deployed to the Middle East<\/a> to help with defensive action against Iran, Healey said on Tuesday, estimating around 1,000 personnel are now involved. <\/p>\nSpeaking during a trip to the Gulf nations, the defence secretary said he felt “proud” after meeting with British pilots and crews who had flown 1200 hours over the last month “shooting down drones and missiles” during the conflict. <\/p>\n
“Gulf leaders are describing us a cornerstone of their defence,” Healey said.<\/p>\n
The defence secretary said the UK should be prepared for the war to go on for “some weeks”, noting that the situation with the Strait of Hormuz was being discussed with allies in Europe, the Gulf and beyond.<\/p>\n
“There is a determination that Iran cannot hold the strait hostage and blackmail the world in the way that it has been doing,” Healey said.<\/p>\n
“That\u2019s not just a discussion with Gulf allies, but also European and wider. The solution cannot just be military, and will have to involve others including the US.”<\/p>\n
Extra British troops are being sent to the Middle East to help allied countries defend themselves from Iranian attacks, Healey said Credit: ITV News<\/p>\n
Describing Iran’s attacks, Healey said the regime had a “continued capacity to launch missiles and smaller drones” and had begun threatening universities in the region. <\/p>\n
“They have expanded their threats to and have attacked steel works and the large aluminum plant in Qatar and continue to direct attacks at oil refineries,” Healey said.<\/p>\n
Iran threatens 18 US companies in the Middle East<\/p>\n
The IRGC has listed 18 companies it plans to attack as early as Wednesday evening if Israel and the US continue to target Iranian leadership, its semi-official news agency, Tasnim News, reported Tuesday. <\/p>\n
Among the firms are Apple, Microsoft, Google, Meta, IBM, Cisco, HP, Intel, Dell, Tesla and Boeing.<\/p>\n
Employees of the companies and residents living within one kilometre of the sites were advised to evacuate the area. <\/p>\n
“The United States Military is and was prepared to curtail any attacks by Iran, as evidenced by the 90 percent drop in ballistic missile and drone attacks by the terrorist regime,” a White House official told ITV News in response to the threats. <\/p>\n
Pictures of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in front of the Iran University of Science and Technology in Tehran Credit: AP<\/p>\n
US insists Strait of Hormuz will reopen<\/p>\n
Trump reportedly told aides he would be willing to end the war even if the Strait, an essential waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes, remains largely closed, according to the Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n
The strait is a narrow waterway off Iran connecting the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, and a fifth of the world\u2019s oil sails through it on a typical day. <\/p>\n
However US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later appeared to contradict these claims in an interview with Al Jazeera, saying that the strait would be kept open “one way or another” and that US war objectives could be achieved “in weeks, not months”.<\/p>\n
He also insisted that communication between Tehran and Washington is ongoing.<\/p>\n
But a spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry once again reiterated that no negotiations had taken place, while confirming that intermediaries had delivered a set of proposals to Iran.<\/p>\n
Hegseth confirmed talks were ongoing on Tuesday, but declined to tell reporters whether or not the US military will deploy ground troops against Iran. <\/p>\n
“We don\u2019t want to have to do more militarily than we have to. But I didn\u2019t mean it flippantly when I said, in the meantime, we\u2019ll negotiate with bombs,” Hegseth said.<\/p>\n
Trump told the UK and other countries to “go take your oil”<\/p>\n
Israel to launch land invasion into Lebanon<\/p>\n
Israeli military will demolish all homes in Lebanon near the border and prohibit the return of 600,000 Lebanese people who fled the area over the last few weeks, the country’s defence minister said on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
Israel Katz said the IDF is aiming to create a buffer zone south of the Litani River – 20 miles into Lebanon – with inhabitants of the area not allowed to return until safety and security are \u201censured\u201d for northern Israel. <\/p>\n
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged consistent cross-border fire since the latest flare-up that began March 2. <\/p>\n
Katz said all homes in the Lebanese villages directly across the border from Israel would be demolished \u201cin order to remove once and for all the threats near the border from residents of the north.\u201d <\/p>\n
The defence minister added that Israel would try and \u201cchange the situation in Lebanon\u201d with a continuous IDF security presence.<\/p>\n
Displaced children from Beirut play cards at a school converted into a shelter in southern Lebanon Credit: AP<\/p>\n
Fuel prices remain high worldwide<\/p>\n
US gas prices jumped past an average of $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022 on Tuesday, as the world continues to struggle with constraints on oil.<\/p>\n
The United Arab Emirates set sharply highly gasoline and diesel fuel prices on Tuesday, with gasoline going up by over 30% and diesel jumping up more than 70%.<\/p>\n
Asian countries – which rely heavily on the Middle East for oil – have been hit high by the war’s impact, and on Tuesday Korean Air said it is entering an \u201cemergency management mode\u201d to cope.<\/p>\n
The company said cost-cutting measures would be implemented in phases starting in April, as fuel costs are expected to be more than double its previous projections stated in annual business plans.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has become the latest country to implement a work-from-home policy for civil servants to save on energy and fuel.<\/p>\n
From Westminster to Washington DC – our political experts are across all the latest key talking points. Listen to the latest episode below…<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Play Brightcove video UK told to “build up” courage and “go get your own oil” by US President…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-506385","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Play Brightcove video<\/p>\n