Trump's peace plan still vague as war with Iran continues

Summary

Global News Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Trump’s peace plan still vague as war with Iran continues
Date: March 24, 2026
Host: Alex Ritson (BBC World Service)

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Overview

This episode explores the ongoing US-Israel war with Iran, focusing on President Trump’s unclear peace overtures amid continuing hostilities. The discussion covers negotiations behind the scenes, the situation in Iran and the broader Middle East, the war's global economic consequences (especially on energy markets), and other international stories, from Denmark’s election and US energy policy to Cuba’s crisis under a US fuel blockade and wildlife crime.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. US-Iran Conflict: Uncertainty and Diplomatic Maneuvers

• Announcement of Possible Negotiations:
  President Trump claimed "big progress" on peace with Iran, mentioning a temporary halt on attacks targeting power infrastructure. However, no clear details or confirmation emerged from either side.

  • Paul Adams (Diplomatic Correspondent): "Nothing is very clear. Certainly no sign of the major progress and very strong talks that Donald Trump was talking about when he made his surprising announcement." [04:08]

• Backchannel Communications:
  Mediation efforts are underway via Pakistan, Turkey, and Egypt (but not Qatar, per their officials). Iranian sources confirm that some points have been received from the US via intermediaries, but no direct talks have occurred yet. There are rumors an Iranian foreign minister could meet Trump's envoy in Pakistan.

• Military Escalation Continues:
  Despite talk of negotiation, Iranian media report new US-Israel strikes on gas facilities and pipelines. Israel pledges further attacks, with its defense minister declaring intentions to occupy southern Lebanon until Hezbollah threats are neutralized. Iranian retaliation includes more missile strikes on Israel, including Tel Aviv.

• Iranian Leadership Changes:
  Following the assassination of security chief Ali Larijani in an Israeli strike, hardline IRGC veteran Mohamed Baghir Zolkada takes over, emphasizing continued hardliner control.

2. Market Reaction and Oil Price Volatility

• Temporary Market Respite:
  President Trump’s social media post about postponing strikes initially caused oil prices (Brent crude) to dip below $100 and stock markets to rise.

  • Nick Marsh (Business Correspondent): "That meant the stock market bounced and things were looking a bit more optimistic...but the Iranians say that nothing of the sort has happened." [08:01]

• Instability Returns:
  With no actual progress on the ground, prices rebounded, and the Philippines declared a national energy emergency.

• Insider Trading Concerns:
  Unusual, significant bets on oil futures were placed just before Trump’s announcement; the White House denies any involvement and regulators are investigating.

  • "Hundreds of millions of dollars were put on oil futures contracts about 15 minutes before Donald Trump made his announcement on his social media." (Nick Marsh) [09:27]

• Ripple Effects:
  The conflict impacts businesses worldwide, such as Kenya’s flower industry suffering immense losses due to flight disruptions and closed airspace to the Middle East.

  • Jay Hirani (Primrosa Flowers): "I'm assuming the losses on a daily basis for one farm could be anywhere between 20 to 30 thousand dollars per day." [11:43]

3. Voices from Iran: Daily Reality Under Bombardment

• Fear and Resilience:
  Residents share anxiety over threatened power plant bombings, ongoing airstrikes, and the search for safety and normalcy.

  • "Last night I was so scared about that power plant that I stayed up late just listening to music and thinking about all the films I've always wanted to watch..." (Tehran resident, via BBC Persian) [13:31]

• Destruction and Dissent:
  Scenes of Red Crescent responders sifting through rubble, broadcast appeals for “complete and humiliating punishment of the aggressors,” and citizen commentary on enduring hardship.

4. Energy Policy Shift: US Pays to Cancel Wind Project

• Trump Administration Move:
  The US government pays TotalEnergies nearly $1B to abandon offshore wind projects and reinvest in fossil fuels, reversing green energy progress for domestic security reasons.

  • Matt McGrath (Environment Correspondent): "The tactic now seems to be to go to the companies and offer to pay them back the money they've spent on leases..." [20:15]

• Global Energy Trends:
  While US pivots, global investment in renewables breaks records, and most countries move away from coal and towards solar and wind. However, energy policy remains highly politicized in the US.

5. Cuba’s Crisis Under Oil Blockade

• Hospitals in the Dark:
  Most Cuban hospitals only treat emergencies due to the US-led fuel blockade, though select maternity units retain power for critical cases.

