LIVE: Iran blitzes Gulf as Trump says US will leave war ‘very soon’

Japan and France have agreed to push for an end to the Iran war and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to oil and gas tankers, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said.

Speaking after meeting Emmanuel Macron in Tokyo, Takaichi said there is ‘great significance’ in deepening ties between the two countries.

Japan, which normally gets around ​90% of its ⁠oil from the Middle East, has begun drawing on its oil reserves to cushion the economic blow.

Speaking alongside Takaichi, Macron said he shared her position on the need to restore freedom of navigation in the strait.

France has held talks with dozens of countries as it seeks proposals for a mission to reopen the waterway once the conflict ends.

Japan has said it could consider dispatching minesweepers, though the scope of any role would be constrained by its pacifist constitution.

The US military yesterday accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of ‘spreading lies’ following its claims US marines were attacked in Saudi Arabia

US Central Command, otherwise known as CENTCOM, took the step to call out Iran’s miliary which claimed a gathering of American pilots and marines were targeted at the Al-Kharj Air Base.

The Guards claimed at least 200 soldiers were killed or wounded during its operation in a statement published yesterday.

But CENTCOM says the claim is false and is being spread to ‘distract from the truth’ in the conflict.

It said in a post on X: ‘IRGC leaders said the same thing for Dubai on March 28. The Iranian regime’s claims were false then and are false now for Saudi Arabia. No U.S. personnel have been attacked.

‘The IRGC’s continued efforts to spread lies are desperate attempts to distract from the truth. Iranian forces are losing vast amounts of military capability as U.S. forces continue delivering unrelenting firepower.’

A Houthi soldier mans a machine gun during a rally in Sanaa earlier this month

by David Patrikarakos, Special Correspondent

The world is lurching towards a new era of mass warfare in which ever more advanced technology is deployed in the service of increasingly primitive ideologies. Nowhere is this clearer than with the Houthis of Yemen.

In recent days, the terror group has launched ballistic missiles at Israel, claiming to have targeted military sites, though Israel says only a limited number were fired and all were intercepted.

Officially known as Ansar Allah (Defenders of God), the Houthis are a clan from the remote mountain province of Saada in Yemen’s north west, rooted in the Zaydi branch of Shia Islam.

The group emerged in the 1990s under Hussein al-Houthi, a man profoundly influenced by Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, and his tenets remain its ideological bedrock. Killed by the Yemeni government in 2004, he was succeeded by his equally fanatical brother, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, who leads the movement to this day.

From a few thousand fighters in the early 2000s, the UN now estimates their forces to be in the hundreds of thousands.

New images have emerged showing a fire near Kuwait’s international airport after fuel tanks were struck by a drone.

The attack sparked a large fire but causing no casualties, Kuwaiti state news agency KUNA said earlier today.

Emergency teams rushed to the site, but initial reports ​showed only ​material ⁠damage at the facility run by the Kuwait Aviation Fueling Company, the agency added, citing a spokesperson for civil aviation authorities.

Iran’s steel facilities have been targeted by US-Israeli airstrikes, Iranian media is reporting.

According to Fars news agency, production plants in Isfahan and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces were damaged during ‘massive attacks’.

‘Initial assessments indicate massive attacks, with significant damage and destruction to production units’ at Mobarakeh Steel Company, one of Iran’s biggest, in the central province of Isfahan

It added that the fresh attacks took place last night, hitting the complex in Isfahan as well as one of the company’s subsidiaries, Sefid Dasht Steel, in the southwestern Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province which ‘sustained damage and losses’.

Steel is a strategically important material essential for industrial and military production, including of missiles, drones and ships.

by Imogen Garfinkel, Senior Foreign News Reporter

Donald Trump last night gave one of his strongest signals yet that his war may be coming to an end as he vowed to ‘leave’ Iran within two or three weeks.

But as he prepares to address the nation tonight ‘to provide an important update on Iran,’ could the US President be buying time for a surprise invasion on Good Friday?

