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Army chief’s effusive welcome in Washington hints at strategic recalibration amid Middle East turmoil

After years in the diplomatic deep freeze, US-Pakistan ties appear to be quickly thawing, with Donald Trump’s effusive welcome for Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, signalling a possible major reset.

Once snubbed so badly that former prime minister Imran Khan had to board an ordinary airport shuttle after arriving in the US rather than being whisked off in a limousine,Pakistanis now enjoying top-level access in Washington, including a White House lunch for Munir on Wednesday and meetings with top national security officials.

Trump’s perceived friendliness with Munir, coupled with whatIndiaconsiders to be a glossing over of Pakistan’s record on terrorism, has raised Indian eyebrows, especially amid sensitive trade negotiations with the US.

In a phone call with Trump on Tuesday, the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, strongly rejected the US president’s repeated claims that he had personally brokered peace in the four-day conflict between India and Pakistan in May.

The next day, while calling Modi a “fantastic man”, Trump described Munir as “extremely influential” in halting the brief but intense war. “I love Pakistan,” Trump said, before repeating: “I stopped the war between Pakistan and India.”

In the phone call, Modi made it “absolutely clear”, said India’s foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, that hostilities ceased only after Pakistan requested a ceasefire, and that no third-party mediation took place. “India has not accepted mediation in the past and never will,” Misri said.

Adding to the confusion, a White House press officer said Munir had been invited after suggesting Trump be nominated for the Nobel peace prize for ending the conflict, which followed a terror attack that killed 26 mainly Hindu holidaymakers in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Munir’s red-carpet treatment in Washington and high praise from US Central Command hint at a strategic recalibration.

Gen Michael E Kurilla, the head of Central Command, recently called Pakistan a “phenomenal” counter-terrorism partner, citing Islamabad’s role in helping to capture the alleged Islamic State Khorasan Province planner behind the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing at Kabul airport, an attack that killed 13 US troops and more than 170 Afghan civilians.

Munir’s five-day US tour includes meetings at the Pentagon, the state department, and Central Command headquarters in Florida. Such access is extraordinary for a Pakistani general.

“Senior US officials often meet with Pakistani generals. But they don’t get entertained at the White House,” noted Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based south Asia analyst. “Ayub Khan and Zia ul-Haq were exceptions but they came as heads of state.”

The shift in tone is stark. India has long positioned itself as the more reliable partner for the US as the world’s largest democracy, a bulwark against China, and a hub for expanding trade and intelligence-sharing. Pakistan, by contrast, has been dogged by accusations of sheltering terrorists and undermining civilian rule.

Just a few years ago, Trump himself accused Pakistan of offering “nothing but lies and deceit”. Joe Biden later called it “one of the most dangerous nations in the world”.

Indian officials continue to point to Pakistan’s links to major terror attacks, including on its parliament in 2001 and in Mumbai in 2008. Against that backdrop, Washington’s embrace of Munir strikes a jarring note in Delhi, where critics say the US is engaging with the same military establishment long accused of enabling cross-border militancy.

Analysts say the pivot may be driven by more than just strategic cooperation. For Trump, it could be personal. “He has a thing for strongmen,” said one US analyst.

“He sees something in Munir – the mystique, the military credentials, the aura of control. Trump responds to dominance, and Munir projects it.”

That may help to explain why Munir was granted access usually reserved for heads of state. “He probably relished the opportunity to size Munir up,” Kugelman said. “Trump knows that in Pakistan it’s the army chief who really runs the show.”

But Munir’s visit is taking place as the Middle East is in turmoil, with Israel striking Iranian targets and Iran firing missiles in retaliation. The US may be hoping that Pakistan, one of the few countries with diplomatic ties to Tehran, could play a role in de-escalation.

There’s also a more delicate calculation, with Israel pushing the US to join its military campaign against Iran, which shares a 900km border with Pakistan. That geography puts Islamabad in a pivotal position. Some analysts believe the US may be probing whether Munir would allow surveillance flights or logistical cooperation.

But Pakistan’s room for manoeuvre is limited, with public opinion strongly pro-Iran. “Even privately, Pakistan’s military would likely balk at the risks,” Kugelman said. “They can’t afford to be dragged into this. The backlash would be enormous.”

For Indian officials, Munir’s reception has revived old memories of the US tendency to tilt towards Pakistan at critical junctures, such as in the cold war moments or post-9/11. But this time, analysts say, the reset may also involve commercial opportunity.

