LIVE: Iran threatens US with ‘crushing’ attacks

Donald Trump claimed near-victory in the Iran war during a low-energy White House address to the nation last night that sent oil prices soaring and global stocks sliding.

The President spoke for just under 20 minutes and didn’t announce any major developments – including whether ground troops would need to be deployed in the Gulf or who would take over leadership of the pariah state.

Instead, he repeated that Operation Epic Fury would conclude ‘shortly’, noting that the US’s military objectives were ‘nearing completion’ before vowing to bomb Iran ‘back to the Stone Ages’ if it didn’t do a deal.

Watch all the lines from his presidential address here:

Oil prices have risen to $106 per barrel after the US President addressed in his first primetime speech since launching the war on Iran.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil was $99 before he spoke to the nation yesterday.

Trump blamed the spike on the ‘Iranian regime launching deranged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers and neighbouring countries that have nothing to do with the conflict.

He did briefly acknowledge concerns among US citizens about the war causing soaring fuel prices.

However, Trump insisted these rising prices would soon go down while also adding that countries that get most of their oil from the Gulf region should lead the way in opening the Strait of Hormuz, which is effectively blocked by Iran.

Britain, France and other U.S. allies have said they are willing to help to keep the strait open, but only after hostilities have ceased.

‘They can do it easily,’ Trump said. ‘We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on.’

Trump was also frustrated that NATO allies had not offered to help open the strait, even threatening to withdraw from the 76-year-old alliance.

While he had told Reuters earlier in the day that he would discuss the US relationship with NATO in his speech, he did not mention the bloc.

Donald Trump has sparked anger in France after claiming Emmanuel Macron’s wife ‘treats him extremely badly’.

The President made fun of the French president and imitated a French accent as he attacked Macron and Nato allies for not joining the war against Iran.

In France, politicians including a Macron critic were outraged by Trump’s attack.

‘Honestly, it’s not up to par,’ said Yael Braun-Pivet, president of France’s lower house of parliament.

‘We are currently discussing the future of the world. Right now in Iran, this is having consequences for the lives of millions of people, people are dying on the battlefield, and we have a president who is laughing, who is mocking others,’ she told franceinfo.

Even Manuel Bompard, coordinator of the hard-left France Unbowed party, rushed to Macron’s defence.

‘You are aware of the extent of my disagreements with the president, but for Donald Trump to speak to him like that and to speak of his wife in such a manner – I find that absolutely unacceptable,’ Bompard told broadcaster BFMTV.

by Eliana Silver, Senior Foreign News Reporter

A Dubai-based billionaire has warned that airlines could begin going bankrupt within weeks as the Middle East conflict sends shockwaves through the aviation industry, with bookings falling and fuel costs surging.

Gediminas Ziemelis, the founder of Avia Solutions Group, has said that the current crisis feels like a repeat of the Covid pandemic, with grounded planes, collapsing demand and no clear timeline for recovery.

‘We need to be ready for any area, district, jurisdiction and geopolitical risk,’ said Ziemelis.

He added: ‘If it lasts more than one month, we may see potential first bankruptcies,’ of airlines around the world.

The warning comes as fuel costs surge, placing intense pressure on airlines already dealing with disrupted routes.

Ziemelis said fuel typically accounts for about 25 per cent of an airline’s operating costs. Since the conflict began, oil prices have jumped nearly 50 per cent to around $100 a barrel.

by Patrick Harrington, UK News Reporter

Donald Trump has said he believes King Charles would have backed him in the war against Iran.

The US president suggested the King would have been more forthcoming with military support if he was calling the shots than Sir Keir Starmer has been.

The British Prime Minister has been repeatedly lambasted by Trump for rejecting his demands to get the UK more involved in the ongoing war with Iran.

Most recently, Trump has called for the UK and other allies to assist in re-opening the Strait of Hormuz, which the Iranians have closed in order to disrupt the supply of oil and other vital products.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Trump said: ‘I think he [Charles] would have taken a very different stand [on the war in Iran], but he doesn’t do that. I mean, he’s a great gentleman.’

There have been concerns that the King’s upcoming visit to the United States would be tainted by the tensions between Trump and Starmer.

by Eliana Silver, Senior Foreign News Reporter

Desperate Iranian leaders have launched a nationwide recruitment drive, urging citizens to ‘defend the country’s soil’ as fears of a potential US ground invasion grow.