  • Mauren Echeverria Peña (expectant mother): "Here in the hospital, they've done everything they can for me...but the rolling blackouts have her worried about the impending birth." [24:00]

• Struggles for Pregnant Women:
  Many, like Indira Martinez, face pregnancy with no state support, deteriorating nutrition, and bleak futures for their children.

  • Indira Martinez: "How am I going to tell her she has no prospect in life...She’ll have no opportunity for growth here. None." [27:01]

6. Denmark’s Election: International v. Domestic Focus

• The 'Trump Bump':
  PM Mette Frederiksen calls an early election, buoyed by popularity after resisting US pressures to annex Greenland, but faces headwinds on domestic issues (cost of living, pensions, pollution).
  • Adrienne Murray (Correspondent): "It's the cost of living, pension reforms and even pig production and polluted drinking water that have all been on the centre stage when it comes to debates." [28:27]

7. The Illicit Eel Trade

• Global Wildlife Crime:
  A BBC investigation uncovers the billion-dollar illegal trade in baby eels (elvers) smuggled from Europe to Asia, a business as lucrative as drug trafficking but with far lighter penalties.
  • Duke (eels smuggler): "We call them living cocaine. Cocaine of the sea." [31:21]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Trump’s Peace Announcements:
  "Frankly, nothing is very clear. Certainly no sign of the major progress and very strong talks that Donald Trump was talking about."
  – Paul Adams, [04:08]

• On Oil Price Manipulation:
  "Hundreds of millions of dollars were put on oil futures contracts about 15 minutes before Donald Trump made his announcement on his social media."
  – Nick Marsh, [09:27]

• On Living under Bomb Threat:
  "Last night I was so scared about that power plant that I stayed up late just listening to music and thinking about all the films I've always wanted to watch..."
  – Resident in Tehran, via BBC Persian, [13:31]

• On the Eel Smuggling Trade:
  "We call them living cocaine. Cocaine of the sea." – Duke, eel smuggler, [31:21]

• On Pregnant Women Facing the Blockade:
  "How am I going to tell her she has no prospect in life because she won't have any? ...She'll have no opportunity for growth here. None."
  – Indira Martinez, [27:01]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• US-Iran Negotiations & War Update: [01:38] – [07:00]
• Market Analysis & Oil Price Manipulation: [07:32] – [10:03]
• Kenyan Flower Market Impacts: [10:03] – [12:08]
• Voices from Tehran amid Bombardment: [12:30] – [15:35]
• US Paying TotalEnergies to Cancel Wind Farms: [19:02] – [23:05]
• Cuba’s Crisis Under US Fuel Blockade: [23:05] – [27:56]
• Denmark's Election & The 'Trump Bump': [27:56] – [30:20]
• Global Eel Smuggling Trade Investigated: [30:20] – [33:19]

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Conclusion

This episode offers a fast-paced roundup of headline news and rich context on the multifaceted impacts of the US-Iran war, from secretive diplomacy and national power plays to market volatility and the hardship faced by ordinary people. The stories span continents, highlighting both macro-level geopolitics and the intimate, daily struggles caused by conflict, policy decisions, and organized crime.

Transcript

[BBC Podcast Announcer]

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[Alex Ritson]

this is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson and at 16 hours GMT on Tuesday 24th March, these are our main stories. Hope for de escalation after reports that a negotiation team including special envoy Steve Witkoff and Vice President J.D. vance May Iranian officials this week in Pakistan. Meanwhile, the war continues. Iranian media say Israeli US strikes targeted two gas facilities and a pipeline in the country. Hours after President Trump said he would temporarily halt attacks on power infrastructure, oil prices have risen again with the barrel of Brent crude going above $100. Also in this podcast US designs on Greenland hang over Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen on polling in Denmark.

[Adrienne Murray]

This Trump bump over her leadership in Greenland is something that she hopes will help hand her victory as she seeks a third term.

