Israel vows to assassinate Iran’s new leader: Dubai under assault again, CIA station hit as Tehran’s new Khameini’s son rains missiles and drones on Middle East – live updates
Israel vows to assassinate successor to Iran’s Ayatollah
Iranian drones hit US consulate building in Dubai in overnight strike
The US Consulate in Dubai has been hit in a suspected overnight Iranian drone attack.
Footage shows smoke rising from the building as Iran continues their retaliatory attacks across the Middle East.
The country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israel strikes dubbed Operation Epic Fury on Saturday.
Iran since targeted US military bases across the region, including in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait.
The Dubai authorities has confirmed no one was injured in the latest drone attack.
They said: ‘The competent authorities in Dubai succeeded in extinguishing a limited fire in the vicinity of the U.S. Consulate in Dubai resulting from a drone targeting operation, and the incident did not result in any injuries.’
Us Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the drone struck a car park next to the building, which is also near the British Embassy.
He said: ‘As I came in, I also saw the media reports about Dubai’s consulate.
‘The last update I had was that a drone unfortunately struck a parking lot adjacent to the Chancery building, and then set off a fire in that place.
‘All personnel are accounted for. As you’re aware, we began drawing down personnel from our diplomatic facilities in advance of this.’
On Monday Iran also hit the CIA station in Saudia Arabia and the US Consulate in Dubai in suspected drone attacks.
The intelligence agency had pinpointed Khamenei’s location in the attack on his compound in Tehran.
Iran has launched retaliatory strikes across the Middle East, targeting US military bases and organisations.
The CIA station, which was based in the US Embassy in Riyadh, sustained ‘structural damage’ and contaminated the building with smoke.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
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Edmonton infills operated as rooming houses, renting by the day — even hour | Globalnews.ca
Residents in some south Edmonton neighbourhoods near the University of Alberta are sounding the alarm over new infill properties where individual bedroom are being rented out rooming house-style — in some cases by the day and even the hour.
People living in Belgravia and McKernan who spoke to Global News feel some of the developments are deceptive.
“As it’s being built, they’re not advertised that they’re going to be rooming houses,” explained McKernan resident Rhonda Bell.
“They say seven or eight units —a multi-family dwelling. But what they’re actually building is about 32 rooms at a time.
“Each bedroom has it’s own ensuite. So it’s misleading.”
Global News found classified posts on Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji advertising daily and even hourly rentals for individual bedrooms within a newly constructed infill in the McKernan neighbourhood.
“It’s really questionable — who’s going to be included as a tenant?” Bell wondered.
“It can become a revolving door and that’s really not safe.”
An ad that was posted to Kijiji advertising rooms for rent in infill properties by the day or even the hour.
Kijiji
The ads say the kitchen, bathroom and laundry is shared. There is no mention of living rooms. Costs range from $35-$65 per night. The number of bedrooms in the building was not clear.
Frustrated community members sent the advertisements to their city councillor, Michael Janz.
“Ultimately, we need more accountability around landlords,” Janz said.
“We need more accountability around property owners. We need to make sure that the ad matches the delivery.”
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Rooming houses, formally called “lodging houses” are a unique development in Edmonton, as they require different safety measures.
The city defines a lodging house as a building, or part of a building, containing four or more “sleeping units” in which each is rented individually.
According to the city, the McKernan property on the online ad is listed as a four-plex and zones for Small Scale Residential (RS), but there is an application in development for a partial change to a lodging house.
An ad that was posted to Kijiji advertising rooms for rent in infill properties by the day or even the hour.
Kijiji
There were various numbers to contact on the Kijiji ads, including some saying text-only.
A woman listed as a contact declined an interview, but told Global News she has a short-term rental license.
After Global News reached out to the phone numbers on Monday, the postings on Kijiji and Marketplace were all taken down within an hour.
Councillor Janz said that is suspect.
“I think neighbours deserve a sense of transparency and predictability and fairness about who their neighbours are, who’s in the community, what the nature of your building is.”
