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Tuesday, May 12, 2026

LIVE Trump ‘not happy’ with Kahmenei’s son as Iran new Supreme Leader

US President Donald Trump has told Fox News he is ‘not happy’ about Iran’s decision to select Mojtaba Khamenei as its new Supreme Leader. 

French President Emmanuel Macron meanwhile has announced an ambitious plan to deploy two warships to the Strait of Hormuz amid increasing fears over surging oil and gas prices.

Speaking in Cyprus, President Macron said the ‘purely defensive mission’ led by France and its allies would protect oil and gas shipments through the waterway where traffic has been choked off following the war with Iran.

The French leader said he wanted to see an ‘unprecedented’ naval force of European and non-European ships in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and off the Strait of Hormuz consisting of a total of eight frigates, two helicopter carriers and the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.

It comes as oil prices surged to more than $100 per barrel for the first time in four years as major producers cut supplies over fears of prolonged shipping disruption.

An emergency meeting of the G7 was held in Paris earlier with crisis options including the release of oil reserves discussed but no final decision has been made.

Elsewhere the US Navy has reportedly an Iranian warship and two other vessels in the Persian Gulf. Sources say the ships were struck during strikes on the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas. Video and pictures circulating on social media show flames and huge plumes of smoke blowing from the ships.

And Donald Trump has said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will make a ‘mutual’ decision on when to end the war with Iran as Pete Hegseth guaranteed Tehran ‘will surrender’.

 Follow the latest updates on the US-Israel war with Iran

Trump ‘not happy’ about Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei

US President Donald Trump has told Fox News he is ‘not happy’ about Iran’s decision to select Mojtaba Khamenei as its new Supreme Leader.

Khamenei has previously been branded ‘unacceptable’ by Trump who last week made his feelings clear about the Ayatollah’s son.

Trump said somewhat sarcastically that ‘at some point they’ll be calling me to ask who I’d like’ to replace the Ayatollah.

The president has said he would personally select a new leader and Khamenei’s son was ‘unlikely’ and ‘unacceptable’.

Khamenei, excluded from a list of three senior clerics his father reportedly identified last year, was on Sunday announced as the Ayatollah’s successor after being appointed by the regime’s 88-person assembly.

The leader has strong links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was chosen by Iran’s Assembly of Experts ‘under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards’, according to Iranian media.

U.S. President Donald Trump salutes during a dignified transfer of the remains of six U.S. Army service members of the 103rd Sustainment Command, who were killed in Kuwait, Major Jeffrey O'Brien, Capitain Cody Khork, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, Sergeant 1st Class Nicole Amor, Sergeant 1st Class Noah Tietjens and Sergeant Declan Coady, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, U.S., March 7, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

France to send warships to Middle East and oil prices surge: Everything you need to know

The US-Israel war with Iran has entered its tenth day with mayhem continuing across the Middle East since the fighting began last month.

If you’re just joining us, French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a plan to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz to help oil and gas supplies flow through the passage once again

The US Navy has reportedly attacked an Iranian warship and two other vessels in the Persian Gulf.

Meanwhile, oil prices are surging worldwide as global markets slid today and Donald Trump has declared he and Benjamin Netanyahu will make a ‘mutual’ decision on when to end the war.

Here are the key developments on Monday afternoon.

  • France has announced plans to deploy eight warships to the Middle East in a ‘purely defensive’ mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz
  • An Iranian warship and two other vessels have reportedly been attacked by the US Navy during airstrikes on the port city of Bandar Abbas
  • NATO have shot down a second Iranian missile in Turkish airspace
  • Oil prices rise to above $100 a barrel for first time in four years as global markets slid at the start of trading
  • Donald Trump says he and Benjamin Netanyahu will make ‘mutual’ decision on when to end Iran war
  • Vladimir Putin offers ‘unwavering support’ to Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei
  • Bahrain’s only oil refinery has been struck by an Iranian missile as Tehran targets energy installations across the Gulf
  • The UAE confirmed two members of its armed forces were killed in a helicopter crash when the aircraft malfunctioned during the defence against Iranian drones
  • Pete Hegseth, the US Defense Secretary, last night guaranteed Iran will ‘surrender’ and President Donald Trump will set the terms of their defeat
  • Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old son of Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, was selected by the country’s Assembly of Experts to succeed his father
  • Iranian state television has reported Khamenei is ‘wounded’ but did not elaborate on how the injuries were caused
  • The US has identified the seventh solider killed during Operation Epic Fury

Healey: ‘Iranian regime is a destructive force but we need legal basis for our decisions’

The Defence Secretary also explained the restrictions on Britain’s involvement in the Iran War – while offering a shot at the Middle Eastern country.

‘We must have a legal basis for our decisions,’ he insisted.

‘Iran has been lashing out with dangerous reckless and indiscriminate strikes. British troops were within a few 100 yards from strike in Bahrain.

‘The Iranian regime is a destructive force.’

Trump issues chilling warning to Iran’s new Supreme Leader

Donald Trump has issued a stark warning to Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei just weeks after ordering the strike that killed his father.

Trump said he was ‘not happy with’ Khamenei as the Islamic regime’s new dictator.

