LIVE: Ayatollah warns ‘only place’ for US is ‘at bottom of waters’

Mojtaba Khamenei has said the only place for Americans in the Persian Gulf ‘is at the bottom of its waters’, according to state television.

In his statement, which has now been published on Telegram, he said:

We are ‘fellow-destined’ with our neighbors in the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, and the foreigners who wreak their greedy havoc from thousands of miles away have no place there, except at the bottom of its waters.

Khamenei, who hasn’t been seen or heard since he was appointed the supreme leader following the death of his father Ali, also claimed Tehran’s ‘new management’ of the Strait of Hormuz would bring ‘progress’ and economic benefits

Khamenei said Iran would eliminate ‘the enemy’s abuses of the waterway’.

Israeli strikes on three south Lebanon villages killed nine people, among them two children and five women, Lebanon’s health ministry has said.

The latest deaths come nearly two weeks into a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

‘Israeli enemy strikes on south Lebanon led, in an initial toll, to nine martyrs, among them two children and five women, and 23 wounded, among them eight children and seven women,’ the ministry said shortly after Lebanon’s president condemned ‘continuing Israeli violations’ of the ceasefire.

The Bank of England has held interest rates at 3.75 per cent but warned that the Middle East energy shock could drive up inflation and lead to a hike in rates.

It said that in a worst-case scenario where oil and gas prices stay higher for a longer amount of time, UK inflation could rise to as much as 6.2 per cent.

The Bank considered several ways that events could unfold but a worst-case scenario could lead to multiple rate rises and an increased risk of recession.

Eight members of the Bank’s nine-person Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to hold interest rates steady, while one member opted for a hike to 4 per cent.

Andrew Bailey, the Bank’s governor, said he felt borrowing costs were at a “reasonable place given the situation of the economy and the unpredictability of events in the Middle East”.

by Erin Deborah Waks, Travel Writer

As summer holiday chaos looms, and the Iran war continues to dry up jet fuel supplies and send flight prices soaring, the UK’s aviation industry is being decimated.

The Prime Minister even warned Brits may need to change their summer holiday plans because of the jet fuel crisis.

And now, in a string of closures, another British airline has gone bust – and it has blamed the ongoing Middle East war and increase in jet fuel prices for the situation.

Ascend Airways, which operated flights from major UK hubs such as Gatwick Airport and Stansted Airport, has cancelled all its flights effective immediately – with 161 jobs affected.

The ‘wet-lease’ carrier, a British ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance) and charter airline, previously provided aircraft for other organisations.

This includes carriers such as Tui Airways, Oman Air and Air Sierra Leone.

The EU has said the deployment of US troops in Europe was in Washington’s interest, after Donald Trump threatened to reduce force numbers in Germany.

‘The deployment of US troops in Europe is also in the US interest in support of its global role,’ European Union spokeswoman Anitta Hipper said.

Meanwhile German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has stressed the importance of a ‘reliable transatlantic partnership’, amid a row with Trump over the Iran war.

‘In these particularly turbulent times, we are following a clear compass,’ Merz said during a visit to an army training ground.

‘This compass remains oriented toward a united NATO and a reliable transatlantic partnership.’

In his statement, Khamenei has also blamed American military presence in the Middle East for insecurity.

He said:

It has been proven … that the presence of American foreigners and their nesting and nesting in the lands of the Persian Gulf is the most important factor in insecurity in the region.

America’s puppet bases do not even have the strength and capacity to ensure their own security, let alone that there is any hope that America will provide security to its dependents and American-loving people in the region.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has said a new chapter for the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz has been taking shape following the US’s ‘shameful failure’ over the waterway.

In a published written message to commemorate National Persian Gulf Day, which celebrates the expulsion of Portuguese forces form the island of Hormuz in 1622, Khamenei said:

Today, two months after the world’s biggest campaign and aggression in the region and America’s shameful failure in its own plan, a new chapter is emerging in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

Smoke rises from the southern Lebanese area of Marjeyoun

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has condemned what he described as Israel’s continued violations of the ceasefire.

Speaking today, Aoun is calling for international pressure on Israel to stop strikes on civilians and paramedics.

He slammed the ‘continuing Israeli violations’ in south Lebanon, saying they were occurring ‘despite the ceasefire, as do demolitions of homes and places of worship, while the number of killed and wounded rises day after day’.

‘Pressure must be exerted on Israel to ensure it respects international laws and conventions and ceases targeting civilians, paramedics, civil defence, and humanitarian health and relief organisations,’ he added in a statement, as the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah nears the two-week mark.

CNN is reporting a revised peace proposal put forward by Iran could arrive tomorrow.

Sources close to mediators working on the plan say the new plan could come after a previous one was dismissed.

Top US officials, including Vice President JD Vance, twice turned back last week from trips to Pakistan to negotiate with Iran with Washington claiming they do not know who is speaking for the country

On Wednesday, Trump said negotiations to end the war are taking place ‘telephonically’ because ‘we’re not flying anymore’.

by Perkin Amalaraj, Foreign News Reporter

Donald Trump has claimed that his ‘great friend’ King Charles ‘would have helped us with Iran if it was up to him.’

In a fresh swipe at Sir Keir Starmer for not sending British military assets to the Middle East to assist his war against Iran, Trump said: ‘The King is fantastic. We spent a lot of time together.

‘We talked a lot. We talked about this also. He loves his country, and he’s a great King. And he’s a great friend.

‘I think if he were doing that, if that were up to him, he would have probably helped us with Iran.’

Trump added that was ‘very disappointed’ in NATO after the US ‘asked them to do some things about Ukraine and Iran.’

In a speech on Tuesday night during a state banquet, Trump claimed that King Charles agreed with him that Iran should never be allowed nuclear weapons.

The world is facing a ‘major energy and economic challenge’ as oil prices have soared in the wake of the war in the Middle East, International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol has said.

‘The world is facing the biggest energy crisis in history,’ Birol said at a high-level meeting on the energy transition at IEA headquarters in Paris, adding that oil prices were ‘putting a lot of pressure in many countries’.

Hezbollah has launched a new weapon against Israel in the latest round of fighting.

Small drones controlled with fiber-optic cables the width of dental floss that are capable of avoiding electronic detection have been deployed by the Iran-aligned militants.

These drones – used widely in the war in Ukraine – are small, hard to track and potentially lethal.

Many drones are susceptible to electronic jamming by air defenses. Jamming can cause a drone to crash or return to its point of origin.

But fiber-optic drones are not controlled remotely. They have a thin cable that connects an operator directly to the drone, making it impossible to electronically jam.

The drones are not infallible because the wind – or other drones – can cause the cables to tangle.

Robert Tollast, a drone expert and researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said the drones can be ‘absolutely deadly’ as he explained how they can fly low and creep up on a target.