He also worries about what impact developments like this have on the subject of infill — something that’s been highly controversial in Edmonton for years.
“I think cases like this, even if they’re one or two off anecdotes, do not help.
“They undermine the social license, they undermine the public sense of surety, they make other neighbours worried.”
Janz has been fielding infill concerns from his constituents for some time now, which last year led to him bringing forward a motion at city hall.
Now, a report will be coming forward outlining exactly what a lodging house is, and where it can be built.
In the meantime, neighbours feel there are loopholes in existing rules being exploited that the city should have caught.
“They approved the plans, knowing full well that there would be 32 bedrooms and 32 bathrooms,” Bell explained, adding the city spokesperson she was directed to said they were shocked to hear properties were being rented by the room.
“That wasn’t the plan and you can see it from the drawings of the buildings. That was never the plan. Don’t pretend it was the plan. Honesty is the best policy,” she said.
The infill home next to her has been renting individual rooms monthly to students. She said that’s created issues over parking, garbage, landscaping and snow removal.
By using unregulated classified sites to rent through, like Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace, as opposed to established short-term rental companies like Airbnb, Bell said there’s no recourse for neighbours or tenants with concerns.
Regardless of the designation, Bell said the actual use of the property is what matters.
“When it walks like a duck and moves like a duck and quacks like a duck — at some point people have to call it a duck,” she said.
“Call it what it is, then that will help the city set out appropriate bylaws for operating it — not just for building it.”
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot will escape Prime Minister’s AI nudes ban to fury of Labour women
Female Labour MPs are ‘incandescent’ over the government’s failure to include Grok in new measures cracking down on sexualised deepfakes shared online, the Daily Mail has learned.
The Prime Minster in January promised to take ‘necessary measures’ against X after social media trolls used its AI tool ‘Grok’ to create manipulated images of MPs in bikinis and sexually explicit images of children.
Addressing backbenchers in the Chamber Sir Keir branded Grok ‘disgusting’ and said the government would ‘strengthen existing laws’ and ‘prepare for legislation if it needs to go further’.
In response, Tech Secretary Liz Kendall said the government would ban nudification tools through amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, currently at report stage in the Lords.
But female Labour MPs are furious the government is now delivering a half-baked ban by only imposing the measures on British apps – not on those based abroad.
One Labour MP told the Daily Mail that backbenchers ‘remain concerned’ that government’s proposed nudification ban would only apply to products in the UK and wouldn’t therefore affect Grok – warning it ‘would fail to adequately protect women and children’.
This comes as analysis from CARE International UK and Equal Measures 2030 released today shows that less than four in ten adults in the UK believe that the Labour government cares about the rights of women and girls.
Ms Kendall previously warned that Grok may not be covered by the proposals – despite it generating around three million sexualised images in less than two weeks, including 23,000 appearing to depict children.
In January, Sir Keir (pictured on March 2) promised to take ‘necessary measures’ against X after social media trolls used its AI tool ‘Grok’ to create manipulated images of MPs in bikinis and sexually explicit images of children
Sir Keir branded Elon Musk’s (pictured in 2026) Grok ‘disgusting’ and said the government would ‘strengthen existing laws’ and ‘prepare for legislation if it needs to go further’
Tech Secretary Liz Kendall (pictured) said the government would ban nudification tools through amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, currently at report stage in the Lords
In a letter to the Labour MP Chi Onwurah, the Tech Secretary wrote the government has ‘identified that not all chatbots are covered’ and she has ‘commissioned officials to look at how this gap can be addressed’.
But speaking on Monday in the Lords, Conservative peer Baroness Bertin warned the government’s legislation would ‘bring no change whatever’ as the changes would not capture software overseas.
‘I believe this legislation would also not have caught Grok. The regulation must go further. Many MPs have been in touch wanting us to get clarity on this point,’ she said.
‘It is wrong to announce that you have banned something when you potentially have not.