HMS Dragon will head to Mediterranean ‘in days’

Navy destroyer HMS Dragon will leave Portsmouth for the Mediterranean in the ‘next few days’, the Defence Secretary confirmed after much speculation over when the ship would head to the region.

It has been more than a week since an RAF base on Cyprus was struck, the Shadow Defence Secretary pointed out in the Commons.

epaselect epa12807099 HMS Dragon, a Royal Navy Type 45 Daring-class air-defence destroyer warship, is moored at the HMNB Portsmouth Upper Harbour Ammunition Facility (UHFC), in Portsmouth Harbour, Britain, 09 March 2026. The UK is sending HMS Dragon to Cyprus as part of Britain's 'defensive operations' in the region as fighting in the Middle East continues.  EPA/NEIL HALL

Defence Secretary: RAF Typhoons took out two drones

The Defence Secretary gave an insight into Britain’s increased involvement in the war in the Middle East.

He said RAF Typhoons took out two drones over the weekend – one headed for Jordan and one for Bahrain.

Healey added that the UK was now deploying operations experts in five countries in the region.

Fragments from the drone attack on Cyprus are ‘being analysed for foreign military hardware’.

Britain now also has eight jets stationed in Qatar.

Drone that hit Cyprus came from Lebanon or Iraq

Defence Secretary John Healey has been giving the Commons an update on the progress of the war.

He confirmed the drone that hit RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus last week came from Lebanon or Iraq.

AKROTIRI, CYPRUS - MARCH 05: UK Defence Secretary John Healey speaks to the media in front of British typhoon (L) and F-35 jets at RAF Akrotiri on March 05, 2026 in Akrotiri, Cyprus. The UK defence secretary's visit to Cyprus comes days after RAF Akrotiri, a British airbase on Cyprus's southern coast, was targeted by Iranian drones. The UK, as well as France and Greece, have vowed to beef up anti-drone defences around the eastern Mediterranean nation. Iran has threatened an array of US allies in the wake of the joint US-Israeli attack on the country. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Trump says Iran made ‘big mistake’ with new Supreme Leader

Donald Trump told NBC News Iran made a ‘big mistake’ selecting Mojtaba Khamenei as the new Supreme Leader.

‘I think they made a big mistake,’ he said. ‘I don’t know if it’s going to last. I think they made a mistake.’

Trump says it is ‘too soon’ to discuss seizing Iran’s oil

Donald Trump said it is too soon to discuss seizing Iran’s oil, but compared the situation to Venezuela.

‘Certainly people have talked about it,’ he told NBC News on Monday.

‘You look at Venezuela. People have thought about it, but it’s too soon to talk about that.’

Top Iranian official says country is ready for a ‘long war’ with US

Kamal Kharazi, Iranian foreign policy adviser to the office of the Supreme Leader, told CNN on Monday that the government is prepared for a long war with the US and said the war would only end through economic pain.

‘I don’t see any room for diplomacy anymore. Because Donald Trump had been deceiving others and not keeping with his promises, and we experienced this in two times of negotiations – that while we were engaged in negotiation, they struck us,’ Kharazi said.

‘There’s no room unless the economic pressure would be built up to the extent that other countries would intervene to guarantee (the) termination of aggression of Americans and Israelis against Iran,’ he continued.

Kharazi signaled that Iran is willing to continue to attack Gulf countries in an effort to get President Trump to step back from the war.

‘This war has been producing a lot of pressure – economic pressure – on others, in terms of inflation, in terms of lack of energy, and so if it will be continued, this pressure will be built up more, and therefore others have no choice (but) to intervene.’

Israeli military targets IRGC drone HQ, IDF says

The IDF has confirmed the Israeli military has been targeting the main drone headquarters of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The attack was said to be part of a number of strikes on ‘infrastructure’ in the last 24 hours

More than 1,700 people have died in Middle East conflict

The US and Israel launched their first attack on Iran nine days ago, prompting an onslaught of retaliation from the region.

As a a result, at 1,700 people are confirmed to have died as a result of the conflict.

At least 1,205 civilians have been killed in Iran according to Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), including 194 children and 187 military personnel.

486 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel began bombing the country last week.

Several dozen more have been killed by strikes in Iraq, Kuwait, Israel, the UAE. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman.

Key Updates

  • Trump ‘nowhere near’ sending troops to Iran
  • G7 nations have not made decision on release of emergency oil
  • Seventh solider killed during Operation Epic Fury identified
  • France to escort ships through Strait of Hormuz
  • Two UAE soldiers killed in helicopter crash
  • UAE faces barrage of 15 ballistic missiles
  • France to send warships to Middle East and oil prices surge: Everything you need to know
  • NATO shoot down second Iranian missile in Turkish airspace
  • FTSE plunges as mounting oil crisis sparks panic in the markets
  • Trump dismisses oil price surge as ‘small price to pay’
  • What we know about Mojtaba Khamenei – Iran’s new Supreme Leader
  • G7 to discuss release of emergency oil reserves
  • Bahrain’s state oil company declares force majeure after Iran strikes refinery
  • Pete Hegseth guarantees Iran ‘will surrender’ but Tehran rejects ceasefire
  • Oil prices rise to above $100 a barrel for first time in four years
  • Oil prices surge and Hegseth guarantees a ‘surrender’: Key developments in Iran war

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