LIVE: Iran issues threat to any US troops who set foot on their soil

Here are the latest developments in the US-Israel war with Iran:

• Donald Trump has pushed back a deadline not to strike Iranian power plants by 10 days and claimed talks are going ‘very well’ with Tehran
• Iranian hardliners are ramping up calls to build a nuclear bomb as the regime claims it has one million fighters on standby for a US ground invasion
• US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has claimed Iranian missiles could strike London
• Iran’s military has warned that hotels housing US soldiers across the region would be targets in the war
• Israel has said it has struck the Iranian regime’s main facility for producing sea mines and missiles launched to attack ships
• Saudi Arabia said six missiles have been launched towards Riyadh while a maintenance facility for US air defence system Patriot was targeted in Bahrain
• The UAE is pushing countries to join an international force to reopen and defend the Strait of Hormuz
• Kuwait said its main commercial port has been attacked by ‘hostile’ drones

Stick with us throughout the day as we bring you the latest updates

by Stephen M. Lepore, US Senior Reporter

Donald Trump is reportedly considering the deployment of 10,000 additional ground troops to the Middle East to give Washington more military options as ​the president seeks peace talks with ‌Tehran.

The president has repeatedly insisted on a strategy of ‘peace through strength’ in his foreign policy while giving Iran 10 additional days before his threat to destroy their energy hubs unless Tehran reopens the Strait of Hormuz.

The additional troops would likely be sent to a US military base within striking distance of Iran’s Kharg Island. Trump has threatened to seize its energy assets.

Department of Defense officials with knowledge of the planning told The Wall Street Journal the deployment would likely include infantry and armored vehicles.

Already, about 5,000 Marines and several thousand paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division have been sent to the Middle East to bolster defenses.

G7 foreign ministers today urged an ‘immediate cessation’ of attacks against civilians in the Iran war.

The leaders also called on Iran to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

A joint statement, released in the name of all G7 members including the United States, called for ‘an immediate cessation of attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure’.

‘We reiterated the absolute necessity to permanently restore safe and toll-free freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,’ it added.

The reactor was attacked by Israel last year

Heavy-water reactors such as Khondab pose a nuclear proliferation risk because they can easily produce plutonium which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of an atom bomb.

Under the Iran nuclear deal in 2015, construction was halted, the reactor’s core was removed and filled with concrete to make it unusable.

The reactor was to be redesigned ‘to minimise the production of plutonium and not to produce weapon-grade plutonium in normal operation’.

Iran informed the IAEA that it plans to start operating the reactor in 2026 after the US withdrew from the deal in 2018 during Donald Trump’s first presidency.

The site was previously attacked in Israel last year during the 12-day war.

More than 300 US troops have been wounded since the start of the Iran war on February 28, US Central Command has said.

‘Since the start of Operation Epic Fury, approximately 303 US service members have been wounded.

‘The vast majority of these injuries have been minor, and 273 troops have returned to duty,’ US Navy Captain Tim Hawkins said.

A US official who asked not to be identified said 10 US troops remain seriously wounded.

Iran’s Khondab heavy water reactor has been struck 10 times in an airstrike, it is being reported.

Black smoke is said to be billowing from the plant in the Iranian city of Arak.

The office of Iran’s Markazi Province governor said the Khondab heavy water complex was targeted in two separate attacks.

‘The Khondab Heavy Water Complex was targeted in two stages by aggression from the American and Zionist enemy,’ said Fars news agency, citing Hassan Ghamari, an official in the central Markazi province.

Officials say there are no casualties and the strikes posed no danger to nearby residents.

Iran would be ‘well advised’ to negotiate with the US after almost a month of conflict in the Middle East, Germany’s foreign minister has said

‘The Iranian regime would be well advised to enter into serious negotiations with the United States now,’ Johann Wadephul said, after meeting G7 counterparts in France, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

‘There are initial indications that such talks should be taking place,’ he added, without giving further details.

Wadephul also told reporters there is no disagreement with the US over Iran, adding that Tehran must not acquire nuclear weapons or pose a regional threat.

Kash Patel appearing before a Senate Judiciary Committee

Iran-linked hackers have publicly claimed the breach of FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal email after publishing photographs of the director and documents online.

On their website, the hacker group Handala Hack Team said Patel ‘will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims.’

A Justice Department official confirmed that Patel’s email had been breached and said the material published online appeared authentic.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The hackers did not immediately respond to messages.

Handala, which calls itself a group of pro-Palestinian vigilante hackers, is considered by Western researchers to be one of several personas used by Iranian government cyberintelligence units

A Democrat congressman has suggested Iran are not using all the weapons they have at their disposal.

Seth Moulton, a Marine Corps veteran, has disputed Trump’s claims about the impact of the war on Iran’s arsenal.

‘If Iran is smart they’ve retained some of their capability – they’re not using everything that they have. And they’re laying in wait,’ Moulton said.

The Trump administration has said it aims to weaken Iran’s military by sinking its navy, destroying its missile and drone capability as well as ensuring Tehran never has a nuclear weapon.

US strikes have hit more than 10,000 Iranian military targets as of Wednesday and have sunk 92 percent of the Iranian navy’s large vessels, according to Central Command.

The US can only be certain it has destroyed about a third of Iran’s missile arsenal, according to five people familiar with American intelligence.

The status of around another third is less clear but bombings likely damaged, destroyed or buried those missiles in underground tunnels and bunkers, four of the sources told Reuters.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the information.

One of the sources said the intelligence was similar for Iran’s drone capability, saying there was some degree of certainty about a third having been destroyed.

The assessment, which has not been previously reported, shows that while most of Iran’s missiles are either destroyed or inaccessible, Tehran still has a significant missile inventory and may be able to recover some buried or damaged missiles once fighting stops.

The intelligence stands in contrast to President Donald Trump’s public remarks on Thursday that Iran had ‘very few rockets left’.

Gulf states have told the US any deal with Tehran must permanently curb the Iranian threat, Reuters is reporting.

Gulf officials have privately told Washington Iran’s retaliatory actions since the start of the war had left them no diplomatic ‘off-ramp’, according to multiple sources.

They want any deal to ensure Iran’s missile and drone capabilities are permanently curbed while global energy supplies are never again ‘weaponised’.

Yousef al-Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to the United States, has framed the war not as a crisis to be frozen but as a test of whether Iran can again shold the economy hostage.

‘A simple ceasefire isn’t enough,’ Otaiba wrote in a column for the Wall Street Journal. ‘We need a conclusive outcome that addresses Iran’s full range of threats: nuclear capabilities, missiles, drones, terror proxies and blockades of international sea lanes.’

Asda is today warning that some of its petrol stations are experiencing ‘temporary shortages’ caused by the war in Iran.

The supply issues at some forecourts come as the price of petrol jumped above 150p per litre for the first time in almost two years.

Fuel costs have been spiralling amid the conflict in the Middle East which has seen Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz – a vital shipping lane which sees 20 per cent of the world’s oil pass through it every year.

Allan Leighton, executive chairman of Asda, said: ‘Our fuel volumes are up quite significantly and clearly demand has been outstripping supply. Supply is tight and we are all trying hard on that.

The issue is a temporary one, and some could see issues when we are waiting for delivery, and we can expect to see that continue.

‘The spikiness at the moment makes this tricky for us, as spikes can lead to temporary shortages. These are temporary and are addressed very quickly.’