LIVE: Iran unleashes 70 missiles and 59 drones on Bahrain

Iran has stepped up its attacks on Gulf states across the Middle East in retaliation over the US-Israel war which resulted in the death of its supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei on Saturday.

Bahrain has announced its air defences have intercepted 70 missiles and 59 drones in the latest wave of attacks, while Qatar’s state-run energy firm was targeted, forcing it to stop gas production.

Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia halted operations at its huge Ras Tanura oil refinery which caught fire earlier today.

The latest onslaught comes after Iran rejected an ultimatum by Donald Trump to lay down its weapons after two days of fighting and launched new attacks on Israel and across the Middle East.

The UK is looking at ‘all options to support our people’ currently stuck in the Middle East, Sir Keir Starmer said, adding: ‘We want to ensure that they can return home as swiftly and safely as possible.’

The UK is not joining the US and Israel in their attacks on Iran, the Prime Minister has said.

Sir Keir Starmer told the Commons: ‘It is simply not possible to shoot down every Iranian missile and every drone after they’ve been launched. The only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at source, in their storage depots or at the launches.’

He said yesterday evening the US requested permission to use British bases ‘for that specific and limited defensive purpose’, which the Government accepted.

He added: ‘To be clear, the use of British bases is limited to the agreed defensive purposes; we are not joining the US and Israeli offensive strikes.

‘The basis for our decision is the collective self-defence of long-standing friends and allies and protecting British lives.

‘It is in accordance with international law, and we produced a summary of our legal advice, which clearly sets this out. We will keep the decision under review.’

Sir Keir Starmer has defended the decision not to join in with the wave of strikes by the US and Israel on Iran at the weekend, as he said it was his job to look after Britain’s national interest.

Speaking in the Commons, the Prime Minister said: ‘That decision was deliberate. We believe that the best way forward for the region and for the world is a negotiated settlement in which Iran agrees to give up any aspirations to develop a nuclear weapon, and ceases its destabilising activity across the region. That has been the long-standing position of successive British governments.

‘President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the initial strikes, but it is my duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest. That is what I’ve done, and I stand by it.’

However, he added that Iran’s retaliation to the attacks had threatened British people and the country’s interests. He said Iran had launched hundreds of missiles and thousands of drones at countries which did not take part in the attack.

Sir Keir said: ‘But, it is clear that Iran’s outrageous response has become a threat to our people, our interests, and our allies and it cannot be ignored.’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it is almost time for Iranians to oust their leadership following the joint US-Israeli campaign against Iran.

Mr Netanyahu said Operation Epic Fury is aimed in part to create the conditions for Iranians to oust their leaders, adding that the time was approaching for them to do so.

‘That day is drawing near. And when it comes, Israel and the United States will be there, together with the Iranian people. And it is important that the Iranian people be there with us.

‘That depends on them, we will be there,’ Netanyahu told journalists in televised remarks when he visited a site hit by an Iranian missile.

Since Israel and the United States first launched strikes on Iran on Saturday, Netanyahu has said it is time for Iranians to ‘cast off the yoke of tyranny’ and US President Donald Trump has told them to ‘take back your country.’

Iranians have taken to social media to share videos of them doing the famous ‘Trump dance’ after a joint US-Israel military operation killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei on Saturday.

President Donald Trump announced on Saturday evening that the US had killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

‘Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,’ the president wrote on Truth Social.

Khamenei, the chief Islamic cleric and ruler of Iran for over 36 years since 1989, has long been an adversary of the US for decades throughout multiple presidential administrations.

His rule saw the increased Islamification of Iran and the growth of its proxy forces in Yemen, Lebanon, Gaza and beyond.

Bahrain has declared its air defence systems have intercepted 70 ballistic missiles and 59 drones as Iran retaliates against the Gulf states over the US-Israel military operation.

Bahrain’s National Communications Centre said the interceptions resulted in some debris falling onto sites across the island kingdom.

Earlier in the day, a ship was hit at a Bahrain port, causing a fire that was extinguished and no casualties.

‘UKMTO received a report of an incident in the Port of Bahrain. The Company Security Officer reported that the vessel had been struck by two unknown projectiles causing a fire. The fire has been extinguished and the vessel remains in port. All members of the ships crew are safe and have evacuated the vessel,’ the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said.

From some of the world’s most expensive fighter jets spectacularly sinking through the sky to luxury hotels bursting into flames, these are the most shocking moments of the conflict so far caught on video.

In scenes that have been likened to 9/11, an Iranian drone was filmed smashing into the top of a high-rise block in Bahrain.

A fireball erupts into the night sky and flaming debris spews out in all directions.

While a terrifying close call was captured in Qatar’s capital, Doha where a tube-shaped missile falls through the sky and explodes violently when it meets the ground.

by Phillip Nieto

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that America ‘didn’t start this war’ as he revealed Iran’s plans to build a ‘missile shield’ to protect its nuclear ambitions.

‘We didn’t start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it,’ Hegseth told a press conference at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on Monday.

He warned that ‘war is hell and it always will be’ as a fourth US soldier was confirmed dead following Iranian strikes on a base in Kuwait.

Hegseth explained that ‘Iran was building powerful missiles and drones to create a conventional shield for their nuclear blackmail ambitions’.

He vowed that the US would crush the Islamic regime. ‘We will finish this,’ he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would increase the number of its nuclear warheads as he laid out how the European Union’s only atomic arsenal could protect the continent.

‘An upgrade of our arsenal is essential,’ he said from France’s Ile Longue nuclear submarine base. ‘That’s why I ordered an increase in the number of nuclear warheads in our arsenal.’

Macron added however that France – which holds the world’s fourth-largest nuclear arsenal, estimated at around 290 warheads – would no longer be disclosing details on its contents.

Hotels in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been told not to evict British tourists who are stranded in the Middle East destinations.

There is currently widespread travel disruption across the region due to ongoing conflict, after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran over the weekend.

Drone and missile attacks have since been launched from Iran to several allies in the area, including Dubai, Kuwait, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi.

Around 100,000 British expats have registered their presence in the region with the Foreign Office online.

Now, hotels in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been urged by officials to not force out visitors who have become stranded due to the mass flight cancellations and issues.

We’ve been reporting the latest developments on the fighting bewteen US-Israel and Iran as the conflict enters its third day following the launch of Operation Epic Fury on Saturday.

Here’s what you need to know today:

• European gas prices have jumped almost 50 per cent after Iranian drone attacks shut down Qatar’s state-energy gas production
• Iran has also attacked an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia which risks drawing the kingdom into the conflict
• Pete Hegseth issues battle cry to US troops fighting in Iran as he declares ‘we didn’t start this war’
• Donald Trump says he is ‘very disappointed’ in Keir Starmer as PM is condemned for his weak response to Iranian attacks
• Cyprus comes under attack as the RAF shoot down two Iranian drones on way to British airbase
• Three US F-15s are shot down by Kuwait in friendly fire blunder
• Dubai and Abu Dhabi issue urgent ‘no eviction’ order for Brits stranded abroad after Iran attack
• Israel claims it has taken out a senior Hezbollah operative as it launches new attacks in Lebanon and Tehran