In recent days, mass text messages have been sent across the country inviting people to join a national mobilisation campaign.

The messages, shared on state television, call on Iranians to confront ‘the American-Zionist enemy’s threats against Iran’s shores, islands and borders’, though no further details have been provided.

The recruitment push has been reinforced by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has announced a campaign to enlist individuals for a variety of roles, including military service.

Volunteers as young as 12 have been invited to take part in patrols, man security checkpoints, tend to the wounded, cook or provide financial support, according to the Financial Times.

The commander-in-chief of Iran’s army said ‘not a single person should survive’ a ground invasion as the military tracks US and Israeli movements ‘moment by moment’.

Iran’s operational headquarters must monitor ‘enemy movements with utmost ​pessimism and accuracy’ and be ‌ready to counter any method of attack, Amir ​Hatami was quoted as ​saying by state media.

‘If the enemy attempts to carry out ground operations, not a single person should survive,’ he added.

Donald Trump has ​said the Iran conflict is ‘nearing completion’ ​and could end within weeks, but a parallel buildup of additional US troops ​in the Gulf has ​raised concerns that preparations may be underway ‌for ⁠potential ground operations.

South Korea’s economy is on a ‘wartime footing’ over the Iran war, President Lee Jae Myung has said after his government proposed a $17.2 billion supplementary budget to tackle the crisis.

Oil prices have surged amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, raising growth and inflation risks for South Korea, which is heavily reliant on Middle Eastern crude for around 70 percent of its imports.

‘Our government is treating the economy as being on a wartime footing and is making all-out efforts to overcome the crisis,’ Lee said in a budget speech to the National Assembly.

‘The current crisis is not like a passing shower that will stop, but rather like a massive storm that could last indefinitely,’ he added, asking lawmakers to swiftly pass the budget.

The plan allocates 4.8 trillion won ($3.1 billion) in cash handouts of 100,000 to 600,000 won per person for the bottom 70 percent of income earners, with payments scaled by income.

It also includes 2.8 trillion won in support for young people and low-income earners, and 2.6 trillion won for companies affected by the crisis in the Middle East.

Iran’s health ministry has claimed a century-old medical centre has been struck in strikes.

Health ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour posted pictures of the Pasteur Institute of Iran, a medical research centre established in Tehran in 1920, heavily damaged following an attack.

Kermanpour said the strikes targeted a ‘century-old pillar of global health’ and described it as a ‘direct assault on international health security’.

He also said the strikes breached the Geneva convention on international law.

China has decalred US and Israeli strikes on Iran are the ‘root cause’ of the Strait of Hormuz blockage.

Beijing’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning made the remarks as China called for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East.

‘The root cause of interruptions to navigation through the Strait of Hormuz is the United States and Israel’s illegal military operations against Iran,’ Ning told a news conference.

‘Military means cannot fundamentally solve the problem, and the escalation of conflicts is not in the interests of either side’.

Israel’s military says Iran’s Revolutionary Guard commanders are now operating from mobile train cars as it unleashes more strikes on Tehran.

The IDF said hundreds of headquarters previously used by Iran’s military have been rendered unusable following repeated airstrikes on Tehran.

In an update posted today on X, the IDF said: ‘The IDF identified in recent days that the Iranian terror regime began positioning its headquarters in mobile train cars, and regime commanders began operating from within them.’

The IDF said it struck one mobile headquarters used by commanders as well as a storage site for ballistic missiles in Tabriz in attempts to degrade Iran’s military stockpiles.

Michael Martin and Donald Trump in the White House last month

Irish premier Micheal Martin has said the threat from US President Donald Trump to bomb Iran ‘back to the Stone Age’ was ‘unacceptable’.

During a 19-minute address to the nation, the President said he would hit Iran ‘very hard’ in the next two to three weeks and that the Strait of Hormuz ‘will open up naturally’ after the conflict ends.

Mr Martin said the citizens of Iran have ‘no act or part’ in the war and must be protected.

‘That’s unacceptable. Every person involved in war has to prioritise civilian protection and innocent civilians,’ he told Newstalk radio.

‘We all know that the Iranian regime was a very oppressive one. But this war is creating death, destruction to people in Iran who had no act or part in the regime.’