Will Putin Benefit From The Iran War?

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Hello, newscasters.

It is Saturday afternoon and I'm recording our conversation

at about 430 and what has been a very, very fast-paced news moment

as the war in the Middle East passes the Fortnite mark.

There are three stars of the show this afternoon.

First of all, you, with your questions and messages

about the ongoing conflict in Iran.

Second of all, we're going to talk to the BBC's Frank Gardner

who's reporting for us from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

He'll bring us the very latest on what's been happening in the conflict

and the BBC's Steve Rosenberg will join us to from Moscow.

After Donald Trump controversially

relaxed some of the restrictions on Russia selling its oil.

So plenty to come, but your questions are at the top of our list.

We had a message from Sue, clever Sue in Cardiff,

back on the 10th of March and she wrote,

Putin has congratulated the new Supreme Leader.

He's helping Iran with defence information

yet Trump may lift oil sanctions on Russia.

And this week, Sue's prediction came true.

America did loosen sanctions on other countries buying Russian oil.

So Sue, well done, it might not make you feel good,

but you were right.

So we'll find out today how important that move was

from Donald Trump's ever controversial White House

and we'll hear from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia

about the very latest events in the war.

Newscast.

Newscast from the BBC.

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Blind me.

Hello, it's Laura in the studio for this Saturday's newscast.

And as promised, a fortnight ago,

which seems a long time ago now,

at the beginning of this war in Iran and the wider Middle East,

we promised we would bring you every day

the latest updates on what you need to know

on what's happening on the ground in the conflict.

And let's go straight.

Therefore, to my colleague, Frank Gardner,

the BBC's security correspondent who is in Riyadh,

the capital of Saudi Arabia,

one of the many countries in the region

that has come under attack.

Hello, Frank.

Hello, Laura. Hello.

Now, where you are right now, it's Iftar,

which is the break of Ramadan.

So before we get into the details of what's happened

in the conflict,

just what's it?

What's it like where you are right now?

What's the atmosphere?

I'm going to be really honest with you.

Here in Riyadh, you wouldn't know there is a war on.

I'd love to tell you that I'm ducking into bunkers,

but it really isn't true.

This is because it's quite a long way

from the actual coast to the Gulf,

which has been taking a lot of the hits.

So Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Dubai, etc.

They've all taken a real pummeling,

particularly on their economic facilities.

But Riyadh being the capital here,

the Saudis are trying very hard to stay out of this.

But they're not immune from it, as you rightly say.

Yesterday, I think they intercepted about 18 incoming projectiles.

Most of these have been aimed at the east of the country,

at the oil producing part of the country.

And I spent part of yesterday visiting

a British Army Royal Artillery Air Defense Unit

out in the desert whose job it is to help protect

some of the critical national infrastructure here

inside Arabia.

Things I think people accept could probably get a whole lot worse.

They don't want it to.

They want this water end.

And they are in varying degrees of annoyance.

They are furious with Iran, America, and Israel.

But there is no sign of things coming down or de-escalating.

And in the last 24 hours, both Iran and the US

have been hitting key oil facilities in the Middle East.

And there was an intercepted drone strike

hitting one of the Middle East's largest oil storage facilities,

with, of course, all the consequences that there are from that.

What happened there?

So that's in a place called Frujera.

So everyone's heard of Dubai, everyone's heard of Abu Dhabi,

but they are in a two out of seven Emirates

in what makes up the United Arab Emirates.

The only one that's got a port outside the Gulf

on the Gulf of Iran on the Arabian Sea is Frujera.

And that was hit today by falling debris from an intercepted drone.

And that's worried because people on that side

of the country thought they might well get through this

without necessarily being hit.

But that isn't the case, even in Iran,

which argued really vociferously against this war.

Iran has been hit, even quite far down south.

And that's extraordinary because Iran has gone to great lengths

to not just stay neutral.

They've stayed on good terms with Iran.

And they actually, the Foreign Minister, flew to Washington, to DC.

Right on the eve of all of this to try and persuade the Americans not to do it.

And yet, they've been hit too.

So this war has spread very quickly from being military targets,

US bases in the region, which Iran always said it was threatened to attack,

if it was attacked, to diplomatic and economic targets

and civil targets, civilian targets.

And I just wonder, you know that region very well,

but I feel like we're all getting to know the map,

which maybe was a bit of a mystery to many of us,

thousands of miles away.

But with all your experience of covering that region,

in fact, are you surprised by the way in which Iran has expanded its attacks beyond,

as you say, what they'd always said.

If you hit us, we'll hit American bases in the region.

Are you surprised at how they've retaliated?

Yes, I am, or definitely.

I mean, this is my third Gulf War.

The first one being 1991, desert storm,

second one being 2003,

the US-led invasion of Iraq, and now this one.

And I think that there's going to be some really big, long-term changes,

some kind of seismic shifts because for most of these countries,

there is no substitute to the United States as their big strategic partner,

an ally and provider of arms.

But the problem for people in this region is that the United States

has a very close relationship with Israel,

of a strategic partnership.

And they see that, many people here see that as a liability.

Governments in this part of the world are often closer to Israel,

in some cases, than they are to their own people.

So, for example, under the Abraham Apports,

you've got Bahrain and the UE have,

they've got full diplomatic and trade relations with Israel.

They use a lot of Israeli tech.

There is really tourists in Dubai.

But most people on the ground don't like Israel.

They are very angry with what's happened to the Gaza.

They're not happy with what's happening in the West Bank.

And that is the liability for Governments here.

So, there's no easy way out of this for the Governments.

They just want this to stop.

And they've got, they've come to live with their great big neighbor,

the Islamic Republic of Iran, just across the waters.

They don't like the revolutionary nature of the Islamic Republic.

They don't like the fact that Iran sponsors these proxy militias

around the region, which its Governments here see as being very disruptive.

Things like Hezbollah and Lebanon,

the Houthis in Yemen, Hamas in Gaza,

and a whole host of proxies in Iraq.

These are all in the eyes of Governments here,

trouble-making militias.

But, nevertheless, they would still rather have an uneasy peace with Iran

than what's going on now,

because it's hurting their economies

and it's hurting their tourist industries.

And it really is potentially hurting absolutely everywhere

if the oil price stays as sky high,

if this conflict runs on for a long time.

And the latest American strikes on the other side,

which America said it's, and I'm quoting,

totally obliterated targets on Carg Island,

which houses Iran's major oil terminal.

I mean, do we know the extent of those attacks, Frank?

Well, the Americans have done is to go after the military targets.

So, the bases that guard Carg Island.

Carg Islands is important because it's the export terminal

for a 90% of Iran's oil.

That's the lifeblood of the Iranian economy.

Why does that have to come out through an island?

Because the Gulf is quite shallow.

And big tankers, ocean-going tankers,

one's called VLCCs, that's very large crude carriers.

They can't get close enough into the coast

to take on board hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil.

So, instead, they load it at Carg Island.

Now, I'm old enough to remember that from the Iran-Iran-Iran tanker war

of the 1980s.

The Iraqi Air Force was constantly bombing that Carg Island terminal,

trying to put it out of action.

What the Americans have done is to attack the military targets on Carg,

but they say they've left untouched for now the oil facilities.

Iran has said, well, if you do that,

if you hit our oil facilities,

we will turn to dust, all sorts of, you know,

U.S. economic targets in the region.

And the same time, Donald Trump is saying,

well, if you don't unblock the state of Hormuz,

we will do this and that.

There's a lot of kind of chess something going on here.

I'm going to have to forgive the bit of noise on the background.

It's iftar time, which is after the end of the day,

the breakthrough of the fast, as you probably know.

Yeah, it's Ramadan.

Well, it's Ramadan everywhere, but particularly in Saudi Arabia.

It's nice to hear the sounds of normal life

and people sounding like they might be managing to be cheerful

at a time of great turmoil for their region.

And just though, in all your experience

of covering conflicts in that part of the world,

seeing what we're all seeing now, Frank,

do you have any sense that this might be in any way,

straight, poor form close to an end?

Because here in the UK, you know,

government ministers are pretty petrified

by how long this might go on for with all the implications

for the economy.

Do you have any sense that it might be close to winding down?

Well, I interviewed one of them yesterday,

Evette Cooper, our foreign secretary.

She was, we followed her round in the desolate as she visited

this Royal Artillery Unit that's doing air defense here.

And I kind of put the same thing to her, actually.

She was a bit equivocal about it,

but the sense I got from her was that she was

not nearly as optimistic as she was a week ago

as to when this is going to end.

I think the key here, look,

these railies are going to carry on

until they run out of ammunition, frankly.

Iran is playing the long game.

They've been battered militarily.

They know that they can't possibly match

the might of the US military.

But the key in all of this is that soon or later,

Donald Trump is going to come under pressure

from his own base, his MAGA base,

who are going to say, hang on a minute.