Pakistan is actively courting US investment in two of the most volatile and potentially lucrative global commerce sectors: cryptocurrency and critical minerals.

“The Trump-Munir meeting shouldn’t be seen only through the lens of the Israel-Iran war,” Kugelman said. “There’s been US-Pakistan engagement on crypto, minerals and counter-terrorism, and Trump takes a deep personal interest in all of these.”

He added: “This is classic Trump: ‘What can you do for me? What can I get out of this?’”

Anahita, a Tehran resident in her 30s, tells of fleeing the city, surging inflation and her hopes for regime change

Middle East crisis – live updates

The greatest impact of this war is fear and anxiety. We don’t know whether this situation will last for weeks, months or even years. Our lives have been thrown off routine, I spend most of my time just reading the news. I’m constantly afraid that a missile might hit my home, my city or the homes of my relatives and friends in other places.

I get the news from X and Instagram because we don’t have any reliable news networks and broadcasts that are not censored by the regime. We follow the updates through videos shared by people from different parts of the country on social media. The internet inIranhas become very slow and it was completely down yesterday [Wednesday].

My workplace is in Tehran. I left the city on Saturday, two days after the attacks began. My home is in the east of the city, in the Tehranpars area, which has been repeatedly hit by missiles.

It was very difficult [to get out] because gasoline was rationed – each person is allowed only 25 litres – and at every gas station we had to beg and plead to get more fuel.

We had to go south through Natanz. The Natanz nuclear facilitieshave been bombedand we don’t know if there is a risk of radiation or not. The government does not tell us this.

After Saturday, leaving Tehran became even harder. There is heavy traffic on the roads out of the city and the road to Qom, one of the main exit routes, was bombed.

I left in mycar with my friends. There are no longer any buses, trains or flights on these routes and if someone doesn’t have a car, they can’t leave.

Many of my friends and colleagues weren’t able to leave Tehran. Some have pets, some don’t have a car and many don’t have the money or a place to stay in other cities. One of my friends’ mothers is very old and cannot be moved. Another friend is a nurse and can’t leave her job.

If everyone is forced to leave the capital, the entire country will come to a halt. The banks, government offices and almost everything else depends on Tehran.

I’m now in Kerman where I also have family. Fortunately, we haven’t had any bombings so far. Kerman is currently safe but there are military facilities and ammunition depots here as well, and such sites have been bombed in other cities across the country.

Inflation has skyrocketed. The price of all food items has shockingly doubled or even tripled and not even a full week has passed since the war began.

Many food products are no longer as easily available as before – for example, fruit that used to be brought in from other provinces – because no truck drivers are willing to travel on intercity roads. Rice, chicken, meat and fruit have doubled in price.

Dairy products have gone up by 20% but all of these items are still available, just with less variety than before. However, I know that the situation in Tehran is much worse.

Due to business closures, there is also a high chance we won’t receive our salaries. My next fear is the high cost of living and not having enough money.

I work for a company that [works internationally].We haven’t completely shut down but in practice we can no longer operate because all the embassies processing visas have closed. If these conditions continue, our company will be completely shut down and I will lose my job.

Our situation in Iran is very complicated. Many people oppose the regime. For years we have been striving to change this government but the government arrests, suppresses and executes us.

At the same time, we absolutely do not want war either. War kills civilians, destroys our infrastructure, causes poverty and inflation and sets the country back.

But now that this war – against the will of the Iranian people – is destroying our lives, we at least hope it will lead to regime change.

My biggest fear? That if the war continues, more civilians will be killed, more infrastructure will be destroyed and in the end the government will still not change. That would be the worst outcome.

Foreign secretary says government will provide charter flights from Tel Aviv when airspace reopens

British nationals who want to leaveIsraelwill be offered charter flights from Tel Aviv as soon as airspace reopens, the government has said.

With the conflict withIrancontinuing, Whitehall officials have been working to organise escape routes for the thousands of British and dual nationals in Israel.

Those who are holidaymakers, on business trips, visiting relatives or are otherwise temporary residents are most likely to be prioritised, but the Foreign Office said flights would be provided based on demand and the safety of all British nationals was its top priority.

David Lammy, the foreign secretary, said: “The UK will provide charter flights for British nationals from Tel Aviv when airspace reopens. Register your presence to receive further guidance.”

Government advice remains that British nationals should follow local guidance on movements within Israel and take decisions on whether to leave based on their individual circumstances.

Thousands of people currently in Israel or the occupied Palestinian territories are understood to have registered their presence with the Foreign Office, but the government has not moved to advise a general departure or relocation to Tel Aviv.

Many of those registered are thought to be dual British-Israeli nationals who may not seek UK consular assistance, but a smaller number of people have made active requests for support.

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A No 10 spokesperson said: “We are advising British nationals to continue to register their presence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, to be contactable with further guidance on these flights.”

People in Israel have been heading for bomb shelters since the Israeli government started bombing Iran and faced a counterattack. At least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded.

At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group.

Israel launched airstrikes that it said were aimed at preventing Irandeveloping a nuclear weapon. Iranian officials insist the country’s nuclear programme is peaceful.

Land routes are available out of Israel and some UK nationals have already left. The Foreign Office’s response has come in for criticism after it emerged that families of UK officials had been removed fromIsrael, while other British nationals have so far only been advised to remain and to follow local guidance.

The dependants of diplomatic staff have left as a “precautionary measure”, with staff remaining at the embassy in Tel Aviv and the consulate in Jerusalem.

Defence minister Israel Katz says ‘Israel has lost patience with terrorists who threaten it’

Israel-Iran conflict – live updates

The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, has warned the Lebanese militiaHezbollahnot to get involved in fighting between Israel and Iran, amid fears that the steadily escalating conflict could pull in other regional actors.

“I suggest that the Lebanese proxy be careful and understand thatIsraelhas lost patience with terrorists who threaten it. If there will be further terror, there will be no Hezbollah,” Katz said on Friday morning in a post on X.

Katz’s warning came in response to Hezbollah’s secretary general, Naim Qassem, who said on Thursday night that the Iran-backed militia was “not neutral” in the Iran-Israel war and that it would “act as it sees appropriately” – stopping short of saying the group would intervene militarily. Hezbollah’s comments come on the eighth day of fighting between Israel andIran, with bombings escalating on both sides.

Israel’s military said it struck dozens of targets on Friday, including a weapons research centre in Tehran that it said was used for the development of Iran’s nuclear weapons project.

Iran launched a salvo of ballistic missiles in a rare mid-afternoon strike, with warning sirens heard across the entire country. First responders were dispatched to an impact site to the northern city of Haifa, with further reports of missiles landing in central and southern Israel.

The war started whenIsrael launched hundreds of airstrikes on Iranin the early morning of last Friday, in what it said was an operation aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran quickly responded with a barrage of missiles and drones, triggering a tit-for-tat cycle of bombing between the two countries.

Israel knocked out much of Iran’s air defences in its initial wave of attacks and Israeli jets have operated with relative freedom over Iran. Iran has sent a steadily diminishing number of ballistic missiles into Israel and managed to get some past air defences, hitting a hospital in southern Israel on Thursday and injuring about 80 people.

Israeli bombing has killed at least 639 people and wounded 1,326, according to Iranian media, while Iranian missiles have killed at least 25 people and wounded hundreds in Israel.

Countries have been working to evacuate their citizens from Israel, with the UK coordinating with Israeli authorities tocharter repatriation flightsonce Israeli airports reopen, the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said on Friday.

Neighbouring states worry that an expanding war between Iran and Israel could have regional consequences, particularly if Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, Yemen andLebanonget involved.

Iran has threatened that if the US joins Israel in its bombing campaign it would target US bases in the Middle East, which hosts thousands of US troops across at least eight different countries.

Iranian-backed militias have expressed solidarity with Iran thus far but have gone no further.

“The idea that if the US intervenes it will push all the proxies in the region to put it on fire, of course this is a scenario we need to take into account, but the whole [Iranian] axis is no longer the same,” said a western diplomatic source in the Middle East.

Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies in the Middle East are severely battered from two years of fighting with Israel and by thecollapse of the Syrian regime– a key Iranian ally – in December.

“We are not worried more than we should be about what Qassem is saying, he’s just [saying] we’re not neutral and support in different ways. It would be suicide for them to get involved,” the diplomatic source said.

Katz ordered the Israeli military to intensify strikes on Iranian government targets in Tehran, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Basij, an internal security force.

Katz said the attacks were aimed at inducing “a mass evacuation of the population from Tehran, in order to destabilise the regime and increase deterrence in response to missile fire on Israel’s home front”. The Israeli military later announced that it hit the headquarters of the Basij.

A spokesperson from the Iranian ministry of health said Israel struck a hospital in Tehran, which they said was the third Iranian hospital to be attacked since fighting began.

An Iranian missile landed in Beersheba in southern Israel on Friday morning, lightly injuring seven people and damaging nearby homes. Iran said it was aiming the missiles at the nearby Dimona nuclear facility.

As fighting continued, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, met his European counterparts in Geneva on Friday in what the French foreign ministry said was an attempt to restart the Iran nuclear talks.

The US has flirted with the idea of joining Israel in its attacks on Iran. The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump would decidewhether or not to intervenewithin two weeks. The time period is reportedly to allow a window for diplomacy to take effect, with the US wanting Iran to completely abandon its nuclear programme.

Israel is keen for the US to jump in the fray, as only the US possesses the capacity to strike Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear facility, the Fordow uranium enrichment site, which lies up to 100 metres under a mountain near the holy city of Qom.

Privately, sources familiar with the deliberations for the US to intervene militarily in Iranhave saidthat Trump was also uncertain if the US’s most powerful bunker buster could indeed take out Fordow.

Aragchi said that discussions with the US were impossible “until Israeli aggression stops”.

The European diplomatic efforts were meant to jumpstart US-Iranian discussions in order to avoid a US military intervention. They involved European states that, while opposed to Iran obtaining nuclear weapons, favoured a ceasefire rather than a prolonged military conflict.

Unicef gives stark warning amid fresh reports of casualties among desperate Palestinians seeking aid

Middle East crisis live: Ministers from Europe and Iran to hold talks; UN warns of ‘man-made drought’ in Gaza

The collapse of water systems inGazais threatening the territory with devastating drought as well as hunger, Unicef has warned, amid fresh reports of casualties among desperate Palestinians seeking aid.

On Friday at least 25 people awaiting aid trucks were killed by Israeli fire south of Netzarim in central Gaza, according to local health authorities.

More than 100 Palestinians have died in recent days while trying either to reach aid distribution points managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a secretive US- and Israel- backed organisation that recently started to hand out food in the territory, or to offload the limited number of UN and commercial vehicles carrying flour and some other basics.

Such reports are difficult to confirm independently but appear corroborated in many details by interviews conducted with witnesses by the Guardian.

There were also reports of other casualties on Friday in Israeli airstrikes, with at least 12 people killed in an airstrike on a house belonging to the Ayyash family in the central town of Deir al-Balah.

“Forty-three martyrs have fallen as a result of the ongoing Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip since dawn today, 26 of whom were waiting for humanitarian aid,” Mohammad al-Mughayyir, the director of medical supply at the civil defence agency in Gaza, told AFP.

Israeli military officialssaid on Fridaythat warplanes had attacked 300 “terror targets” in Gaza during the week, including individual militants, weapons caches and positions used to attack Israeli forces.

One of the strikes killed a senior militant in the territory who had helped bury the bodies of two hostages seized during the attack led by Hamas into southern Israel in October 2023 that triggered the conflict, they said.

Israeli military officials have denied troops have killed Palestinian civilians seeking aid, saying troops have fired at “suspects” who are believed to pose a threat to them.

James Elder, a Unicef spokesperson, told reporters in Geneva that he had many testimonials of women and children being injured while trying to receive food aid, including a young boy who was wounded by a tank shell and later died of his injuries.

“There have been instances where information [was] shared that a [distribution] site is open, but then it’s communicated on social media that they’re closed, but that information was shared when Gaza’s internet was down and people had no access to it,” Elder said.

The GHF releases information about opening hours of sites primarily on Facebook, which many in Gaza cannot access.

Food has become extremely scarce in Gaza since a tight blockade on all supplies was imposed by Israel throughout March and April, threatening many of the 2.3 million people who live there with a“critical risk of famine”.

Since the blockade was partially lifted last month, the UN has tried to bring in aid but has faced major obstacles, including rubble-choked roads, Israeli military restrictions, continuing airstrikes and growing anarchy. Many shipments have been stopped by ordinary Palestinians in Gaza and offloaded.

There is also an acute shortage of fuel, which is needed for pumps on boreholes and Gaza’s sole remaining desalination plant. None has been allowed into Gaza since the collapse of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in March.

Elder added: “We are way below emergency standards in terms of drinking water for people in Gaza. Children will begin to die of thirst … Just 40% of drinking water production facilities remain functional.”

