. it's still up by almost a third this year. last month iran's oil shipments dropped below a million barrels per day — the lowest level this year — as buyers reduced their purchases before this new clamp—down by washington. meanwhile, us oil production is at an all—time high — of more than 12 million barrels per day. it hopes that will help keep global markets well supplied. saudi arabia and the united arab emirates have given assurances they will meet any shortfall as a result of us sanctions against iran. on tuesday iran's president hassan rouhani was defiant — vowing to find ways to keep exporting oil. amrita sen is chief oil analyst at energy aspects.

the oil minister in iran hit out saying that the use of oil sections was being used as a weapon by the us and was damaging opec as well, are those comments fair?” and was damaging opec as well, are those comments fair? i think you are going to get quite an interesting opec meeting in june going to get quite an interesting opec meeting injune because they will have to raise production in the second half of the year to offset the decline from iran. there is no way that iran is going to agree to that. this is why i agree with what he's saying in that it's going to be problematic for opec to come to an agreement where everybody is on board. the opec secretary general speaking in tehran offered some sympathy to iran over those sanctions. he quoted a persian poet saying, have patience, every hardship will pass away. do you

share that optimism for iran and its people? i think, share that optimism for iran and its people? ithink, unfortunately right now given the us administration sta nce now given the us administration stance which is something we've never seen before, we've actually never seen before, we've actually never seen before, we've actually never seen any never seen before, we've actually never seen any administration tried to drive iranians and crude exports to drive iranians and crude exports to zero, i don't think there's much hope for optimism in the short term. i think the us administration is very clear in what it wants to achieve. of course, we don't expect iranians exports to full to zero, we think they will be able to get about 6000 barrels a day out which is half of what they've been averaging so far. but, especially with the american policy, i don't see how you're going to get any quick resolution. what does all of this mean for the rest of the oil producing nations? i'm thinking nigeria and venezuela, for example. i think the oil market is incredibly

tight right now because unlike last year when we were dealing with the same iranians situation, this year venezuelan production is falling sharply. we saw an attempted coup over the last couple of days. nigeria, libya. we don't have enough capacity, even if saudi arabia and the uae increase production they can just about meet the iranian shortfall but not shortfalls from eve ryo ne shortfall but not shortfalls from everyone else. thank you. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. volkswagen has set aside an additional $1.1 billion for legal issues stemming from its diesel emissions cheating scandal. in its latest results the firm posted a drop in operating profit over the past three months to $4.6 billion. vw also warned the profit margin for its cars will be at the lower end of expectations. the bank of england is expected to leave interest rates unchanged later today — at 0.75 % — as brexit uncertainty continues. that's despite the lowest

unemployment in 44 years and wages growing at the fastest pace in a decade. most economists don't believe the bank will raise rates until britain's departure from the eu is settled. barclays faces a showdown with an activist investor at its annual shareholder meeting later. new york—based edward bramson is trying to get elected to the bank's board — to force it to scale back its investment banking business. the fallout from defence secretary gavin williamson's sacking over a leak from the national security council meeting on whether to include huawei in the 5g infrastructure continues. we've heard a lot about the west's concerns with huawei — but how are other countries reacting? karishma vaswani is in singapore.

there is a lot of scepticism, as we've discussed, for some weeks now about while away. who is doing business with them? —— about huawei. in southeast asia at the question would be who isn't. if you look around the different countries, especially in singapore, malaysia, cambodia and indonesia, the list is extremely long. that's because many of the companies out here are very keen to get on the 5g bandwagon. they want to roll out five g technology to their customers and one of the best and cheapest ways i've been told, to do this, by companies themselves as well as by a nalysts companies themselves as well as by analysts in this part of the world, is to use huawei's five g technology. independent analysts tell me that the technology is far more advanced and much cheaper than what else is offered on the market.

that's why you see so many companies in southeast asia and other parts of the asia—pacific region using huawei technology. thank you. that's a story that won't go away. let's have a look at the markets. japan is still closed. they are celebrating a new emperor. no action in tokyo. china is also shut for a public holiday. markets are fairly thin because it's been a bit of a weird week. on wednesday, the us federal reserve decided to keep interest rates on hold — borrowing costs will remaining at between 2.25—2.5%. more detail on that in a second. but let's look at europe. here in the uk, metro bank shares are down, double—digit decline for metro bank shares. their deposits are down. we got shell‘s results, first—quarter

profits down 2%. lloyds bank, profits down 2%. lloyds bank, profits flat. interesting day, so much to diejust. profits flat. interesting day, so much to die just. berkeley will be feisty, that's on the agenda too —— so feisty, that's on the agenda too —— so much to digest. from washington, here's michelle fleury. the masters of monetary policy face a puzzling picture. the us economy accelerated in the first three months of this year, but prices actually fell. that's been fuelling speculation that those inside here might be considering a rate cut. those hopes were dashed, but inflation is running below the federal reserve's 2% target. however, the fed chairjerome powell thinks that could be temporarily. we suspect that some transitory factors may be at work. thus, our baseline view remains that with a strong job market and continued growth, inflation will return to 2% over time and then be roughly symmetric. the decision to leave rates unchanged may have disappointed donald trump,

who hours before the fed meeting began on tuesday tweeted that the economy would soar if the fed would lower interest rates by one point and resume quantitative easing. his entreaties come as the white house is looking to nominate an ally, economist stephen moore, to the fed's board of governors. but that now looks in doubt. sophie kilvert is from seven investment management. we've got the fed pausing on rates, the bank of england for most people the bank of england for most people the smart money as it isn't going to move either. what's going on with the world economies? there is a bit of wait and see what's going on. we are in an incredibly long period of expansion since the global financial crisis and in that period interest rates have been incredibly low around the world. obviously, they've been rising in the us but they haven't really been rising anywhere

else. monetary policy was still quite... central banks were still happy to support economies. we have to come to the situation at some point where that ends, particularly in europe and the uk. we probably aren't quite there yet but because we've seen stock markets on a bull run over the last two years, there are questions as to what happens next. what happens when the economy is inevitably slow? central banks don't have as many tools as they had in the past to deal with that. when you look at some of the elements, we've mentioned the situation with oil, if there is a rise in the price of oil globally that has teaching plications for the global economy. then we've got the trade talks wrapped up late yesterday in china. no real news from their either. in a way we weren't really expecting knees, we've got a big delegation from china going to the us later this month. there is hope there

might bea this month. there is hope there might be a deal towards the end of may, beginning ofjune but will give the headlines both president trump and president —— president xi want. it's another aspect of the problem is that the world economy may be had until the end of last year. global growth is still going. it's moderating, it's not as strong as it has been but we don't seem to have recessions on the horizon yet. laughter we are talking rebel investors that ba rclays and laughter we are talking rebel investors that barclays and changes going on at facebook, or not. still to come — fighting cancer using the body's own imune system. we'll be talking to one firm that's hoping to create a treatement for a rare form of eye cancer. you're with business live from bbc news.

what do durex, nurofen, gaviscon and vanish have in common? a big night and a big clean up the next morning! laughter come on, give me the answer! they are just some of the many brands owned by reckitt benckiser, which reported 1% revenue growth today. poor performance in over—the—counter medicines due to a weak flu season was offset by a strong showing in home hygiene — brands like finish and vanish. it is good news that we are healthier! but perhaps not good news for them. david madden is from cmc. you would imagine, given the fact

they are in most bathroom cabinets and kitchen cabinets across the world, that sales will be going quite well. they were a bit disappointing, weren't they? first—quarter sales on a like—for—like basis increased by i%. it was disappointing in regard to being below the forecast which a nalysts being below the forecast which analysts were expecting growth of i.8%. as you mentioned, it's because the flu season wasn't as severe as initially expected, but it's obviously good news for the general public and bad news for reckitt benckiser. they are on track to achieve growth of 3—4% on a like—for—like basis for the full year. despite the fact they've had a tricky quarter, they are fairly bullish and confident about the future and we did want to know if brexit had any impact on what they sell. they are pretty global, aren't

they? any kind of currency fluctuations will be managed on their end. ultimately, the products they sell particularly in health ca re are they sell particularly in health care are a necessity. if you get sick you want to buy health care products of certain extent, a large portion of the business will always be in demand. you could argue hygiene and cleaning products are more but they are probably at the top of the list. thank you very much for your time. more business news available on the live page. you're watching business live. our top story... the us tightens sanctions on iran — ending waivers for its biggest crude oil customers including china, india and turkey. a quick look at how the markets are faring.