Ever since the start of the conflict, Trump has sent out a flurry of contradictory messages: from declaring the war is won, to giving the regime ten more days to make a deal, to threatening to ‘completely obliterate’ Iran’s energy infrastructure the Strait of Hormuz was not ‘immediately’ reopened for business.

Nato nations have been taunted as ‘cowards’ and nothing more than a ‘paper tiger’ alliance which the US ‘needs nothing from’, while at other points they are called upon to ‘go to the strait’ and reopen it themselves.

While the US has said talks with Iran were ongoing and expressed optimism, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Tuesday he had received direct messages from US special envoy Steve Witkoff but those did not constitute ‘negotiations’.

Airstrikes earlier today hit an area near the former US embassy in Tehran, damaging parts of the complex’s outer walls, it has been reported.

Footage carried by the Mehr news agency showed the aftermath of the strikes in central Tehran, with shops damaged, windows blown out and debris scattered across the area near the site.

The wall of the former embassy complex, now a museum known as the ‘Den of Spies’, appeared damaged in the footage.

It was not immediately clear what had been targeted in the area.

The complex, daubed with anti-American murals, has become a symbol of the decades-long animosity between Iran and the US.

Starmer insists he’s making decisions ‘we think are right’ as he avoided saying people should change their behaviour in wake of the Iran oil crisis.

Asked about whether the public should take any actions following directives from other world leaders, Sir Keir said: ‘We had a COBRA meeting looking at the ongoing impacts here in Britain yesterday – that is being monitored daily’.

It comes after Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged people to use less of their cars in the coming weeks.

Sir Keir said he had spoken to the relevant business leaders in shipping, finance, insurance and energy supply and added he is making decisions ‘that we think are right’

‘I emphasise again, it’s clear to me that the main determinant now of the impact is going to be how long the conflict goes on and the question of how quickly we can get safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz,’ he added.

Britain will pursue a closer security and economic partnership with the European Union in light of the Iran oil crisis, Sir Keir Starmer said.

Speaking at a No 10 press conference, Sir Keir said: ‘We will continue to stand up for the British national interest, and we will continue to do what we must to guide our country calmly through this storm.

‘However, it is increasingly clear that as the world continues down this volatile path, our long-term national interest requires closer partnership with our allies in Europe and with the European Union.’

He added: ‘As the Chancellor has rightly pointed out, Brexit did deep damage to our economy, and the opportunities to strengthen our security and cut the cost of living are simply too big to ignore.’

Sir Keir said a new EU summit will be announced in the coming weeks.

Sir Keir Starmer defended Nato as ‘the the single most effective military alliance’ the world has seen in response to Donald Trump’s latest criticism.

‘It has kept us safe for many decades, and we are fully committed to Nato,’ Sir Keir told the press conference.

It comes as Trump told the Daily Telegraph he is considering pulling the US out of Nato which he again branded a ‘paper tiger’.

Asked for his response today, Sir Keir said he would act in the national interest ‘whatever the noise’.

The Prime Minister has warned ‘it won’t be easy’ as he declared the most effective way to reduce the cost of living is de-escalating conflict in the Middle East and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Sir Keir announced Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper would host a meeting of international leaders aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping route being blocked by Tehran.

He said: ‘Today, I can announce that later this week, the Foreign Secretary will host a meeting that brings those nations together for the first time, where we will assess all viable diplomatic and political measures that we can take to restore freedom of navigation, guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers, and resume the movement of vital commodities.’

Military planners will be convened following that meeting to “look at how we can marshal our capabilities” and keep the Strait clear after the fighting ends, Sir Keir added.

‘I do have to level with people on this. This will not be easy,’ he adds.

Sir Keir Starmer has warned the Iran war will affect Britain’s future but insisted the country is well-placed to weather what he described as a ‘fierce storm’.

Speaking at his Downing Street press conference, Sir Keir said: ‘It is now clear that the impact of this war will affect the future of our country.

‘So today, I want to reassure the British people that no matter how fierce this storm, we are well placed to weather it, and that we have a long-term plan to emerge from it a stronger a more secure nation.’