The UN cut the operating hours of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in Gaza by a fifth in May to save fuel but reserves built up during the pause in the 20-month war are now almost exhausted, aid officials said.

Most of Gaza’s wastewater treatment plants, sewage systems, reservoirs and pipeshave been destroyed. In March, Israel cut off power supplies to the main desalination plants, a vital source of water for Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel hopes the GHF will replace the previous comprehensive system of aid distribution run by the UN, which Israeli officials claim allowed Hamas to steal and sell aid.

UN agencies and major aid groups, which have delivered humanitarian aid across Gaza since the start of 20-month-long war, haverejected the new system, saying it is impractical, inadequate and unethical. They deny there is widespread theft of aid by Hamas.

On Wednesday, the GHF said it had provided more than 30m meals to the people of Gaza “safely and without incident” since it began operating last month.

Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostage during the 7 October 2023 attack. They still hold 53 hostages, fewer than half of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

The death toll in Gaza since the war broke out has reached more than 55,600, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry.

Industry professionals gather at civil and military aircraft event further overshadowed by war between Israel and Iran

Every second summer more than 100,000 aviation industry professionals gather in Paris for an airshow – a flying display crossed with a vast conference. The mood at the latest gathering this week was more subdued than usual, after the deadly crash a week ago of a London-boundAir India flightin Ahmedabad.

Investigators have recovered the black boxfrom the plane to try to work out the cause of the disaster. The aircraft makerBoeing, and GE Aerospace, which made the 787 Dreamliner’s engines, both cancelled many of their media-facing events out of respect for the families of the 241 passengers and crew who died, as well as at least 30 more people on the ground who were killed.

At an event that presents a mix of civil and military aircraft and weaponry, the war between Israel and Iran further overshadowed proceedings.

The French government forced the show’s organisers tocover stands exhibiting Israeli companies’ weapons, an apparent show of France’s opposition to the escalation. Turbo Sjogren, the head of Boeing’s international government and defence, said several Middle Eastern military customers were unable to attend meetings because of the war.

The airshow and its British counterpart – held every other year at Farnborough, Hampshire – are usually dominated by a race between Airbus and Boeing to announce the most orders from airlines.

Yet Boeing’s string of crises, includingtwo deadly crashes of the 737 Maxin 2018 and 2019, have meant that Airbus has taken the lead for several years. The Toulouse-headquartered plane maker announced 142 firm orders plus another 102 provisional orders at the show worth a cumulative $21bn (£15.5bn), according to Cirium Ascend, the aviation consultancy.

That compared with zero orders announced by its US rival Boeing. Darren Hulst, a Boeing vice-president for commercial marketing, said: “Our hearts, our thoughts, our prayers are with all the families that have been impacted by this, as well as our partner and our long-term customer Air India.”

Before an investigation shares its findings of the cause of the Air India crash, experts have mostly declined to make a judgment of what the longer-term consequences could be for Boeing.

Yet assessments of the state of the global aviation market suggest that demand for air travel will remain buoyant. Hulst predicted that 43,600 new planes will be needed through to 2044.

“As we look to the end of this decade, by 2030, our industry will be about 45% larger than it was in the years before the pandemic,” he said.

The majority of those deliveries will be “narrowbody” planes with a single aisle, such as Airbus’s A320 and the 737 family. Other companies are positioning to take advantage of that growth. Perhaps most notably, Britain’s Rolls-Royce, now a specialist in powering the biggest “widebody” planes, wants tomake engines for the much bigger narrowbody market.

Tufan Erginbilgic, Rolls-Royce’s chief executive, told reporters that the UK government should part-fund the development of the company’s next generation of jet engines, known asUltraFan. In a direct pitch to the government, he argued that winning orders for narrowbody engines could create 40,000 jobs.

“If you look at single-aisle, narrowbody entry could be the single biggest item for economic growth for UK, because it is that big. This is a huge market, right? A £1.6tn market.”

Ahead of the UK’s industrial strategy, expected to be published on Monday, Erginbilgic argued that the government should target support at industries where the country is strongest, which he said included Rolls-Royce’s gas turbines and small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs).

Rolls-Royce’s part-owned subsidiary was chosen this monthto try to build the first UK SMRs, with the first formal contract expected before October.

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“I believe any country needs to support competitively advantaged industries,” Erginbilgic said. “If you support competitively advantaged industries, your position in the market will be sustainable. Because it is already competitively advantaged. If you give some momentum, that will create lots of export growth, etc, and employment with that.”

