Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warn US companies will be attacked – live

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have threatened to target US companies across the region, calling on employees to evacuate the sites.

‘Employees of American companies… are requested to leave these areas immediately. These areas will soon be targeted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,’ said the Guards in on their official Sepah News website.

It was not immediately clear which companies would be targeted but last week, the Tasnim news agency published a list of potential targets on Telegram that included the offices of tech giants such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Nvidia in Gulf countries.

An Emirates plane prepares to land as smoke rises near Dubai airport

Here are the latest events in the Iran war as the conflict enters its third week:

• Dubai airport halted flights after a drone struck a fuel tank nearby in latest incident to disrupt travel at one of the world’s busiest hubs
• Oil loading operations have been suspended at the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah after a drone attack
• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have warned they will attack US companies in Middle East with employees urged to evacuate
• The Israeli military said it has begun what it described as ‘limited ground’ against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon
• Oil prices rose further, with Brent North Sea Crude up three percent to $106.50 per barrel in Monday trading
• Sir Keir Starmer said the UK will not be drawn into a wider war as he knocks back a request from the US to deploy British warships
• Saudi Arabia intercepts more than 60 drones since midnight
• Donald Trump said the United States was in discussions with Iran but that Tehran was not ready for a deal to end the war
• The US President said NATO faces a ‘very bad’ future if US allies fail to help open the Strait of Hormuz
• But European leaders have pushed back against Trump’s appeal to send warships to Strait of Hormuz

In his latest broadside Mr Trump has said Britain ‘should be involved enthusiastically’ with helping struggling US forces reopen the Straits of Hormuz to oil tankers and bring down global prices.

He added he is ‘not happy’ and ‘very surprised’ at the UK’s response.

Earlier today Sir Keir insisted the UK will not be drawn into a ‘wider war’ in the Middle East today as he knocked back the plea for warships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Read the full story by David Wilcock below

Donald Trump has now issued a scathing attack on Sir Keir Starmer – asking why he insists on ‘meeting with his team’ before making decisions.

The US President vented his frustration at the Prime Minister consulting his advisers about sending a warship to the Gulf.

Saying he did not ‘need advisers’ to know what would happen to oil prices, Mr Trump said:

The Prime Minister of UK, United Kingdom, yesterday told me, I’m meeting with my team to make a determination.

I said you don’t need to meet with your team, you’re the Prime Minister, you can make your own, why do you have to meet with your team to find out whether or not you’re going to send some minesweepers to help us or to send some boats.

I said you don’t have to meet with your team, it’s the same thing here.’

Mr Trump added oil prices would fall ‘very, very rapidly’.

British pilots have continued to conduct ‘defensive air patrols’ over Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain and the Easter Mediterranean.

The Ministry of Defence added: ‘The UK now has more jets in the region than at any period in the past 15 years.’

by Nikki Schwab

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

President Donald Trump announced the news on Monday via a Truth Social post.

‘Susie Wiles is an incredible Chief of Staff, a great person, and one of the strongest people I know but, unfortunately, she has been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer, and has decided to take on this challenge, IMMEDIATELY, as opposed to waiting,’ the President wrote. ‘She has a fantastic medical team, and her prognosis is excellent!’

Trump said Wiles would continue working in her high-powered White House job while undergoing treatment.

‘During the treatment period, she will be spending virtually full time at the White House, which makes me, as President, very happy!’ he said.

‘Her Strength and her Commitment to continue doing the job she loves, and does so well, while undergoing treatment, tells you everything you need to know about her,’ the President added.

Donald Trump has suggested countries involved in protecting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz would face ‘very few shots’ from Iran.

Criticising nations that failed to support the US, he said:

The level of enthusiasm matters to me. We have some countries where we have 45,000 soldiers, great soldiers, protecting them from harm’s way. And we have done a great job.

And when we want to know ‘do you have any minesweepers?’, well ‘we’d rather not get involved, sir’.

You mean for 40 years we are protecting you and you don’t want to get involved in something that is very minor, very few shots are going to be taken because they don’t have many shots left. But they said ‘we’d rather not get involved.

US President Donald Trump said ‘numerous countries’ had offered to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, without naming them.

Trump said ‘we strongly encourage other nations whose economies depend on the strait far more than ours’ to act.

He said:

We want them to come and help us with the strait. We have it in very good shape … we’ve already taken care of Iran but now, because of the fact that literally a single terrorist can put something in the water or shoot something or shoot a missile, a small missile and it’s fairly close range because it’s a tight area, which is one of the reasons they’ve always used that as a weapon.

Iran has always used that as an economic weapon. It’s not going to be able to be used very long.

Numerous countries have told me they are on the way. Some are very enthusiastic about it and some aren’t.

President Donald Trump has criticised US allies on for their lukewarm response to his call to help protect ships in the Strait of Hormuz during the US war against Iran.

‘For 40 years, we’re protecting you, and you don’t want to get involved,’ Trump told reporters.

‘We strongly encourage the other nations to get involved with us and get involved quickly and with great enthusiasm,’ he added.

Trump added: ‘We strongly encourage nations whose economies depend on the Strait far more than ours to step up. We get less than 1% of our oil there, Japan gets 95%, China 90%. They need to help secure it.’

US President Donald Trump has declared Iran has been ‘literally obliterated’ after the US struck more than 7,000 targets across the country.

‘They have been literally obliterated, the Air Force is gone, the Navy is gone, many ships have been sunk. Their radar is gone and their leaders are gone, other than that, they’re doing quite well.

‘We’ve achieved a 90% reduction in their ballistic missile launches and a 95% reduction in a drone attacks,’ he said at a news conference.

Trump added more than 100 Iranian naval vessels have been sunk or destroyed over the last week and a half including more than 30 mine-laying ships.

by Jon Michael Raasch

Donald Trump has given another timing update on the US-Iran war, as oil tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has come to a standstill and crude prices are skyrocketing.

The average gas price for a gallon of regular has risen to $3.72, according to AAA, up from $2.93 a month ago.

Speaking to PBS News on Monday, the President said he called the inflated gas prices ‘a very small price to pay’ and that ‘the oil prices will drop like a rock as soon as it’s over.’

‘I don’t believe it will be long,’ he said when asked about how much longer the war will drag on.

Trump first told the Daily Mail in a phone interview that the war could last up to four weeks. Later, he indicated it could last up to five.

Since then, the President has been cagey on the exact timing of the conflict, not wanting to show his hand to the media ahead of any actions regarding Iran. He has also said the war will last as long as ‘necessary,’ without giving further explanation.

Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has apparently told Iranian officials to carry on performing their duties in a new statement released today.

According to Iran’s Mehr news agency, Khamenei, who succeeded his father the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the following:

In response to inquiries from some managers and officials who were directly appointed by the martyred leader, it was announced that there is no need at present to renew the terms of their appointment, and they should continue to perform their duties in accordance with the measures and policies that they were informed of during the life of that great man.