‘We have to be really clear on that, because otherwise we have the worst of all worlds.’
Claire Coutinho, shadow equalities minister said: ‘This is yet another example of Labour talking tough but failing to deliver.
‘By refusing to act on overseas platforms, they are leaving glaring loopholes that predators will exploit. Offering tools to create deepfake nudes must be banned in the UK regardless of where the company is based.’
Baroness Bertin later told the Daily Mail that Grok was ‘the tip of the iceberg’ as the majority of sexualised deepfake images come from Chinese apps.
Despite this, the government on Monday night imposed a three-line whip on peers in the Lords to vote against Conservative amendments aiming to further regulate the pornography industry.
The bill will return to the Commons just before the local elections, where Labour is expected to cede huge numbers of local council seats to Reform and the Green Party.
Looking ahead, Baroness Bertin said she would be ‘deeply uncomfortable’ if she were a Labour MP, who may be whipped ‘to vote against banning step incest porn and porn that depicts sex with children’.
The government appearing to weaken measures to protect women and girls online comes as Sir Keir has been blasted for running a ‘boy’s club’ in No 10.
It comes after a string of scandals within Downing Street that led Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to complain of Labour briefings ‘dripping with misogyny’.
A government spokesperson said: ‘This government is taking robust action to protect women and girls from intimate image abuse, no matter where a platform is based.
‘We are making the creation of non-consensual sexual deepfakes a priority offence under the Online Safety Act, so services must proactively stop this content appearing.
‘We are also criminalising nudification apps, targeting those who profit from the distress of others. Social media and search services will be required to remove content promoting these tools.
‘Deepfakes are created through a wide range of AI tools, which is why we are closing loopholes so more chatbots have legal duties to protect users from illegal content. Our message is clear: Intimate image abuse will not be tolerated.’
Iran strikes CIA base in Saudi Arabia in huge symbolic victory as spy agency arms Islamic militants to spark uprising
Iran has blown up a CIA station at the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia as the agency works to arm militants for an uprising against the Islamic regime.
A suspected Iranian drone struck the CIA station in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, on Monday, just two days after the spy agency pinpointed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s location in the strike that killed him.
An internal State Department alert revealed that Tehran’s attack ‘collapsed’ part of the station’s roof and ‘contaminated’ the compound with smoke, according to the Washington Post.
The station also sustained ‘structural damage’ while personnel were advised to ‘shelter in place.’
The US and Saudi governments confirmed that two drones hit the U.S. embassy complex, but did not disclose that the CIA station was impacted, the Post said.
There was no indication that CIA personnel were wounded.
The CIA has long been viewed by the Islamic regime as its arch-enemy, in part because of the agency’s history of covert efforts aimed at undermining its leadership.
The American spy agency and the United Kingdom’s MI6 set in motion the 1953 Iranian coup d’état, which led to the overthrow of Iran’s democratically elected leader.
The US embassy headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is photographed Tuesday after it was hit by suspected Iranian drone strikes. The Washington Post reported that the CIA station located at the embassy was blown up
President Donald Trump ordered the launch of ‘Operation Epic Fury’ starting on Saturday, which has now led to the death of six American troops
An undated photo of the US embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh. The Washington Post uncovered that a CIA station located at the embassy complex sustained some damage from two suspected Iranian drones on Tuesday
Tehran’s attack also comes as the spy agency works to arm Kurdish militants inside the country in an effort to foment an uprising following the ayatollah’s death.
The Daily Mail has contacted the CIA for comment.
Top White House officials have been in active discussions with Kurdish leaders in Iraq about providing them with military support to strike the regime.
Iranian Kurdish militants have thousands of soldiers along the Iraq-Iran border with major support in Northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, this semi-autonomous region has served as a haven for local Kurdish groups that pose a military threat to Iran’s regime.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has targeted these groups with dozens of drone strikes since the start of the war on Saturday.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday reportedly spoke with the president of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, one of the major Kurdish opposition groups targeted by Tehran’s military.
