Iranian President Pezeshkian said the United States has never honored its commitments, questioning how Iran could negotiate with Washington, and that Iran’s demands remain unchanged.

Jefferies global economist Mohit Kumar said he expects the Fed to raise rates this week and that remarks from Fed governor Christopher Waller will be pivotal for the outlook. Jefferies sees fewer actual hikes than the forward market’s roughly 3.5 additional hikes priced in. Kumar said a first increase may be needed for credibility, but subsequent hikes will hinge on how long the war lasts and on oil-price developments.

Guangzhou municipal government issued a notice under its 15th Five-Year marine-economy plan to accelerate development of the marine pharmaceuticals and bioproducts sector. Measures include building a South China Sea bio-gene bank and data repository, raising deep-sea bioresource utilization, and promoting AI-driven marine drug discovery. The plan targets core extraction technologies for fish oil, fish collagen, chitosan and seaweed polysaccharides, development of carbohydrate- and peptide-based drugs, and original marine therapeutics for oncology and cardiovascular disease. It also prioritizes marine-derived hemostatic and repair biomaterials, strengthening marine traditional Chinese medicines (eg, seahorse, seaweed), and breakthroughs in extraction/purification, enzyme engineering and fermentation. The plan calls for productizing seabed mud and deep seawater inputs and developing marine novel-food, health-food and cosmetic raw materials using modern biotech.