You, we voted you into office on the basis

that you were not going to get the United States

dragged into any more forever wars in the Middle East.

And yet that it is every week that goes by,

when I'm in the third week,

every week that goes by,

it looks more and more like that is risking happening.

So soon or later, they're going to have to

they're going to have to pull the plug on this.

And yet that doesn't sit well with the dispatch

from the Sea of Japan of this so-called ARG,

this amphibious ready group,

which has been laid by the US as triply

with over 2,000 US Marines on it.

That is prompting speculation that Donald Trump

is possibly considering landing on,

invading and landing on Hargarland

and trying to season hold it.

My God, if that happens, there's going to be a lot of casualties.

But what are you going to do?

You're then going to set up an occupation force on it

and suddenly you're into Iraq

and into a kind of Iraq style occupation.

And you know, I think there is a parallel here, Laura,

with the Blair years, where there was some very quick,

successful operations,

Sierra Leone, Kosovo, they worked,

and then came Afghanistan, and then came in Iraq.

And the UK, along with the US,

got bogged down in years of occupation and insurgency.

And there is that risk for the United States.

If he decided to turn this into a ground war,

it could be very bad.

I mean, there's no question the US is hitting a lot of targets,

but you can't measure this conflict

in terms of targets hit.

You measure it in terms of the survivability

of the Iranian regime.

And it only has to survive to say, we've won.

You threw everything you had at us.

You gave it your best shot.

And you know what?

We're still here.

The Islamic Republic is still here.

So unless there's a mass uprising on the streets,

it does overthrow the Islamic Republic regime,

then the US frankly will lose this.

And one thing that's also happened,

we're recording at 430 on Saturday afternoon,

but one thing that's also happened today,

Donald Trump has urged the UK and other countries

to send ships to help protect the state of Hormuz,

that vital waterway.

Use boats to the foreign secretary yesterday,

Frank, in my experience,

speaking to the UK politicians,

I cannot imagine that that request

is going to be fulfilled

or something that is a tempting option

for the UK government.

But what do you think the UK would be likely

to say to that request?

Probably that we don't have any ships left to do it.

I mean, you know, we've got a tiny navy.

It's absolutely minuscule compared to what it used to be.

And Britain used to have a naval presence in Bahrain.

This was minesweepers.

Britain's big contribution to security in the Gulf

was minesweepers.

It dates right back to that Iran-Iraq war

that I mentioned earlier, the one in the 1980s.

It was something called the Armila Patrol.

And the Royal Navy had a specific expertise

that the Americans didn't have,

which was clear in the state of Hormuz of mines,

because back then, in the mid to late 1980s,

the Iranians, and it was the Islamic Republic,

then, were laying mines there.

So this isn't new, you know,

this kind of history repeating itself.

Frank, that's really interesting.

Thank you so much for joining us.

And it's lovely to see, actually,

a beautiful image of you in Riyadh,

looking like normal life, families going about their business,

having a pleasant evening, enjoying the world,

even though there is such turmoil and danger

in other parts of that region.

So thank you very much indeed for briefing us here

on weekend newscasts worth remembering, too.

It's only seven days ago.

Since Donald Trump took your stammer,

he didn't need anything from the UK.

He didn't need any of its aircraft carriers

or anything else because the war

had already been won.

But that was seven days ago,

and my goodness, these days,

seven days can be an incredible eventful.

Frank, thank you so much indeed for joining us

on Saturdays newscasts.

Thank you.

Let us then zoom across the world

from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia to our man in Moscow,

where, of course, people have been digesting the decision

from the Trump White House

to relax some of the restrictions on Russia's ability

to sell oil.

Our man there, of course, is none other

than the excellent Steve Rosenberg.

Steve, hello.

Hello, Laura.

Great to have you with us.

What a treat for a weekend newscast.

Now, we've mentioned the easing

of some of these sanctions on Russian oil.

So give us a primer on what's actually happened.

Then we'll talk about what it means.

So what America has done?

It has announced a waiver

on purchasing sanctioned Russian oil,

a 30-day waiver basically authorizing a allowing

countries to buy Russian sanctioned oil

that is currently stranded at sea

or in transit at sea at the moment.

The Americans have made it clear

this is a narrowly focused temporary measure

just lasting 30 days.

The idea being to kind of calm the global energy markets.

But it's hugely symbolic

and it sets a precedent

because when you think about it

over the last four years,

ever since the full scale Russian invasion of Ukraine,

so many sanctions, so many international sanctions,

thousands and thousands of them have been imposed on Moscow.

So the easing of sanctions on Russian oil,

even if the Americans are saying

this is a limited measure,

the Russians aren't.

They don't earn a lot of money from this.

This is hugely symbolic.

And Russian commentators yesterday

was watching on the state media.

They were making this point and their hope is

that this is the style of something bigger

and that this will lead to further sanctions relief for Moscow.

So President Trump, by doing this,

has given Russia something of a propaganda victory?

In a sense, absolutely.

Yes, the Russian officials

and Russian commentators will make in the point yesterday

that this is proof that the world can't do without Russian oil

and proof of the importance of Russia.

So that was playing very positively,

domestically, here in Russia.

And added to that,

you've got the fact that oil prices are so high at the moment.

And this is providing a windfall

for the Russian authorities,

just when it needed it,

because the Russian economy has been under increasing pressure.

And after four years of war in Ukraine,

after four years of international sanctions,

really the cracks were showing,

and the Russian budget deficit was growing.

Lots of economic indicators were very negative

for the Russian authorities.

Suddenly, oil prices have shot up to $100 plus.

And that means that the Russian budget is earning much more money.

And more money, more resources.

That means more money,

the Kremlin to continue its war in Ukraine.

So it's a cash bang and also a political prize for the Kremlin.

But then in Kiev, I mean,

this must provoke get more suspicion

that actually the White House is playing both sides.

They're actually quite sympathetic to Vladimir Putin,

rather than just doing everything they can

to help Ukraine bring the conflict to an end.

What have they said?

Well, I think,

yeah, the idea was certainly as far as Ukraine thought,

that pressure on the Russian economy sanctions on Russian oil

were designed to pressure the Kremlin into coming to the table

and making a peace deal with Kiev.

But there's a great sense of disappointment

from what I read in Ukraine and also across Europe,

that the Americans have taken this decision to ease sanctions.

I mean, not only in Ukraine,

it's just reading what President Macron has said,

the German Chancellor too.

They are kind of shocked by the decision to ease these sanctions,

even though the Americans say it's a temporary measure.

I think the feeling across Europe is that

this is very good for Moscow.

And financially, symbolically,

it's one of the many benefits, I think,

certainly in the short term,

but Russia, from what is happening in Iran right now.

There are other benefits too in the fact that the focus of America

and Americans is really, of course, naturally on what's happening with the Iran war.

And so the focus has moved away slightly from what's happening in Ukraine.

And I think that suits the Russians just fine.

And some of the Russian newspapers this week have been writing that,

some of the weapons that perhaps the Americans would have transferred to Ukraine,

perhaps they won't be transferring,

because they'd been used in the Middle East.

So for a number of reasons,

I think the Russians are pleased at the moment.

The other thing is that this allows the Kremlin

to try to portray itself as being useful,

being a solution to a global problem.

The Russians are saying, okay, the energy markets are very unstable at the moment.

Well, we've got all this Russian oil,

Russia can do something positive and stabilize the global

energy market.

So instead of Russia being seen as the problem in the world,

Russia can now try to portray itself as the solution to a problem.

So there is this sort of diplomatic geopolitical aspect too.

And it's worth remembering, you know, it's only a couple of weeks ago,

since there were calls and a determination from the government here in the UK

to say, I will board Russian ships deal with the shadow fleet much more,

you know, those Russian ships with oil on them that were sometimes

sailing under other countries flags around the seas.

And now we have a situation where, as you say, you know,

the White House has sort of invited the country that was meant to be a pariah

back in to present perhaps some of the solution to a different global crisis

with the war raging in Iran.

We know also that this decision came after another call between Vladimir Putin

and Donald Trump.

It's interesting you say that the Iran war has actually playing quite well for Russia

in some ways.

But I just wonder how extensive do you think the links between Russia

and Iran really are?

You know, we've talked a lot on weekend newscast about

that access of authoritarian countries as the former boss of NATO

told us they were a couple of years ago.

And I remember it was so chilling last year it was reported that some missiles

landing in Ukraine had made in Tehran on the side.

What really is the extent of the country's links, do you think?

Well, we know that at the start of Russia's

full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russians were getting

lots of drones, tap drones from the Iranians.

So that's no secret.

Look, Russia and Iran have a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement

that the presidents of Russia and Iran signed

things in January of last year.

In a sense, the international situation pushed the two countries

closer together, both are under Western sanctions,

both have deteriorating relationships with the West.

