Sanae Takaichi tells reporters she told Trump that Japan’s ability to deploy military forces overseas is limited by post-WWII constitution

• Trump news at a glance: president claims ignorance of Israel’s plan to strike Iranian gasfield, exposing rift

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Answering a reporter’s question on Iran’s missile capabilities, considering the country has managed to strike numerous states in the Gulf, Gen Dan Caine, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, said Tehran retains “some capability” to attack American assets.

“They came into this fight with a lot of weapons.,” he said, adding that the US continues to be “as aggressive and assertive” in striking Iran.

Nigel Farage echoed Nick Timothy’s comments after he said public prayer for Ramadan was an ‘act of domination’

• Starmer claims Tories have ‘problem with Muslims’ after Timothy tweet

Cleverly is trying to show a video, but it is not working. So he just invites Kemi Badenoch to start her speech.

The Conservatives are launching their local elections campaign. There is a live feed here.

EU leaders fail to convince Viktor Orbán, shortly facing Hungarian elections, to drop his opposition to aid

Germany’s chancellor Friedrich Merz also called for de-escalation in the Middle East, welcoming what he said were signals by US president Donald Trump that combat action in Iran could come to an end, which could allow Europe to contribute to securing peace in the region.

“I am expressly grateful that the US president sent a signal in this regard last night that he is prepared to bring the fighting to an end,” he told reporters ahead of an EU summit in Brussels in comments reported by Reuters.

Committee chair Rand Paul and Markwayne Mullin exchange heated remarks at hearing to confirm new homeland security secretary

• Mullin never served in military but talks as if he did

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Rand Paul seemed immediately frustrated with Mullin as he opened the hearing. While he was speaking, he suggested that Mullin wasn’t listening to his remarks, during which he pushed Trump’s nominee on his vote against Paul’s amendment to stop all funding for refugee welfare programs.

“You decided to transfer the blame. You told the media that I was a ‘freaking snake’ and that you completely understood why I had been assaulted,” Paul said, referring to when he was attacked by a neighbor in Kentucky in 2017, which resulted in Paul breaking several ribs and developing pneumonia.

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Iran is still exporting millions of barrels of oil, with about 90 ships, including oil tankers, having crossed the strait of Hormuz since the beginning of the war with Iran, according to maritime and trade data platforms reports.

This is despite Iran saying it had closed the vital waterway to vessels from the US and its allies.

President says he will ‘never (ever) endorse anyone’ who votes against Save America act as Senate prepares to take up debate on controversial bill

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A top counter-terrorism official in the Trump administration has resigned over the ongoing war on Iran.

Joe Kent, who reported to director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, said that he “cannot in good conscience” support the joint conflict with Israel.

You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos. You hold the cards.

Iranian army chief Amir Hatami threatened to launch a ‘decisive and regrettable’ retaliation for the killing

• Full report: Iran’s security chief, Ali Larijani, killed in airstrike, Israel says

• How have you been affected by the latest Middle East events?

• Are fuel price increases making you cut back?

The head of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has said that naval escorts through the strait of Hormuz will not “100% guarantee” the safety of ships attempting to transit the waterway, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

Military assistance was “not a long-term or sustainable solution” to opening up the strait, Arsenio Dominguez told the newspaper.

We are collateral damage of a conflict when the root causes have nothing to do with shipping.

Remaining in the area of the specified buildings exposes you to danger

The Trump administration has sought to end most enrollment in the program – and tried to strip the status from a string of countries

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Donald Trump drew a backlash on Sunday for suggesting US efforts to protect the Strait of Hormuz were unnecessary – and that “maybe we shouldn’t even be there at all” because his country has plenty of oil of its own.

The president made the contradictory comment to reporters on Air Force One after pleading with European and Nato allies to enter the war in Iran to help the US secure the strait amid the largest oil supply disruption in history.

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Continued from previous post:

Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has said she has no immediate plans to send her country’s maritime self-defence forces to help protect tanker traffic in the strait of Homuz.

We have not made any decisions whatsoever about dispatching escort ships. We are continuing to examine what Japan can do independently and what can be done ⁠within the legal framework.

I would like to ⁠engage in solid discussions based on Japan’s views and position regarding the need for early de-escalation.

Trump says Nato faces ‘very bad’ future if US allies don’t help open strait of Hormuz; airport flights suspended after ‘drone incident’ causes fire in area

• How have you been affected by the latest Middle East events?

Iraq’s football team will travel to Mexico for a 2026 World Cup playoff match despite calls for it to be postponed due to the Middle East war, the country’s football association has announced.

“The national team will depart at the end of the week to Mexico via a private plane,” said Iraq football association president Adnan Dirjal in a statement, adding they had contacted Fifa to help facilitate the trip during the conflict in the region that has hampered flights.

The US president said he did not want to make a deal with Iran yet, while claiming that he might hit Kharg Island again ‘just for fun’

• How have you been affected by the latest Middle East events?

Iranian media has reported there is no damage to its oil infrastructure on Kharg Island, following US attacks that Trump claimed had “obliterated” military targets on the Island.

Iran’s armed forces have threatened to destroy US-linked oil infrastructure if its own energy facilities are hit. Kharg Island serves as the export terminal for 90% of Iran’s oil shipments.