The Sunni Muslim group has engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Iranian military and the IRGC.
Smoke rises from an Israeli strike in Beirut on Tuesday
Smoke plumes billow following Israeli bombardment on Beirut’s southern suburbs
Iran’s capital of Tehran has been ravaged by US-Israeli airstrikes since Saturday
Iran retaliated to the US and Israeli strikes with a barrage of missiles at neighboring nations – some of which broke through air defense systems (seen in Dubai)
Trump’s war has now spiraled across the Middle East, with Israeli cities and several Gulf allies coming under Iranian drone and missile attacks
‘Operation Epic Fury’ wiped out much of Iran’s top leadership over the weekend as part of a joint US–Israeli military campaign aimed at crippling the regime after Trump’s diplomatic talks collapsed last week.
Despite the death of the ayatollah, the Islamic government appears to remain in control of the country. The CIA’s reported efforts to arm Kurdish militants could pose one of the most existential threats to the regime.
Trump’s war has now spiraled across the Middle East, with Israeli cities and several Gulf allies coming under Iranian drone and missile attacks.
The US has responded with a wave of airstrikes aimed at crippling Iran’s military bases and remaining leadership.
American embassies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE have been struck by drones. The State Department has ordered the departure of non-emergency personnel in response.
A total of six American troops are dead following the launch of ‘Operation Epic Fury, ‘ while nearly two dozen remain hospitalized from injuries.
Iran’s new supreme leader is named as Ali Khamenei’s son Mojtaba – Iranian TV network reports
Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has reportedly been appointed Iran’s new Supreme Leader.
Mojtaba, 56, Ali Khamenei’s second oldest son, 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 opposition outlet Iran International.
Mojtaba is not a high-ranking cleric, has never held office and does not have an official role in the regime.
But he served in the Iranian armed forces during the Iran-Iraq war and is believed to wield considerable influence behind the scenes. He has been touted as a possible successor to his father for years.
However, he was not included in a list of three senior clerics Ali Khamenei reportedly identified last year.
And his father is said to have indicated opposition to his candidacy because it would resemble the hereditary rule enacted by the US-backed Shah monarchy before it was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
Father-to-son succession is also viewed negatively in the Shiite Muslim clerical establishment in Iran.
But much of Iran’s top brass has been decimated in the latest conflict and Mojtaba has close ties with the powerful IRGC and the Basij volunteer paramilitary force.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has reportedly been appointed Iran’s new Supreme Leader
Mojtaba (pictured with his father), is not a high-ranking cleric and has no official role in the regime
Despite being sanctioned by the US in 2019, Mojtaba is said to oversee an investment empire of over £100million, with access to luxury properties in north London and bank accounts in the UK, Switzerland, UAE and Liechtenstein.
Mojtaba is said to own 11 properties on The Bishops Avenue – an exclusive street in Hampstead, north London, also known as ‘Billionaires’ Row’.
The Ayatollah’s second son owns the properties through a network of shell companies, one of which is registered in the tax haven of the Isle of Man.
Under Iran’s Islamic guardianship system, the Supreme Leader must be a senior leader with significant political authority.
While Mojtaba has not held senior political roles, he studied under religious conservatives in Islamic seminaries in the Shiite holy city Qom.
Born in 1969 in the holy city of Mashhad, he grew up as his father was helping to lead the opposition to the Shah.
Unlike Ali Khamenei’s wife, daughter, grandchild, daughter-in-law and son-in-law, he survived the latest US-Israeli attacks.
In recent years, a favorite to succeed the 86-year-old Supreme Leader had been the hardline President Ebrahim Raisi, but he was killed in a helicopter crash in May 2024.
The regime’s 88-person assembly is tasked with appointing, supervising and potentially dismissing the supreme leader.
It met on Tuesday in Qom to find a successor to Ali Khamenei, who was killed on Saturday by joint US-Israeli strikes.
Israeli and US strikes flattened the building where the assembly met. There was no information on any potential casualties.
Separate air strikes also hit Ferdowsi Square in central Tehran this afternoon with images showing injured people staggering through rubble.
The latest bombing campaign comes after Donald Trump told Iran’s surviving leaders it’s ‘too late’ to talk.
Mojtaba, 56, Ali Khamenei’s second oldest son, has strong links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps
Khamenei, who presided over a brutal regime which slaughtered thousands of his own citizens, repressed women and funded terror organisations, was killed on Saturday morning
Trump warned the ‘hardest hits’ are yet to come as the fighting entered its fourth day and promised to retaliate after the US embassy in Saudi Arabia was attacked by drones.
The US President also claimed the initial wave of strikes wiped out Washington’s preferred successors to Khamenei.
He said the White House had shortlisted several preferred successors – but insisted the military campaign was ‘so successful’ it eliminated not only the primary options but also the ‘second or third’ choices.
‘The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates,’ Mr Trump told ABC News.
Among the dead are one of the regime’s top advisers Ali Shamkhani, commander of the Revolutionary Guard General Mohammad Pakpour and hardline former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In a separate interview with the New York Times, Mr Trump said he had ‘three very good choices’ for the next potential leader for Iran, but did not reveal who these were.
On Monday night Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told state TV that the killing of the supreme leader was a ‘religious crime’ that will have serious consequences.
Iran has continued to rock the Middle East with an a series of attacks across the region.
On Tuesday the US Consulate building in Dubai was struck by a drone.
Separate air strikes also hit Ferdowsi Square in central Tehran this afternoon with images showing injured people staggering through rubble
Israeli and US strikes flattened the building where the assembly met. There was no information on any potential casualties
Smoke billowing into the sky above Khamenei’s compound on Pasteur Street in the heart of Tehran
Israel struck and destroyed the Ayatollah’s compound (pictured) in an early morning raid
Videos posted to social media on Tuesday evening showed a huge plume of smoke rising from the building, which local authorities revealed was hit by a missile.
No one was injured in the strike, the Dubai Media office said, and the fire was extinguished.
A statement read: ‘The competent authorities in Dubai succeeded in extinguishing a limited fire in the vicinity of the U.S. Consulate in Dubai resulting from a drone targeting operation, and the incident did not result in any injuries.’
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the drone is understood to have struck a car park adjacent to the consulate building, which is situated close to Dubai’s British embassy.
‘This is not Winston Churchill that we are dealing with’: Donald Trump savages Keir Starmer again as PM is condemned for ‘weak’ response to Iran crisis
Donald Trump tonight launched a fresh attack on Sir Keir Starmer, saying: ‘This is not Winston Churchill we are dealing with.’
The US President delivered a withering verdict on the Prime Minister as he continued to fume at Sir Keir for failing to back US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Speaking in the White House, Mr Trump said he was ‘not happy’ with Britain as he hit out at the PM’s block on the US using UK bases to launch attacks on Tehran.
In an apparent reference to Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands, the US President said: ‘That island… It’s taken three, four days for us to work out where we can land there.
‘It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours, so we are very surprised.’
Referring to Britain’s war-time PM, a bust of whom sits in the Oval Office, Mr Trump added: ‘This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.’
The US President went on to criticise the UK’s approach to the ‘stupid island’ as he issued a fresh blast at Sir Keir’s bid to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
‘I will say the UK has been very, very uncooperative with that stupid island that they have, that they gave away and took a 100-year lease,’ he told reporters in the Oval Office, as he sat alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
‘Having to do with, perhaps, indigenous people claiming the island that never even saw the island before. What’s that all about?’
He also repeated his frequent criticism of immigration and energy policies in the UK, saying: ‘I love that country, my mother was born there. But the UK, what they’re doing with energy and what they’re doing with immigration is horrible.’
In further comments, Mr Trump renewed his feud with London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan and claimed there were Sharia courts in the UK.
