Iran-US war latest: UK to send drones and warship to secure Strait of Hormuz as Tehran’s nuclear threats escalate

The Pentagon is considering renaming Operation Epic Fury, which sparked the Iran war on 28 February after US-Israeli strikes killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to Operation Sledgehammer, according to new reports.

Two US officials told NBC News that the military operation could be renamed if the fragile ceasefire between the countries were to collapse.

It could suggest that the US is seriously considering restarting the conflict.

An earthquake of 4.2 magnitude has truck Iran’s capital of Tehran, according to Iranian state media.

No casualties or damage have been reported so far.

Trump made the stunning brush-off statement as he departed the White House for Beijing, where he will be feted by Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a state visit, including a lavish Thursday night banquet at the Great Hall of the People.

Asked about the continuing pocketbook pressures faced by everyday consumers as a result of the war he started more than two months ago, Trump told reporters: “I don’t think about American financial situation — I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”

The Independent’s White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg reports:

President Donald Trump has accused the media of treason for saying that Iran is “doing well” in the ongoing conflict with the US and Israel.

“When the Fake News says that the Iranian enemy is doing well, Militarily, against us, it’s virtual TREASON in that it is such a false, and even preposterous, statement,” he wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday, posting from his flight to China.

“They are aiding and abetting the enemy! All it does is give Iran false hope when none should exist. These are American cowards that are rooting against our Country.

“Iran had 159 ships in their Navy — Every single ship is now resting at the bottom of the sea. They have no Navy, their Air Force is gone, all Technology is gone, their ‘leaders’ are no longer with us, and the Country is an Economic Disaster.”

Donald Trump was expecting a “big fat hug” from China when he visits Xi Jinping this week in thanks for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

He won’t get one, though, because he’s failed to end the throttling of Beijing’s oil supplies. Good news for China, because Trump is indifferent to his own failure.

The US president will arrive for his summit with China exasperated that he has achieved none of his many and varied war aims in Iran. He will arrive having been humiliated by a weaker but dogged regime that survives in Tehran.

The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley reports:

President Donald Trump said that he does not need Chinese President Xi Jinping’s help in the war in Iran as he departed the White House for China. However, he said he would speak to the leader at length about the conflict.

“I don’t think we need any help with Iran. We’ll win it one way or the other, peacefully or otherwise,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday.

The leaders of ?the world’s two largest economies will hold their first face-to-face talks in more than six months as they try to stabilize ties strained by trade, the US and Israeli war with Iran and other areas of disagreement.

Trump is heading to China amid an unresolved Iran war with diplomatic negotiations to end it at an impasse. Beijing maintains ties with Iran and remains a major consumer of its oil exports.

The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group called on the government Tuesday to withdraw from direct talks with Israel, calling them a concession and urging “indirect negotiations.”

Lebanon and Israel are scheduled to hold two days of talks in Washington starting Thursday in an attempt to end the latest fighting that broke out two months ago, following the Iran war, and discuss the future of relations between the two sides that have been at war since Israel was created in 1948.

Hezbollah leader urges indirect talks

Naim Kassem said in a letter directed to the group’s officials that direct negotiations benefit Israel and that they are “concessions by Lebanese authorities.” He said Lebanon’s government should instead resort to indirect negotiations with Israel, as in previous years, such as when a ceasefire was reached in November 2024.

Indirect talks are usually done through a third party.

Saudi Arabia carried out unpublicised retaliatory strikes on Iran during the conflict earlier this year, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

It follows reports that the United Arab Emirates also conducted attacks on the Islamic Republic.