Rolls-Royce is also a key player in the UK’s defence strategy. Erginbilgic said the government’s recent strategic defence review and pledges to increase military spending to 2.5% of GDP had “de-risked our key programmes”, all but guaranteeing demand for more nuclear reactors for attack submarines and engines for the future Tempest jet, officially known as the global combat air programme (GCAP), whosecosts are shared between the UK, Italy and Japan. Erginbilgic also said that the review’s emphasis on autonomous drones could mean future opportunities for Rolls-Royce to power them.

The UK is not the only European country rearming in response to the perceived threat from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Yet the Paris airshow also revealed deep tensions in another key European weapons project: a rival “sixth-generation” fighter jet programme between France, Germany and Spain.

Éric Trappier, chief executive of France’s Dassault, maker of the previous-generation Rafale jets that were on show in Paris, told Bloomberg TV that “we may go it alone” amid frustrations over who should lead.

Michael Schoellhorn, chief executive of Airbus’s Germany-based defence division, said that political intervention might be needed to solve the dispute.

Nevertheless, the European government consensus is that military spending must increase – particularly if the US under Donald Trump cannot be relied upon for support.

Deals at the show included Rheinmetall teaming up withcontroversial US drones startup Andurilto produce weapons in Germany, while Italy’s Leonardo formalised a joint drones venture with Turkey’s Baykar. With renewed war in the Middle East, defence bosses in Paris were keen to move quickly with manufacturing more lucrative weapons on European soil.

Top chefs in this year’s World Region of Gastronomy are looking back as they shift from avant-garde cuisine to something more homespun

They revolutionised cooking worldwide with radical techniques and a highly technical cuisine of playfultrompe l’oeil– but now many disciples of Catalonia’s iconoclastic chef Ferran Adrià believe it’s time to get back to their roots.

Catalonia has been named World Region of Gastronomy 2025 by the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism and later this month 60 Michelin-starred chefs will launch a campaign to position Catalonia as a unique and exceptional gastronomic destination.

While not rejecting the techniques of so-called molecular gastronomy introduced by Adrià at his restaurant El Bulli, with its foams, spherification and liquid nitrogen, the emphasis will be on local produce and the region’s gastronomic culture. El Bulli closed in 2011.

“Copying El Bulli is over. Now it’s become a huge repertoire of techniques that each person can apply to their cooking,” said Jordi Artal, chef at the two-starred Cinc Sentits in Barcelona. “I wouldn’t say there’s a backlash; it’s part of the natural ebb and flow. We use modern techniques but in ways that hark back to Catalan gastronomic history. That’s the ideal.”

Artal said there had always been a schism between those who believe you should only cook what’s in season and Adrià saying: “I’m an artist, find me the world’s best cherry in January so I can make my dish.”

Carme Ruscalleda said: “The concept may have changed but my cooking has always been based in the Mediterranean and its produce.” The chef was speaking in her home town of Sant Pol de Mar, next door to the restaurant where she won the first of seven Michelin stars. “We must embrace new ideas without losing sight of who we are. Catalan cuisine has Roman and Greek and medieval roots. We make many dishes that are basically medieval but with modern techniques.”

This year chefs such as the Roca brothers in Girona and Jordi Vilà in Barcelona have opened – running alongside their flagship restaurants – more modest establishments where they offer more traditional dishes.

“We are taking a broad but not a simplified view of Catalan cuisine,” said Joan Roca about Fontané, the brothers’ latest venture, where prices are well below those of El Celler de Can Roca, twice voted the best restaurant in the world.

Vilà, chef at one-starred Alkimia and the more homespun Al Kostat del Mar, said: “Joan Roca and Carme Ruscalleda have always cooked Catalan food but what happened was that what became important was what we callcocina vanguardista[avant-garde cuisine],when what really matters is to use local produce and express yourself in your cooking.

“Many young chefs don’t aspire to be Joan Roca or Ferran Adrià but want to cook the dishes their mothers or grandmothers made.”

Tradition doesn’t always come cheap, however. The tasting menus at high-end restaurants such as El Celler de Can Roca cost upwards of €200 (£170), without wine.

Oriol Castro, one of three chefs – all ex-El Bulli – behind Disfrutar, voted best restaurant in the world last year, said no one expected people to pay those sorts of prices for basic Catalan dishes.