european markets are pretty flat. we had a lot of corporate news, not all of it good. we've heard news from shell, lloyds, the consumer goods company reckitt benckiser. research into immunothera py drugs is surging. the relatively new type of treatment seeks to harness the body's own immune system to fight cancer. the immunotherapy cancer market is estimated to be worth $40 billion a year — with many studies suggesting it will be worth well over $100 billion in the next decade. one biotech firm working to develop a treatment is immunocore — it's received hundreds of millions of dollars in funding — as well as investment from the bill and melinda gates foundation.

joining us is dr bahija jallal, chief executive officer of immunocore. explain for our viewers what it is that you do. thank you for having me here. so, ourfirm is involved in the whole immunothera py. here. so, ourfirm is involved in the whole immunotherapy. a little tutorial on immunothera py. if the whole immunotherapy. a little tutorial on immunotherapy. if you think about our immune system is the best weapon we had to fight diseases, immunothera py seeks best weapon we had to fight diseases, immunotherapy seeks to harness that immune system. if you think about what we call t cells are like soldiers in our body. they roam around, there are fingerprints, our cells have fingerprints and they say, don't touch me, i'm normal. but when a cancer cell is there, it's something abnormal, the fingerprint is abnormal and the t cells, the soldiers, come and kill the cancer. but sometimes, it doesn't happen.

the t cells don't do their work. so, these therapies are to harness the system, to get these soldiers to kill the immune system. how far are we with this way of treating cancer 01’ we with this way of treating cancer or infectious diseases in terms of using the immune system and what does it mean for you as a company to try and figure out how to do that? so, we are really at the tip of the iceberg. the whole excitement that happened was, again, when the soldiers are there, awakening the soldiers are there, awakening the soldiers to actually kill the cancer. our technology is, when these soldiers are not even in the battlefield, how do you bring them in there? our technology is specific. on the one hand it touches the tumour and on the other hand it rings the t cells. so, we have the power, that technology has the power

to activate the immune system and that's how we fight the cancer and also infectious disease. or down modulates the immune system in the case of autoimmunity. it really has a broad application. lots of people will be listening to you, very excited, thinking about themselves 01’ excited, thinking about themselves orfriends orfamily. excited, thinking about themselves or friends or family. how close are you to bringing your first drug to the market and getting it approved? hopefully very close. we have, if you think about cancer in the uk, two people out of, well, every two minutes one person is diagnosed with cancer and every three minutes somebody is dying from cancer. we are working at pace to bring our first new product into the patient‘s that really need it. the clinical trial is ongoing and we hope to have it seen. it's big business and it's expensive. this is the issue,

companies like yours are doing the research and development, you've got the funding, but when it comes to market, will the nhs be able to prescribe it? will they be able to give it to the patients? it's all about money, isn't it? i always say, drug development isn't for the faint of heart. it's a long, expensive and tedious. but we do it for one single reason, to help patients. it's really important for us not only to bring a differentiated medicine but the medicine the nhs and others are going to pay for it because the best medicine is the medicine that's going to be used by the patient. what other therapeutic areas could you go into? we have a programme as well in infectious disease, because, again, either you fight cancer, your immune system fights it, or your immune system fights it, or your immune system fights a viral infected cells or something like that. at least with our technology,

we can do both, which is really great. we have programmes on bass. later on, there is also autoimmune diseases. very interesting. thank you and good luck. in a moment, we'll take a look through the business pages. we will be talking about the ba rclays we will be talking about the barclays agm. but first, here's a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us. stay up—to—date with all the day's business news as it happens on the bbc business live page. there's insight and analysis from our team of editors, right around the globe. and we want to hear from you too. get involved on the bbc‘s business live webpage at bbc.com/business. on twitter we're @bbcbusiness. and you can find us on facebook @bbcmoney. business live — on tv and online. what you need to know, when you need to know.

we are going to start with the story about the agm expected at barclays. sophie, this big showdown we are expecting between a rebel investor and the board and this is all over the future investment part of the bank. we are expecting a bit of a boardroom bust up today. edward branson doesn't think that the investment banking part of barclays is the way they should be looking forward to the future. he would prefer the bank to focus on the retail side. tess daly is an investment banker by heart and wants to keep the diversification of their business. should you have a drop in revenues, you've still got the investment bank there to back it up. when you look at the returns, the investment bank produces less than the retail banking site. there is a

cause for the argument but barclays has often done both in its history. investment banking has changed over the years. it's a different beast to what it was in 2007—2008. i think there's enough reason to think having both in the business is the way forward. also, the investment banking side, if it goes well, brings great rewards. but if it goes wrong, it can be costly. just thinking about the global financial crisis, mis—selling, finds. thinking about the global financial crisis, mis-selling, finds. that's right. there are obviously huge risks in investment banking and that's why you get the big rewards. in the same way, the retail banking in the uk is changing and you have more online competitors, the likes of metro bank and other smaller start—ups taking share from the traditional big four. there are risks to both sites, barclays has got that challenge to keep up. let's have a look at facebook, set to

create privacy positions as part of a settlement with the authorities in the us. facebook says it is expecting a big fine. a multi—billion dollar fine. it's being seen to do something to protect privacy. i'll be convinced 01’ protect privacy. i'll be convinced or is it tokenism? there is an element of tokenism. facebook are aware that the regulators are going to come down hard. people went may be aware of how their data was being used and that's now more clear. they said they will create these privacy positions, positions on the board or in the company where they will be a consumers‘ champion. whether it will be enough, we‘ll have to see. consumers‘ champion. whether it will be enough, we'll have to see. and thank you. thank you for your tweets today. we are talking about huawei and whether you believe some of the scare stories. a very lively conversation going on. please do join the debate. we want to see what you think. we‘ll see you again tomorrow.

good morning. it will turn much cooler over the next few days. today, we are going to see some of the colder air moving into the far north of scotland. for most of us, holding on to something a bit milder. before because bringing some sunny spells and showers. most of the showers this morning across scotla nd the showers this morning across scotland through wales. as we go through into the afternoon, they developed quite quickly, particularly across wales and through the midlands into the south—east. some of these showers will be heavy but also quite thundery. temperature is about 14-16. thundery. temperature is about 14—16. thundery showers towards the north—east of england and into central scotland. largely drive

north—west england and northern ireland. it‘s the far north of scotland, look at those temperatures, much, much cooler compared to yesterday. through the night, continuing with this band of cloud which is moving south. outbreaks of rain moving across parts of northern england. overnight, temperatures 3—5 in northern areas and 6—8 further south. this cold front moving south throughout friday will bring the much colder air. with it, some snow showers. based snow showers in the far north will drift into scotland throughout the day. maybe even the north york moors. these showers will continue to move southwards. the dividing line where the cold front is to the less cold air, the milder conditions. much colder conditions behind the cold front. that cold front, bringing in the colder air, is going to move to all parts as we

go into saturday. north—westerly wind right across the uk, an arctic plunge is going to bring us some frost first thing on saturday morning. just a light frost, but certainly a cold start and a bright start to the day. lots of sunshine. the cloud will tend to develop during saturday, a few showers across parts of east yorkshire, lincolnshire and into the east midlands and east anglia. otherwise, dry on saturday. temperatures 9—13. over the bank holiday weekend it‘s going to feel colder. largely dry and the wind is gradually easing as well. we‘ll get some sunshine, not feeling too bad but a real difference in the temperatures. bye— bye.

you‘re watching bbc news at nine with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines... the former defence secretary, gavin williamson, stresses his innocence after he was sacked over a leakfrom a national security council meeting. mr williamson was blamed by the prime minister for revealing discussions about the chinese company, huawei. a former army chief says there may need to be further inquiries. i don‘t know where the truth lies, but if misty williamson is protesting his innocence, then it has a right to be tested itself —— but if mr williamson. eating less meat, taking fewer flights and giving up our cars — how the uk could become a world leader in tackling climate change. the us attorney general refuses to testify before a second congressional committee, about his handling

of the mueller report.