FirstFT: Biden urges Israel to show restraint after Iran’s attack

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Good morning. US President Joe Biden has urged Israel to show restraint after Iran’s drone and missile attack as Washington seeks to de-escalate Middle East tensions and reduce the risk of a full-blown regional war.

Israel’s war cabinet met yesterday to consider its response to Iran’s attack but had not yet made a decision on what action it would take, an Israeli government insider said. The person added it was clear that Israel had to respond, but it was “just unclear when and how big”.

Iran launched the attack, the first such assault from its own territory against Israel, as retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on its consular building in Damascus this month that killed several Iranian commanders.

Biden has counselled Israel to take a measured approach. “The president has been clear. We don’t want to see this escalate,” said John Kirby, spokesperson for the US National Security Council, on NBC’s Meet the Press. “We’re not looking for a wider war with Iran.”

Here are more details — plus the latest Financial Times analyses on the unprecedented strike below.

• As it happened: Here’s how Iran’s “Operation True Promise” involving more than 300 missiles and drones was carried out — and how Israel and its allies repelled the attack.

• Market reaction: Oil prices were muted as traders shrugged off fears the conflict could escalate into a full-blown war.

• Iran’s ‘mission accomplished’: In launching its first direct attack on Israel, insiders say Tehran thinks it has successfully delivered a clear message: “We’re crazier than you realise.”

• US-Israel ties: The attack has increased pressure on American lawmakers to approve new aid for the Jewish state.

And here’s our packed agenda for the rest of the day:

• Global economy: As global crises stretch aid budgets, policymakers will grapple over more funds for debt-strapped nations and development goals at the World Bank and IMF spring meetings in Washington.

• UK politics: The House of Commons and House of Lords return from their Easter breaks along with the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, while British officials meet European Commission counterparts over a dispute with France on fishing rights.

• Companies: Rick Haythornthwaite takes over as chair of NatWest, after the bank’s new CEO Paul Thwaite slashed its executive team. Goldman Sachs and Charles Schwab report results.

• Donald Trump: The first-ever criminal trial brought against a former US president begins in New York. The “hush money” case features a colourful cast including the former president’s ex-fixer and a porn star.

As the race for the White House hots up, stay updated with our twice weekly US Election Countdown newsletter by Steff Chávez, reporting directly from Washington. Sign up here.

Five more top stories

1. The EU must integrate its financial, energy and telecommunications markets or face losing its “economic security” and falling further behind the US and China, a former Italian prime minister has warned. Enrico Letta, who was tasked by European leaders to assess the state of the bloc’s underperforming single market, told the FT that further integration was a matter of survival.

2. Exclusive: More FTSE 100 companies are asking investors to back executive pay rises this year, according to research by Deloitte. More than half of companies that have asked shareholders to approve a new remuneration policy are proposing to increase significantly the maximum pay on offer or introduce new incentive structures. Here’s why London-listed groups are pushing for the increases.

• Opinion: The FTSE 100’s more “unglamorous” companies, such as Bunzl or Compass, have performed far better than household names, writes Oliver Ralph.

3. Exclusive: The UK is beginning to craft new legislation to regulate artificial intelligence, months after the prime minister vowed “not to rush” setting up rules for the fast-growing technology. The plans come as regulators have become increasingly concerned about its potential harms, including biases that affect certain demographics and potential use in creating harmful materials. Here’s how the plans could affect companies such as OpenAI.

4. Activity in China’s equity capital markets has slumped to multi-decade lows, with Chinese companies raising just $6.4bn in mainland IPOs, follow-on and convertible share offerings so far this year — the lowest level on record, according to Dealogic data. Thomas Hale has more details from Shanghai.

5. US and Indian economic performance are stoking optimism for slightly better global growth this year, according to research for the FT. A gauge of the performance of the US economy, taking in measures of confidence, financial markets and real activity, has recovered to its highest levels since mid-2022, providing a bright spot amid a largely lacklustre global economic backdrop. India has seen a similar pick-up. See the latest readings from the Brookings-FT index.

• US economy: The number of American voters who approve of Joe Biden’s handling of the economy is rising, according to the latest FT-Michigan Ross poll.

The Big Read

By 2045, about $90tn in the US alone is set to be transferred from those born before 1964 to their heirs. As baby boomer wealth starts to trickle down to younger cohorts, and with government coffers around the world strained by the costs of the pandemic and ageing populations, arguments about preventing intergenerational inequality have grown in salience. While the super-rich are a tempting target, critics say inheritance taxes are unpopular and ineffective.

We’re also reading . . . 

• LVMH: Succession planning at the world’s biggest luxury group is speeding up as French billionaire Bernard Arnault carefully lays the groundwork for his five children.

• South Africa: Cast out from the African National Congress, former president Jacob Zuma has surprised rivals and upset the electoral calculus ahead of crucial polls.

• Parish lessons: Steady commitment and humble objectives are among the leadership lessons CEOs should take away from small local councils, writes author Margaret Heffernan.

• Gold is back: There are predictable reasons behind the precious metal’s recent surge, but there are deeper, longer-term messages in its rise, writes Rana Foroohar.

Chart of the day

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. When it comes to UK policy, change might be necessary, but nobody wants to talk about it, writes Martin Wolf. In his latest column, he offers four areas of reform to fix Britain’s economic mess.

Take a break from the news

It took a trip to Japan at the height of sakura season for the FT’s Jemima Kelly to not just notice, but savour London’s own cherry blossoms. The bloom’s beauty lies in its ephemerality, she writes, offering lessons on the state of modern life.

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm