Landing ship RFA Lyme Bay is being prepared for potential deployment to the eastern Mediterranean, the Ministry of Defence said.

The vessel has aviation and medical facilities allowing it to be used in support of humanitarian and disaster relief missions.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: ‘As part of prudent planning, we have taken the decision to bring RFA Lyme Bay to heightened readiness as a precaution, should she be needed to assist in maritime tasks in the eastern Mediterranean.’

Meanwhile, Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon is due to be sent to the eastern Mediterranean to help protect Cyprus and the RAF bases there from further drone or missile attacks by Iran and its proxies.

On Monday, Defence Secretary John Healey told MPs the warship would sail from Portsmouth ‘in the next couple of days’.

A fire has broken out at an industrial complex in Abu Dhabi following a drone attack, authorities have confirmed.

The blaze broke out at one of the facilities within the Ruwais Industrial Complex, home to one of the biggest oil refineries in the Middle East.

In a statement, the Abu Dhabi media office said: ‘The competent authorities in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi are dealing with a fire that broke out in one of the facilities within the Ruwais Industrial Complex, resulting from a drone attack, with no injuries recorded so far.

‘The competent authorities have urged the public to obtain information from official sources only, and to avoid circulating rumors or unverified information.’

Iran’s neighbours in the Gulf have reported more attacks after Tehran launched missiles and drones in retaliation for US and Israeli airstrikes.

Here’s the latest situation unfolding in the Gulf:

Bahrain’s interior ministry said an Iranian attack on a residential area in the capital Manama killed one person and injured others. ‘Initial reports indicate one person died and others were injured in a blatant Iranian attack targeting a residential building in the capital,’ the ministry said.

The UAE’s ministry of defence has today confirmed it is dealing with missile and drone threats from Iran. Meanwhile the UAE’s consulate in Iraq’s Kurdish region was reportedly attacked by a drone. Abu Dhabi has confirmed a fire has broken out at an industrial complex in Ruwais as a result of a drone attack.

Qatar has said it has intercepted a missile attack today and the interior ministry has declared the security threat level has been elevated. It means residents are required to remain indoors and stay away from windows and exposed areas.

Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani has dismissed Donald Trump’s ’empty threats’ over the Strait of Hormuz.

It comes after Trump warned he will hit Iran ‘TWENTY TIMES HARDER’ if the flow of oil stops through the key waterway which transports a fifth of the world’s oil.

‘Iran is not afraid of your empty threats. Even those greater than you could not eliminate the Iranian nation. Take care of yourself not to be eliminated!’ said Larijani in a post on X.

More than 170,000 people in the Middle East have registered their presence with the UK government, Defence Secretary John Healey announced yesterday.

He added More than 37,000 British nationals have been evacuated since the start of the Iran war.

Three chartered flights have taken off from the Omani capital Muscat, with more to come this week.

The Kremlin has declined to say whether the United States warned it against sharing intelligence with Iran.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that Moscow had passed sensitive intelligence to Tehran, including the locations of US warships and aircraft in the region.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff said Saturday he had ‘strongly’ communicated to Russia not to share targeting information with Tehran.

When asked by AFP about Witkoff’s statement, or whether US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had discussed this in a phone call on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: ‘All I can say is that Witkoff is in constant contact with his Russian counterparts, and that this channel of communication indeed allows us to hand each other signals about the most sensitive issues.’

by Natalie Lisbona

Terrified Iranians have warned that having the slain Ayatollah’s son as their new leader will change nothing as he is ‘as bad as his father’.

Mojtaba Khamenei was elected as Iran’s new Supreme Leader on Sunday following the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a missile strike on the first day of the war.

Hardliner Mojtaba, 56, is one of the most influential figures in Iran’s clerical establishment and has for years been seen as one of the top candidates to succeed his father.

Israel vowed at the weekend to hunt down and kill whoever Iran’s Assembly of Experts decided to elect as its new leader.

It has emerged that Mojtaba was wounded in a bomb blast, but it is unclear whether it was the same one that killed his father.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to help resolve the Iran war, the Kremlin has said.

Putin has put forward different options to mediate and ways to reduce tensions in the Middle East with his proposals still on the table, it was claimed

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Moscow is ready to provide any assistance it can.

He declined to provide more details on the specifics of the ‘considerations’ on Iran that Putin raised on a call with Donald Trump last night.

Trump revealed details of a ‘positive call with Putin, where the pair spoke about Ukraine and Iran.

by Eliana Silver

This is the incredible moment a UAE F-16E fighter jet chases after an Iranian Shahed-136 attack drone over Al Mamzar Beach in Dubai.

Social media footage shows shocked beachgoers looking at the sky as the drone flies low over the water.

Within seconds, the F-16E enters the picture and fires what appears to be an AIM-9X Sidewinder, a heat-seeking air-to-air missile designed for close-range engagements, at the drone.

The attack drone is subsequently destroyed moments after impact.

The intercept came as the UAE defense ministry said on Sunday that a total of 117 drones were detected, with 113 intercepted and destroyed, while four fell within the country.

India has ordered tighter controls over natural and cooking gas today amid warnings restaurants could face widespread closures.

The world’s most populous nation is the fourth largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) buyer, and second-largest buyer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), such as that used for cooking – much of which is sourced from the Middle East.

‘The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has resulted in the disruption of liquefied natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz,’ the Ministry of Petroleum said in an order issued on Tuesday.

It said the new rules would ‘ensure equitable distribution and continued availability for priority sectors’.

The ministry ordered that LNG supplies be prioritised to supply households, transport sectors and production of LPG.

A tearful Iranian footballer appeared to be dragged onto a bus in chaotic scenes as protesters in Australia tried to stop the women’s team from being forced home by the cruel regime.

Protesters ‘rammed’ the bus and temporarily prevented the squad from leaving their hotel on the Gold Coast on Tuesday afternoon after five members were granted humanitarian visas following an intervention by Donald Trump.

Players were seen making what appeared to be an ‘SOS’ hand signal, a closed fist with the thumb underneath the fingers, on their team bus after their Asian Cup campaign ended on Sunday night.

A group of players then escaped from their hotel on Monday night in a desperate bid to avoid returning to their war-torn country, where they faced persecution over their refusal to sing the Iranian national anthem.

Extra police will reportedly be stationed at Gold Coast Airport ready to assist any other team members who wish to seek asylum.