[Alex Ritson]

And the US pays French energy giant total almost a billion dollars not to build a wind farm. A day on from President Trump's announcement that attacks on Iranian power plants are being put on hold and that Big progress was being made on a deal to end the war with Iran. We're no clearer about what that amounts to. It's rumored that the US Vice President JD Vance and Mr. Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff could travel to Pakistan to meet Iranian officials this week, but there's been nothing concrete from either side. Meanwhile, Iranian state media say Israeli U. S Strikes have targeted two gas facilities and a pipeline in Iran. Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue attacking the country. Its Defense minister, Israel Katz, has said Israeli forces will take control of southern Lebanon up to the Litany river until the threat from Iran's ally Hezbollah is gone. Tehran has fired further missiles into Israel, including Tel Aviv. In Iran, a replacement for the experienced Ali Larajani, who was killed by an Israeli strike, last week, has been named. Mohammed Bagr Zolkada is a Revolutionary Guards insider. I asked our diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams what we know about moves to end the conflict.

[Paul Adams]

I wish I could be definitive, Alex, but frankly, nothing is very clear. Certainly no sign of the major progress and very strong talks that Donald Trump was talking about when he made his surprising announcement. It is clear that something is going on behind the scenes. We are hearing that messages are being passed by various mediators, including, including probably Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt. The Qataris, by the way, have said this morning that they are not involved in any of this. An Iranian Foreign Ministry official was quoted by our American CBS partners as saying, we received points from the US through mediators and they are being reviewed. So clearly there is some kind of background conversation going on. It hasn't yet translated into direct talks between the Americans and the Iranians. It is being mooted that the Foreign Minister, Abbas Arakchee, might meet the US envoy, Steve Witkoff, possibly later this week in Pakistan. But at the moment, as I say, all of this is very, very fluid. And I don't think anyone is really optimistic of an immediate breakthrough.

[Alex Ritson]

What about this speculation that the hardline speaker of the Iranian Parliament might be involved despite his denials?

[Paul Adams]

Well, yes, it would be surprising. There's no immediate sign that Mohammed Galiba is indeed involved, although one of the rumors during the rounds is that he and Vice President J.D. vance might meet. I mean, he is. Mr. Falibaf is very much from the hard line camp. He is also thought to be someone who is perhaps somewhat opportunistic, perhaps somewhat pragmatic. And so there is some speculation that maybe he could be amenable. He could be the kind of figure that Donald Trump might see as Iran's Delsey Rodriguez, the vice president in Venezuela who took over there after the US Abducted the Venezuelan leader. But again, you know, we are deep in the realms of speculation here, and I think we need a bit of time before any of this comes more clearly into focus.

[Alex Ritson]

And briefly, what can you tell us about Iran's new security chief?

[Paul Adams]

Well, Mohamed Bacher Zolkada is from very much the same background as his predecessor as the head of the National Security Council, Ali Larijani. He is a veteran of the irgc, the Revolutionary Guards. He was involved with the Basij, the voluntary militia. I think the fact that he is now the head of the National Security Council is a sign that the hardliners are still in charge, that the IRGC is still calling the shots, and that as far as Tehran is concerned, this is all about displaying some kind of stability and continuity.

[Alex Ritson]

Paul Adams, were President Trump's comments about possible talks with Iran merely a ploy to calm the markets, which have been in chaos since war began? If that was his aim, it doesn't seem to have worked. The price of Brent crude oil rose back above $100 a barrel after plunging on Monday. Speaking during a trade visit to Australia, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Ley, said the soaring gas and oil prices and stock market falls threatened global stability and the hostilities must end.

[Indira Martinez]

The situation is critical for the energy supplies worldwide. We all feel the knock on effects on gas and oil prices, our businesses and our societies. But it is of utmost importance that we come to a solution that is negotiated. And this, this puts an end to the hostilities that we see in the Middle East.

[Alex Ritson]

So did President Trump's talk of a peace deal reassure investors? I asked our business correspondent in Singapore, Nick Marsh.

[Nick Marsh]

Well, it did reassure them initially when he posted on his social media on Monday morning US Time that they'd be postponing bombing these energy facilities. The price of oil slid pretty quickly. It went down in the case of Brent crude to below $100 a barrel. So that was good. Good from his point of view. That meant the stock market bounced and things were looking a bit more optimistic when it comes to the idea that there would be productive talks between the US And Iran. But the Iranians say that nothing of the sort has happened, that there's been no talks, let alone talks that have led to a possible ending of hostilities. So so long as the facts on the ground haven't changed, that is Iran is in control of the Strait of Hormuz. Millions of barrels of oil and gas aren't moving through that choke point to countries out here in Asia example, then traders and people in markets are looking at that a little bit confused, but at the same time thinking, well, nothing's changed in a material sense. And accordingly, the price of oil has started to creep back up again. And the gains we saw in Asian markets this morning off the back of the US Ones were sort of eroded as well. So it's a little bit of as you were, Nick.