And that kind of produced this strategic partnership agreement,

which deals with all kinds of things in the economy,

to culture, cooperation and science, and also in security.

And it's not a mutual defense pact.

So it's not a question that, you know,

Russia, the Russian army will come to the aid of Iran in this situation.

However, this agreement does talk about intelligent sharing, for example,

military technical cooperation.

So certainly from comments that President Trump made this week,

he seems to take baps.

The Russians have been helping the Iranians a little bit.

But, you know, the Russians are very much focused on their war on Ukraine,

you know, for Vladimir Putin.

That is his priority at the moment.

And that's what Russia is putting all its resources into, I think.

And that sentiment that there might be the hand of Moscow behind some of this is something

that's been expressed by British politicians too.

So Russia has been part of the political conversation around Iran.

So it's interesting to see you.

It's interesting to hear you say that actually Ukraine absolutely remains

the focus, even though there are connections between the two countries.

Also, Laura, I think what's interesting is, yeah, Ukraine is the focus,

but also it's clear that Vladimir Putin wants to retain good relations with Donald Trump.

It's an interesting balancing act for him.

I think the Russians believe that this relationship with the Trump administration

is a key one and can actually benefit Moscow with its main goal.

And there's, you know, prevailing in the war on Ukraine.

And so that's why we haven't heard Donald Trump.

Well, we haven't heard Vladimir Putin publicly criticize,

personally criticized Donald Trump over the Iran war.

We just haven't heard it.

We've heard some Russian commentators being very critical

about what's happening in the Gulf in the Middle East.

And we've heard some Russian, we've read some quite critical things

in the Russian newspapers.

One newspaper this week said that Donald Trump had lost his mind.

We haven't heard any kind of language like that from Vladimir Putin.

And the recent is, he wants to retain good relations.

Most of the criticism actually coming from Moscow this week has been

directed not at Washington, but at Europe.

Lots of criticism of the European leaders for their criticism of America

easing sanctions on Russian oil.

All these layers of danger and complexities

in the jigsaw of the world that we now live in.

Steve, I just want to ask you about something else.

And explain to newscasters also, if they haven't seen it yet,

that not very long ago, there's an excellent documentary

about how you have to operate as a journalist.

And that's not being self-indulgent or not just saying that

because I think you're marvelous and you're a friend of mine.

But it's a really interesting and revelatory kind of study

if you like of what it's like as a journalist working in a country

that does not believe in the free press.

A country that's had a huge impact on us here in the UK

with its decisions to invade illegally another country

on the edges of our continent.

So I just wonder at the moment, can you share with us

what it's like in Russia right now?

It's a strange existence as a Western journalist,

as a British journalist in Russia right now.

Because on the one hand, yeah, things aren't easy.

There's a lot of anti-Western rhetoric,

anti-British rhetoric in the state media here.

And, you know, relations with the UK

seem to go get worse and worse.

And that has a knock on effect for us.

On the other hand, I should say that, you know,

we're still invited to Cremlin events.

And, you know, from time to time, I've still had the opportunity,

certainly over the last, you know,

two or three years to ask a question

to Vladimir Putin at press conferences.

So that's a good thing.

And even better, you know, in most of my interactions

with ordinary Russians on the streets, you know,

when we visit towns and villages, cities across the country,

most of those interactions are positive.

I don't feel that that anti-Western narrative

that you hear in the state media

is sort of trickling down and affecting

what people think of the West.

Because I find, you know, most of the Russians

we meet and speak to are interested

in what is happening in the West.

People come up to me sometimes to shake my hand

and ask for selfies.

And that's such a contrast

with the sort of tsunami

of anti-Western rhetoric that you hear in the media.

And is it possible at all?

And maybe this is too complicated a question to answer.

But is it possible at all

to gauge the level of political, I suppose,

resistance or distress, if you like,

at how Putin behaves?

Of course, there is a very effective,

strong propaganda machine

that comes out of the Russian government.

Of course, there are many people who back what he is doing.

But there are also, you know, outside Russia,

from time to time, we talk to Russian opposition voices

who speak so powerfully about how some people want

an end to the regime or the government

that puts such pressure on its peace

so that people locks up its opponents

and behaves in all sorts of terrifying ways.

Can you at all give us a sense of

where the balance is in Russian public opinion?

I think so.

One of the most surprising things, perhaps,

is that despite the current situation

and the tension between Russia and the West,

still many Russians are willing to speak to us

on the streets and the box pop in my job,

the box pop has become such an important way of

of gauging a public opinion.

These are extended box pop.

And there are still plenty of questions you can ask Russians,

I think, in a safe way not to get them into trouble,

but to find out what the mood of the country is.

And there's no doubt, you know,

from the conversations we have with people across the country.

But there is this deep fatigue with the,

what's still referred to as the special military operation

or what everyone calls a war.

It's starting to affect people

in a way that it didn't affect the mass of the population before.

Maybe a couple of years ago,

many Russians tried to pretend that this wasn't happening,

this war on Ukraine.

You know, they saw it on their television sets,

but perhaps it didn't affect them directly in their lives.

And so they kind of pushed it out of their minds

and tried to get on with their lives.

And the economy was kind of functioning okay

for the first two or three years.

The Kremlin managed to keep things going.

There's a definite sense now that the economy has been faltering,

which is why this windfall from oil and gas from oil

is going to be so useful for the government here.

But also, more and more Russians tell us

that they know people,

neighbors, friends, friends of friends, relatives

who have been fighting in Ukraine.

And sometimes being killed in Ukraine.

Most of the towns we visit,

have semitry, it's with special sections devoted

to Russian soldiers who have been killed in Ukraine.

There are new monuments in towns across the country

dedicated to soldiers killed in Ukraine.

So it's becoming very hard now for people to pretend

this isn't happening.

And the reality is beginning to dawn on people.

And what there isn't amongst the population

is a sense that they can influence what's happening.

I think maybe in 1991, when I moved to Moscow to work,

the Soviet Union collapsed.

And you had huge crowds on the street.

There was this sense of people how

that the people could influence the direction

their country moves in.

There isn't that sense now.

And so many Russians are sort of hunkering down and hoping

that this war will be over sometime soon.

People use the word mere a lot with this piece,

perhaps less than the word victory.

Steve, thank you so much for speaking to us this afternoon

and explaining how Russia has become not just a country marked by war,

but also a country involved indirectly

and directly through the oil trades in this new conflict

in the Middle East, which has just passed its Fortnite mark.

Steve, I have to ask also this,

what are you practicing on the piano at the moment?

Some newscasters will know you from your reporting,

but also from your amazing musical talent.

That's an easy one.

I'm practicing this year's Eurovision entries.

I'm going to do it mentally at all the entries.

So I needed a craziness to kind of distract me

from the day job.

From the other craziness.

Come back and play them.

It was all on newscast.

We must have a Steve Rosenberg pop piano marathon.

Thank you so much, Steve, for talking to us today.

It's great to have you.

Thanks, Laura. Take care.

Now we've heard from Moscow.

We've heard from Riyadh, but let's take things closer to home,

because we know lots of you, particularly in Northern Ireland,

where so many people are reliant on it,

are very worried about the rocketing price of heating oil.

Paddy's been on the hunt for that as a story today.

We'll hear all about his adventures tomorrow.

But David is one of the people who's been in touch with us

from deepest Suffolk, his description, not ours.

David says the price of gas won't affect heating bills for several months,

but heating oil is not capped.

In the last week, it's already gone from 60 p per litre

to 133 p per litre,

an immediate increase of 120%.

And actually, we've heard from newscasters and other people

talking to the BBC around the country.

In some places, their increases have been even steeper than that.

Now, in the last few hours, what we understand from the government

is that as soon as this week, Rachel Reeves is going to announce some support,

some cash for people who are reliant on heating oil.

I understand that there will be tens of millions of pounds.

So not a huge bazooka, but also not just some small change,

but tens of millions of pounds will be made available

to what's known as the Crisis and Resilience Fund.

Essentially, that's a pot of cash that's held by local councils.

And wherever you are in the UK,

if you are being hammered by heating oil costs going up,

you'll be able to apply to that fund to get some help with that bill.

But we weren't the full details of that from the Treasury until Monday.

But sources tell me that support is on the way.

But it raises huge questions about how the government might step in.

If the oil price stays really high,

if energy bills start to go up and up,

and that's something we'll definitely be talking a lot about tomorrow on the programme

on the tally in the morning,

Patti will be talking about it on the radio.

And I'll be joined live by Ed Milaband,

the Energy Secretary in the studio.

So lots to talk about with him.

Do send us your questions and comments as ever.

It's been very nice to be with you on Saturday's newscast.

I've missed my Makar Patti O'Connell in the chair opposite,

but delighted to be joined by Frank Gardner and Steve Rosenberg.

And we'll look forward to talking to you again tomorrow afternoon.

Bye for now.

Newscast.

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