"Sleepwalking into Disaster": Yvette Cooper Warns of Global Food Crisis as Iran Blocks Hormuz – While Trump Creates $1.77bn 'Anti-Weaponization' Slush Fund

19 May 2026 | London & Washington — Updated 21:30 GMT

LONDON/WASHINGTON – The world is "sleepwalking into a global food crisis" with only weeks to avert disaster, Britain's foreign secretary has warned, as Iran's closure of the strait of Hormuz threatens to choke off fertiliser supplies just as farmers across the northern hemisphere begin the crucial spring planting season.

In a stark intervention before a major international conference in London, Yvette Cooper said urgent global pressure was needed to get the strait reopened, fertiliser and fuel moving, and ease cost-of-living pressures that are already hitting developing countries hardest. "We cannot risk tens of millions of people going hungry because one country has hijacked an international shipping lane," Cooper said.

'The Agricultural Clock Is Ticking': Cooper's Urgent Warning

Spring is the crucial planting time for the northern hemisphere. If farmers cannot be assured of fertiliser supplies now, the damage will cascade through harvests and food prices over the next year, affecting both developed and developing nations.

"Iran's continued closure of the strait of Hormuz while the agricultural clock is ticking shows why we need urgent global pressure to get the strait reopened, fertiliser and fuel moving, and ease the costs of living pressures," Cooper said ahead of the Global Partnerships conference in London, co-hosted by the UK and South African governments with support from the Children's Investment Fund Foundation.

The conference is designed to help governments, private sector investors and civil society find new ways of working together — at a time when many rich countries are reducing overseas aid despite rising mountains of debt in the developing world.

Rich Countries Retreat: UK Aid Cuts, USAID Dismantled

The UK has cut aid from 0.5% of gross national income under the previous government — itself a reduction from 0.7% under the last Labour government — to just 0.3%. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has dismantled USAID entirely, eliminating a key channel for American development assistance.

Cooper insisted that overseas aid remained in the UK's national interest. "Instability abroad affects us here at home, from energy prices to food security. Building resilience abroad makes the UK stronger," she said.

But her words come against a backdrop of shrinking budgets. Climate finance, which helps developing countries protect their ecosystems and become more resilient to extreme weather, has been cut to £2bn a year over the next three years. A UK intelligence report warning that the collapse of key ecosystems in developing countries would have devastating impacts on national security has been only partially published, with the government yet to publicly discuss its findings or response.

Jenny Chapman, the minister for development at the Foreign, Development and Commonwealth Office, told the Guardian that partnerships with the private sector could more than double the aid available. "We are absolutely not backing away from our contributions and our responsibilities," she said. "We can get more climate finance by changing the way we work on it. We need to make a lot more impact than we have done."

Billions Announced: Climate Investment and Health Partnerships

At the conference, British International Investment — a public agency that invests alongside the private sector — will announce £4.6bn for climate investment in emerging markets. Other commitments include $250m for the African Development Bank and an increased UK shareholding in the Inter-American Development Bank.

Cooper will also announce a new health partnership to support children injured in Gaza, additional support for health systems to develop new medicines and vaccines more quickly, and a £200m investment in science and technology. The UK is set to become the next president of the G20 group of developed and developing economies.

Richard Hawkes, the chief executive of Oxfam GB, welcomed the conference but struck a cautionary note. "Unlawful attacks by the US and Israel on Iran have killed, injured and displaced civilians across the region. Retaliation from Iran, which includes the closure of the strait of Hormuz, is driving up the cost of food and fuel and putting basic necessities out of reach for millions of people."

Hawkes called for "a permanent and lasting ceasefire, including an immediate end to all hostilities across the wider region," and urged the government to reverse aid cuts. "The government must reverse the cuts and start taxing the super-rich and biggest polluters to help pay for the fight against poverty and inequality."

Donald Trump speaks to the media aboard Air Force One on Friday as he returns to the United States from China.

Trump's $1.77bn 'Slush Fund': Justice Department Creates Secretive Compensation Scheme

Across the Atlantic, a different kind of crisis was unfolding. The US justice department announced on Monday that it was creating a loosely controlled and secretive $1.776bn fund to compensate Donald Trump's allies — part of an agreement in which Trump and his sons dropped a $10bn longshot lawsuit against the IRS.

The money, which critics immediately condemned as a "slush fund," will be overseen by five commissioners. Four will be appointed by the attorney general and are removable by Trump. A fifth will be appointed "in consultation" with congressional leadership. The fund has the power to issue "formal apologies" and will send quarterly confidential reports to the US attorney general outlining who has been paid. There is no requirement that the fund's work be made public.

"Once the funds are deposited into the Designated Account, the United States has no liability whatsoever for the protection or safeguarding of those funds, regardless of bank failure, fraudulent transfers, or any other fraud or misuse of the funds," according to a memo from Todd Blanche, the acting US attorney general.

There appeared to be no restrictions on who can seek compensation. A copy of the agreement released Monday evening says claims will be evaluated based on factors including "the strength of the claim and supporting evidence, the claimant's actions, any time the person making the claim spent in prison, attorney's fees, and 'other factors the Anti-Weaponization Fund deems just and appropriate'."

The justice department said Trump and his sons would not receive monetary compensation but would receive a formal apology. Any money left in the fund at the end of Trump's term would be returned to the federal government.

"The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department's intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again," Blanche said in a statement.

The agreement was signed by Stanley Woodward, the associate attorney general, who previously represented January 6 defendants and many Trump allies. CBS has reported that Woodward could be demoted after Pam Bondi was fired in April, but he has so far held onto his job.

As part of the agreement, Trump will also drop claims for monetary damages against the government over a raid on Mar-a-Lago and the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Democrats and Watchdogs Vow to Fight

Ninety-three congressional Democrats — including Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader — filed an amicus brief with the court on Monday saying such a claim would be illegal.

"Trying to hide this deal from the courts is corruption in plain sight. Trump is funneling taxpayer dollars to his political allies, and we will hold him accountable and block this billion-dollar giveaway at a time when Americans are already squeezed by inflation," said Andrew Warren, deputy legal director at the Democracy Defenders Fund.

Watchdog groups pledged to challenge the legality of any settlement. "Any settlement would be outrageously unethical and likely a violation of the constitution's domestic emoluments clause," said Donald Sherman, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

"This case was always a sham, and another ploy by the President to access taxpayer funds to line his pockets. The justice department needs to explain themselves here — because there is no legal authority for this settlement," said Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward.

US district judge Kathleen Williams, a Barack Obama appointee, dismissed the case on Monday evening, noting that the notice of dismissal Trump's lawyers filed stripped her of jurisdiction. She observed that the agreement was not a formal settlement: "Because the notice does not reference any settlement or include a stipulation of settlement, there is no settlement of record," she wrote.

People drive past an anti-US billboard in Tehran depicting Donald Trump and the strait of Hormuz.

Trump on Iran: 'Attack Postponed — But Not Cancelled'

In other developments, Donald Trump announced that he had called off a planned attack on Iran at the behest of Gulf states so that talks could continue. In a post on Truth Social, the president claimed that the leaders of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia had approached Washington because of the chance of reaching a deal "very acceptable" to the US that would preclude Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

However, Trump added that he had informed his military leaders "to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment's notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached."

Despite the president's regular social media threats against Tehran, there has been no sign of an immediate breakthrough in stalled negotiations to end the war. A ceasefire has paused most violence after six weeks of US-Israeli airstrikes and Iranian retaliation, but there has been little progress since Trump said the ceasefire was "on life support," with some Israeli media reports suggesting a resumption of hostilities is imminent.

Iran's foreign military spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, claimed that Pakistan has shared Tehran's latest proposal with the US, but no details have emerged.

Trump's Approval Sinks, Immigration Crackdown Costly, Weather Data at Risk

Trump's approval rating has fallen to its lowest point of his second term, amid mounting frustration over the cost of living and the US-Israel war on Iran. As November's midterm elections loom, most American voters believe Trump's decision to go to war with Iran was the wrong choice, according to new polling.

Meanwhile, the administration's immigration crackdown could cost the US up to $479bn in lost tax revenue over the next decade, with enforcement deterring undocumented workers from filing taxes, according to tax experts. As the US prepares for hurricane season and a summer of record-breaking heat, experts fear that Trump's cuts to climate and weather data programming could make federal weather forecasts less reliable when they are needed most.

The administration also announced plans to kill Biden-era drinking water limits on four PFAS "forever chemicals," which have been linked to cancer, birth defects, and other serious health problems. And the New York Times filed a second lawsuit against the Pentagon over a policy requiring journalists to have official escorts on Pentagon grounds — a policy the Times called "utterly unreasonable" and unconstitutional.

Stay updated with the latest world headlines on our World Headlines Page.