[Alex Ritson]

We've been hearing some reports that there are traders making some very big bets in the oil market ahead of Donald Trump's social media post. What do you know about this?

[Nick Marsh]

Well, I've been looking at that data. I mean, they did make big bets. Why they made those bets is a completely different matter. But yeah, hundreds of millions of dollars were put on oil futures contracts about 15 minutes before Donald Trump made his announcement on his social media that there had been talks and that, you know, there was a possible end to the war which triggered a sharp fall in the price of oil. So we've seen the bets being put. We don't know exactly why the White House has said that it doesn't tolerate any kind of insider trading. Let's see what the US Financial regulators have to say about it.

[Alex Ritson]

Nick Marsh. And just to underscore the effects all this is having on the oil markets, the Philippines has declared a national energy emergency. The government will give subsidies to transport workers and farmers and prevented hoarding and price gouging. But it's not just oil and gas prices and stock markets that have been affected by the war. All kinds of business sectors around the world have been hit, including Kenya's flower industry, one of the country's top foreign exchange earners. Cancelled flights has meant severe disruption for sales to its Middle Eastern market. As Jay Hirani from Kenya's Primrosa Flowers

[Sam Piranty / Jay Hirani]

explains, Our company has really been affected by our market basically is 80% to the middle East. And when airspace are locked, flights are reduced. That means we're not able to sell anything because our customers cannot ship out anything. And like all perishables, we have a shelf life. So we usually keep the flowers for maximum of five days. If in those five days they are unsold, we move them to local sales. But the only challenge is we don't get our growing costs back. So in a nutshell, we're still at a loss. Even if we sell them to the local market, it's still a big hit for us. Sometimes the Dubai opened up its airspace and, you know, customers start sending us orders. So we park and deliver the flowers to the airport. So once we've delivered the flowers, the customers come back to us and tell us the flight has been canceled already, and they ask us to collect the boxes back from the airport. It goes back to a shredder machine and we reuse flowers that are unsold as fertilizers. And, you know, it goes back to the compost. I'm assuming the losses on a daily basis for one farm could be anywhere between 20 to 30 thousand dollars per day. This is one farm, and if you consider all the other farms, it's a significant amount of a loss.

[Alex Ritson]

Jay Hirani from Kenya's Primorosa flowers Despite the possibility of talks between Washington and Tehran, the bombing of Iran continues. International correspondent Joe Inwood has collated, along with the BBC's Persian service, some of the latest material to make its way out of the country.

[Joe Inwood]

There's a fighter jet above my head, he says. Air defenses below or in there, Uncle Josh? I'm not sure where exactly, but sometimes you don't need to understand a language to grasp its meaning. The sound of fear is unmistakable. This is the unauthorized view of Tehran, filmed from rooftops in the dark. And for about 24 hours, there was a serious danger that darkness would be something the people of Iran would have to get used to. President Trump threatened punitive strikes against the country's power plants if the effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz was not ended. It was the main subject people contacted the BBC's Persian service to discuss. And so when that threat was lifted, the relief was clear.

[Adrienne Murray]

Last night I was so scared about that power plant that I stayed up late just listening to music and thinking about all the films I've always wanted to watch and just everything I wanted to do, basically, when 99% of them needed electricity.

[Joe Inwood]

But the lifting of the threat to power plants did not mean it was a peaceful day in Tehran. A group of men wearing the uniform of the Red Crescent carefully dig through rubble. We don't know exactly what else was nearby, but they say this was a residential building and they're searching for a child. Whatever the truth of any one event, the destruction being done to Iran is unmistakable. On state tv, the anchor reads a message from the speaker of Parliament. Our people demand the complete and humiliating punishment of the aggressors, it says. Donald Trump has claimed that negotiations are underway at Iran's request. They have denied that, and nothing coming out of Tehran suggests they are in the mood to compromise. It's a fact not lost on a man who once again got in contact with the BBC's Persian service.

[Kneecap Member / Duke (Eel Smuggler)]

I think this will be very costly for the Iranian people.