Only some agencies within the DHS, including the Tsa and Fema, and the Coast Guard are affected by the shutdown

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Both Pete Hegseth and Dan Caine were asked today about energy secretary Chris Wright’s comments to CNBC on Thursday, where he said that the US Navy cannot escort ships through the strait of Hormuz now but it was “quite likely” that could happen by the end of the month.

Gen Caine appeared to agree with Wright’s assessment, calling the waterway a “tactically complex environment”.

Iranian military said in a statement that oil and energy infrastructure belonging to firms that cooperated with the US would ‘immediately be destroyed’

• How have you been affected by the latest Middle East events?

Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry is saying that two drones have been intercepted and destroyed in the eastern region.

More now after reports of explosions in Dubai on Friday morning: thick black smoke rose over the financial hub’s skyline after what authorities described as a fire in an industrial area of the city-state.

Democratic senator John Fetterman broke with his party in support of reopening the DHS; this is the fourth failed Senate

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US defense officials told senators on the armed services committee that the cost of the war on Iran totaled more than $11.3bn in the first six days alone, according to multiple reports.

The New York Times was first to break the news about the conflict’s price tag, citing three people familiar with the closed-door briefing on Tuesday.

Nick Thomas-Symonds suggests it should be used to support Epstein’s victims as Kemi Badenoch questions why he was given the cash at all

In other news, families who received notices asking them to agree to return to their home countries are begging the Home Office to give them more time to make a decision that will significantly affect their children’s futures.

The Home Office has targeted 150 families whose asylum claims were refused and given them just seven days to make the decision, which would uproot their children from schools and adopted communities. Those who refuse to leave voluntarily may be forcibly removed in handcuffs, including children.

Release shows that Jonathan Powell warned Morgan McSweeney about the appointment of Mandelson as US ambassador

As reported by Nadeem Badshah this morning, the documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US expected to be released today will include a due diligence report by the Cabinet Office, which is believed to be two pages long.

It is likely to raise questions about Keir Starmer’s judgment, with sources saying it had warned the prime minister of the serious “reputational risk” of going ahead with Mandelson’s appointment in December 2024 given his links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

He has said, as you know that it is a little bit – it does fall into the category of too little too late, but I think they have a good, solid relationship, and hopefully they’ll be able to repair it. I go by what the president says, and the president says continuously that everybody is entitled to their point of view. But I think sometimes we detect that there’s not that feeling of gratitude.

I think the president’s position is that we do plenty for Europe, plenty for the UK, in the area of trade, in the area of defence, in the area of the support we give to Nato. And I think sometimes the response back, the reciprocity back, is a little bit lacking. I would leave it at that, OK?

Strike on school in Minab, Iran, in which at least 175 people died was result of a ‘targeting mistake’, officials have told the New York Times

Donald Trump said that the US-Israel war in Iran will end “soon” because there is “practically nothing left to target” in a phone interview with Axios.

“Any time I want it to end, it will end,” the president told the outlet. “The war is going great. We are way ahead of the timetable. We have done more damage than we thought possible, even in the original six-week period.”

Iraq officials say at least one person was killed in the attack on the tankers; US to release 172m barrels of oil from strategic reserve

• Iran escalates attacks on infrastructure and transport across the Gulf

• Israel bombards Beirut suburbs and southern Lebanon

• How have you been affected by the latest Middle East events?

Over in Senate question time, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has confirmed embassies in Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv and the consulate in Dubai all physically closed in the last week.

Wong said the government’s number one priority is to “keep Australians safe at home and abroad”.

She continued:

“The dangerous and destabilising attacks by Iran put civilian lives at risk, including Australian lives.”

More than 3,200 Australians over 23 commercial flights have returned to Australia since the US and Israel attacked Iran, setting off a regional conflict and grounding thousands of international flights.

Wong criticised Nationals senators for “winding up people and stoking fear” to panic buy fuel.

The senator said:

“Petrol companies are telling us that fuel stock continues to arrive as expected and on time but there has been a large change in the pattern of demand and that is having an effect on the supply, particularly in regional communities. We have seen jerry cans coming off the shelves at Bunnings and lines at the pump.”

One of the two members of the Iranian women’s football teams provided with a humanitarian visa to stay in Australia has changed her mind and contacted the Iranian embassy, according to the country’s home affairs minister.

In Australia, people are able to change their mind, people are able to travel. So, we respect the context in which she has made that decision.

Unfortunately, in making that decision, she had been advised by her teammates and coach to contact the Iranian embassy and get collected … As a result of that, it meant that the Iranian embassy now knew the location of where everybody was.

Chris Murphy attacks Trump administration’s strategy after classified briefing on Iran war; at least 140 US personnel injured in Operation Epic Fury

• Trump news at a glance: war on Iran is either ‘very complete’ or just starting, depending on who is talking

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Hegseth says the aftermath of the conflict is “going to be in America’s interests” and says it “will not live under a nuclear blackmail” from Iran.

It comes shortly after the defence secretary reiterated president Donald Trump’s threat that if Iran does anything to prevent the flow of oil in the strait of Hormuz, it will be hit “twenty times harder”.

This live blog is now closed – our coverage of the Middle East crisis continues here

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Investor hopes for a swift resolution to the Middle East conflict propelled Australian shares higher today, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 finishing the day up 1.1% and recovering about $35bn in value after yesterday’s $90bn plunge.

Oil prices surged to a four-year high early in the week before coming back down below $US90 a barrel after Donald Trump suggested the Iran conflict would end soon, sending global stock markets higher.