“In Disfrutar we offer many dishes based on traditional recipes, with new techniques but traditional flavours, such as asuquet de peix[fish and potato stew] ormar i muntanya[seafood and rabbit or chicken casserole],” said Castro, who insists there is no backlash against the El Bulli school of cooking.

“People come here to eat modern, creative versions of traditional dishes. What’s important is the combination of creativity and tradition. There isn’t a war. All of us want to preserve this tradition.”

Artal said that while he was no purist, in keeping with his principles there were only Catalan and Spanish wines on his wine list. “I can’t explain to a customer that a dish was inspired by my great-grandmother and that we’re using locally sourced ingredients and then serve a wine from Bordeaux,” he said. “I love yuzu but there’s no yuzu on the menu because I couldn’t say my grandmother used yuzu.”

Everyday Catalan cuisine may be in good health outside Barcelona but in the capital it’s far easier to find ramen, sushi, hamburgers or pizza than traditional fare.

“I’m not against ramen or hamburgers, I’m against globalization,” said Vilà, who has published a humorous “self-defence manual” for Catalan cooking. “Here there are 50 ramen places and none that serveescudella,” a traditional Catalan stew containing pasta or noodles.

Ruscalleda said: “Young people are attracted to the new, so they order sushi or ceviche but they don’t know about their own culture.” She shares the view that the biggest threat to traditional cuisine everywhere is that people have stopped cooking at home.

In the meantime, it seems it is up to the culinary elite to maintain tradition, a paradox that Vilà accepts.

“We’re in a transition because the grandmothers of the future don’t want to stay at home cooking, they want to be out in the world,” he said. “Obviously, a top chef is no substitute for a grandmother, but it’s up to us keep the tradition alive.”

French charity to challenge new Channel migrant interception plans in European courts

Plans by French police to enter the sea to stop small boats carrying UK-bound asylum seekers willcause more deaths and be challenged in the European courts, a French charity has said.

Arthur Dos Santos, the coordinator of the refugee charity Utopia 56, said there would be an increase in the number of people who would take “desperate” measures to reach the UK.

The official, based in Calais, said the charity was examining the possibility of a legal challenge in the European courts to stop the tactics.

Government sources have told the Guardian that French police would be authorised to tackle boats within 300 metres of the shore and in nearby waterways.

The strategy aims to be ready in time for the Franco-British summit, which begins on 8 July. This coincides with the state visit to London of Emmanuel Macron, the French president.

Over the past few days, French police have waded into the sea to stop asylum seekers from boarding boats, increasing speculation that police are already using the tactic.

In one incident this week at Gravelines beach near Dunkirk, officers were shown waist-deep in water, using CS gas, riot shields and batons, as they attempted to force a boat to return to the beach.

Dos Santos said the French plan to harden its tactics against asylum-seekers and smugglers would result in more deaths.

“When police enter the sea, it will cause more deaths, more people will drown as they try to get away before being caught and forced back to the beach. There will be more violence, as some people fight back, and the people attempting to reach England will find other ways to try to get to the UK. This will not stop them, but it will make the crossings much more dangerous,” he said.

The scheme is intended to give the French authorities the power to halt dinghies that “taxi” up to beaches from nearby waterways. Until now, guidelines prevent French police from intervening offshore unless it is to rescue passengers in distress. In practice, the policy means officers can stop boats leaving the beach by puncturing them, but are restricted once they are in the water.

Dos Santos said the tactic would face legal challenges in the European courts, with lawyers examining human rights laws and the UN convention on the law of the sea.

“This policy will be taken to the European courts. We will look very closely at this, as will other organisations,” he said.

A British charity that operates inFrancetold the Guardian two weeks ago it planed to explore possible legal challenges to stop the tactic.

Steve Smith, the chief executive of Care4Calais, said: “When the last Tory government tried to do pushbacks in the Channel, Care4Calais initiated a legal challenge and won. Any attempt to introduce interceptions in French waters must face the same level of resistance.”

In 2024, 73 people died trying to cross the Channel in small boats, more than in the previous six years combined. Nine people this year have so far been reported dead or missing in the Channel.

Nearly 17,000 people have crossed in small boats so far in 2025, according to Home Office figures, higher than at the same point in 2022, the overall record year for crossings. On Wednesday, Downing Street acknowledged that the situation in the Channel was “deteriorating”.

The French police union Unity has expressed concern that officers could face legal action if people die during an intervention.