[Alex Ritson]

Whether Islamic Republic remains or realizes that

[Kneecap Member / Duke (Eel Smuggler)]

it's on slicks, it will increase the

[Alex Ritson]

cost to the Iranian people as much as possible.

[Joe Inwood]

Back at the site of the airstrike and a woman in a colorful headscarf is helped by two Red Crescent workers. She stumbles, then falls into a man's arms. Behind her. MC cleanup operation is already underway. Heavy machinery trying to bring order to a scene of chaos. But it is nothing compared to the diplomatic efforts ahead. After a month that has left peace in the Middle East a smoking ruin.

[Alex Ritson]

Joe Inwood still to come in this podcast.

[Indira Martinez]

How am I going to tell her she has no prospect in life? She'll have no opportunity for growth here? None.

[Alex Ritson]

Pregnancy in Cuba three months into the US Oil blockade. Hello.

[Kneecap Member / Duke (Eel Smuggler)]

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[Kneecap Member / Duke (Eel Smuggler)]

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[Alex Ritson]

At a time when the supply of oil and gas from the Middle east is coming under increasing pressure, the focus is switching in many countries to renewable energy. According to the energy think tank Ember, a record number of solar and wind farms were installed around the world last year. But meanwhile in the US The Trump administration has announced it's paying the French company total energies $1 billion to walk away from its contracts to supply wind power off the coasts of North Carolina and New York. Making the announcement on Monday, the US Interior Minister Doug Burgum said the company will invest the money in fossil fuel projects instead.

[Kneecap Member / Duke (Eel Smuggler)]

And we're partnering with TotalEnergies to unleash

[Matt McGrath]

nearly $1 billion that was tied up

[Kneecap Member / Duke (Eel Smuggler)]

in a lease deposit that was directed towards the prior administration's subsidies that were pushing expensive weather dependent offshore wind. With this agreement were allowing this great company to redirect those dollars that had been paid into the treasury towards affordable, reliable and secure oil and natural gas production.

[Alex Ritson]

Here's our Environment Correspondent Matt McGraw.

[Matt McGrath]

I think Alex, if you look at what Doug Burgum, the US Interior Secretary, said in his comments there, one of the key words was the word secure and security. National security is an that the Trump administration has tried to use against wind energy. President Trump's antipathy towards wind has long been known. He famously in 2012 gave evidence against a wind farm off his golf course in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. And he has in his presidency tried to essentially move the country away from wind. And they tried last year to shut down five wind farms on the grounds of national security and they issued stop work orders but those orders were thrown out by the courts. This New tactic now seems to be to go to the companies and offer to pay them back the money they've spent on leases, which they got under the Biden administration. They've done that with Total and they've paid them back or they're going to pay them back $928 million in return. Total are scrapping the leases. They're also committing not to build any other wind in North America and also to invest in liquid natural gas and gas plants in Texas. And according to Total, the company, they said it's a win, win situation for them. They say it's a pragmatic decision. They've changed their mind on the importance of wind since President Trump came to office. They're not renouncing onshore wind, but they think offshore wind is too expensive to make electricity from.

[Alex Ritson]

Is the US an outlier in this respect, though? I mean, surely the trend in many countries is towards renewables.

[Matt McGrath]

Yeah, very much so. And as you cited from Ember earlier on, the statistics show that last year renewables overtook coal as the world's principal source of electricity to make electricity. And investment in renewables across the world last year were around $2 trillion and they have been for a couple of years now. That's essentially double the investments in fossil fuels. But it does depend on where you are very much. Developing countries have embraced renewables very much so China is racing ahead with renewables while also building a lot of coal. And countries like the United States are essentially also looking at going back to coal in some respects. And we've seen that from the President Trump's administration, a greater emphasis on trying to make the Department of Defense buy electricity from coal fired stations to enhance the life of these. So very much a different picture from different parts of the world on this issue.

[Alex Ritson]

Very briefly though, away from the environmental arguments, do they have a point? I mean, their own gas is presumably more secure than a lot of things.

[Matt McGrath]

Well, it's a very tough question on the question of gas itself. I mean, yes, the United States is, you know, world leader in producing gas, so they're quite, it's a quite safe supply for them. I think, though, there is more a political and ideological aspect to the deal with Total than it is based on national security. I think it comes down to, realistically, President Trump's antipathy to wind, long held, and he has made no bones about it at all.

[Alex Ritson]

Matt McGrath to Cuba now, which has spent most of its weekend without power. The Trump administration's fuel blockade has meant that no oil shipments have reached the country in three months. Some of the worst affected are the elderly, children and pregnant women, with many saying that they've received no state support and are frightened at the prospect of having a baby during a blackout. Our correspondent Will Grant reports from Havana.

[BBC Podcast Announcer]

As Washington shows no sign of letting up its near total oil blockade on Cuba, most hospitals on the island have been plunged into darkness. Many are only accepting emergency cases. But the lights inside Havana's specialist maternity and neonatal hospital that Amon Gonzalez Coro have stayed on throughout the crisis. Little wonder when you meet one of its patients, Mauren echeverria pena. At 26 years old, her first baby, a boy, is due later this week. It's been a complicated pregnancy, as Mauren has had gestational diabetes and chronic hypertension. She has not left the maternity ward since the blockade began three months ago. Things have been tough, admits Mauren, with her doctors watching on, but here in the hospital, they've done everything they can for me. They've given me the medicines and insulin I need for the health of the baby and the placenta. She says, though, that the rolling blackouts have her worried about the impending birth. Over the weekend, representatives of international solidarity movements, among them the US group Code Pink, arrived in Havana under the banner Let Cuba Breathe. They brought with them aid donations, including for the Gonzalez Koron maternity hospital.

[Matt McGrath]

When the president of the United States

[Sam Piranty / Jay Hirani]

uses the colonial language of I will

[Kneecap Member / Duke (Eel Smuggler)]

take it if I want, this is

[Sam Piranty / Jay Hirani]

the same language that is used when it's on Palestine and Gaza.

[Kneecap Member / Duke (Eel Smuggler)]

This is the same language

[BBC Podcast Announcer]

in front of Cuba's aging Politburo and President Miguel Diaz Canel. They promised unwavering support to the revolution. The government's used the visit of international pro Cuba groups to highlight a simple message that the island's not alone. However, conditions for most ordinary Cubans remain near unbearable. And while Mauren says she's been well cared for during her difficult pregnancy, many of the other 32,000 pregnant women on the island say they've had to face these extremely challenging conditions with no tangible support from the state. Hola. Indira Martinez is one of them. Seven months pregnant, she invited me into her home in the middle of a power cut, With no working stove or fridge. Her calorific intake has dropped significantly in the last few months of her pregnancy. Her husband is also worried about her stress levels.

[Indira Martinez]

I haven't received any of the humanitarian aid sent to Cuba. My husband and I didn't enter this pregnancy irresponsibly. We did it knowing that we can't rely on any Help from the government. It is us against the world. We just pray that everything works out okay. So, no, I haven't seen any emergency aid.

[BBC Podcast Announcer]

Beyond the huge difficulties of being pregnant in the middle of a fuel blockade, Indira harbours real fears about the future for her baby girl.

[Indira Martinez]

How am I going to tell her she has no prospect in life because she won't have any? As much as one would like as a parent to offer them a real life and motivate them, I have no basis to tell her that she has a future or can maximize her full intellectual capacity. If I say that, I'll be lying. She'll have no opportunity for growth here. None.

[BBC Podcast Announcer]

Among the international supporters in Havana was the Northern Irish rap group Kneecap. Cuba has an aging population, a very low birth rate and huge outward migration. The island needs more young people to have children. But Maoren's baby boy, due in days, and maybe even Indira's baby girl, due in two months, will be born under a crippling fuel blockade. In effect, the hardest days in the island's modern history

[Alex Ritson]

will grant in Havana. Voters in Denmark have been at the polls to decide whether to re elect their current prime minister, Mette Fredriksen. The snap election was called last month after Ms. Fredricksen received a poll boost for standing firm against President Trump's repeated calls for the US to annex Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory. Adrienne Murray was outside a polling station in the capital, Copenhagen. I asked her if this was a gamble for Mette Frederick's.

[Adrienne Murray]

It does come after months of slumping popularity, actually. And this Trump bump over her leadership in Greenland is something that she hopes will help hand her victory as she seeks a third term. Now Fredriksen has projected this image of strength and tough leadership. She's earned a reputation as this young lady and certainly punches above her weight for a country of just 6 million people when it comes to the international stage. She's a vocal supporter of Ukraine, a critic of Russia and of course, things like immigration. She's very strict on and she's been calling for a stronger Europe. But here in Denmark, there's actually a lot of consensus on those issues and she's much weaker at home. So rather than geopolitics, it's actually domestic issues that are dominating the campaign trail here. It's the cost of living, pension reforms and even pig production and polluted drinking water that have all been on the centre stage when it comes to debates. And given that she has been in a centrist government, ruling across the center, aligning herself with the party on the right and a centrist party. All three of them are down in the polls. They cannot get a majority. So what's happened is Frederickson has pivoted left again and she's appealing to voters on the left with a controversial wealth tax. She's also pledging strict immigration control to sort of fend off off a resurgent right wing. And she's really hoping that her strong leadership and her appeal now to left wing voters will help get over what is really a voter fatigue. She's been in power for six years and though her party is the biggest and tops opinion polls, they only have 20%. So she really needs to work together with a lot of other smaller parties if she's to win this election.

[Alex Ritson]

Adrian Murray in Copenhagen. And finally, a BBCI investigation has uncovered the workings of a global criminal trade in baby eels. The endangered species is one of the most trafficked animals in the world. Export bans for commercial use have fueled the underground trade, which is worth billions of dollars. Sam Piranty reports.

[Sam Piranty / Jay Hirani]

I'm gonna have the smoked eels.

[Alex Ritson]

Okay.

[Sam Piranty / Jay Hirani]

We're gonna be served here with some green apples. AM hazelnuts, a condiment of liquor.

[Florian Stein]

In a high end restaurant in Paris, Duke, which is not his real name, tucks into a plate of eels. Within the eu, there is a legal market for eels, but Duke isn't interested in that.

[Kneecap Member / Duke (Eel Smuggler)]

I'm in the smuggling business in Europe and Asia, focusing on European glass eels. If you see me in the street, you wouldn't think I'm a gangster.

[Florian Stein]

Duke has allowed the BBC World Service to follow his trafficking operation. Operation as long as he remains Anonymous.

[Kneecap Member / Duke (Eel Smuggler)]

It said 100 tons of eels are smuggled from Europe. I'd say that's a very conservative number. We call them living cocaine. Cocaine of the sea.

[Florian Stein]

He calls a gang member in Hong Kong to check they're ready for the latest illegal shipment from Europe.

[Alex Ritson]

Hi Aduk.

[Florian Stein]

He says they're ready. The Asian eel which used to stock Chinese farms is also scarce. So demand for European eels exploded. There are no legal routes, so the underground trade is flourishing.

[Kneecap Member / Duke (Eel Smuggler)]

So here we talk about one of

[Sam Piranty / Jay Hirani]

the biggest wildlife crimes in the world

[Matt McGrath]

in terms of animals trafficked as well as fraud.

[Florian Stein]

Value scientist Florian Stein advises law enforcement on eel smuggler. The Elvers are packed in suitcases and checked in as hold luggage on flights.

[Sam Piranty / Jay Hirani]

And the overall value of of that meat is worth 2 to 3 billion euros a year.

[Florian Stein]

A member of Duke's gang waits on the shore in Hong Kong. He explains what they do after they collect the suitcases from the airport.

[Kneecap Member / Duke (Eel Smuggler)]

The big ships are waiting with the facilities to keep the eels alive. They transport them to China. We use speedboats or other small boats.

[Florian Stein]

There are thousands of eel farms in China. Once fattened, processed and killed, they could end up anywhere in the world.

[Kneecap Member / Duke (Eel Smuggler)]

With the neighboring gan, we have 16, which is enough to run the entire

[Sam Piranty / Jay Hirani]

European eel smuggling operation,

[Florian Stein]

gang members told the BBC. Though smuggling eels is as lucrative as cocaine, the penalties if you are caught are far lighter.

[Alex Ritson]

Sam Peranti and that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at globalpodcastbc. Co. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. And don't forget our sister podcast, the Global Story, which goes in depth and beyond the headlines on one Big Story. This edition of the Global News Podcast was mixed by Mark Pickett and the producer was Mickey Bristow. The editor is Karen Martin in I'm Alex Ritson. Until next time.

[Kneecap Member / Duke (Eel Smuggler)]

Goodbye.

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