He made the remarkss as he spoke about the support from European nations for American action in Iran, with the US President saying Spain had been ‘terrible’.
Madrid has denied the US permission to use jointly operated military bases on its territory on Iran, with Spain’s socialist PM Pedro Sanchez having condemned ‘an unjustified, dangerous military intervention outside of international law’.
Mr Trump said the US was ‘cutting off all trade’ with Spain because of its criticism. But he praised NATO chief Mark Rutte and Germany, saying: ‘Germany has been great, terrific.’
Donald Trump has launched a fresh attack on Sir Keir Starmer, saying: ‘This is not Winston Churchill we are dealing with’
The US President issued his fresh blast at the Prime Minister while sitting in front of a Churchill bust in the Oval Office
Mr Trump delivered a withering verdict on the Prime Minister as he continued to fume at Sir Keir for failing to back US and Israeli strikes on Iran
The transatlantic rift between the UK and US has been sparked by Sir Keir’s initial refusal to allow America to use British military bases in their action against Iran over the weekend.
The PM later performed a partial U-turn after Tehran fired retaliatory strikes across the Middle East, with drones and missiles being launched towards British military bases and UK allies in the region.
Late on Sunday, Sir Keir said he had agreed to an American request to use UK bases to protect British nationals and allies in the Middle East.
The PM said he was allowing British bases to be used only for the ‘specific and limited defensive purpose’ of targeting Iran’s missile storage depots and launchers.
Mr Trump has previously referred to asking to use the military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, which can handle US heavy bombers.
Earlier on Tuesday, the US President said Sir Keir had ‘not been helpful’ and had put the Special Relationship in peril after failing to back his war with Iran.
Mr Trump said it was ‘very sad’ that relations between Britain and America are now ‘not like it used to be’.
Blaming Sir Keir directly, Mr Trump said: ‘He has not been helpful. I never thought I’d see that.
‘I never thought I’d see that from the UK. We love the UK. It’s very sad to see that the relationship is obviously not what it was.
‘This was the most solid relationship of all. And now we have very strong relationships with other countries in Europe.
‘It’s not going to matter, but (Sir Keir) should have helped… he should have. I mean, France has been great. They’ve all been great. The UK has been much different from others.’
He even suggested that the PM’s decision to ‘could be’ because he is pandering to Muslim voters as the Labour leader was accused of ‘pearl-clutching’ over US attacks on Iran that wiped out Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Mr Trump said that he ‘loves’ the UK and its people but added it is ‘not such a recognisable country’ anymore’.
‘Stop people from coming in from foreign lands who hate you’, he told the PM.
Earlier on Tuesday, the US President said Sir Keir had ‘not been helpful’ and had put the Special Relationship in peril after failing to back his war with Iran
The Pentagon vented its fury at Sir Keir for his ‘pearl-clutching’ over the US attacks on Iran. The PM told the House of Commons on Monday that he stood by his decision
A plume of smoke rises after an explosion in Tehran
The US President’s criticism of Sir Keir came as the death toll of US service personnel hit six and 18 service members had been seriously wounded.
Americans have been urged to leave 15 countries across the Middle East.
Iran has attacked the US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with kamikaze drones. Iranian state media has claimed that a command and staff building at a US air base in Bahrain has also been destroyed.
President Trump has said a US military response to the American deaths – and damage to its embassy and Bahrain base – is imminent, warning the ‘hardest hits’ are coming.
Israel has also launched fresh strikes in Tehran and on Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, sending ground troops in on Tuesday morning.
Downing Street insisted the US is still a ‘staunch’ ally, despite Mr Trump’s attacks on Sir Keir.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘The UK’s relationship with the US is we are staunch allies.
‘It is reflected in decades of that special relationship, whether it is on national security, on trade or beyond.’
Senior Cabinet minister Darren Jones earlier said the US and Israel’s initial strikes in Iran did not ‘meet the test the PM has set out’, as he faced questions about the extent of British support for America’s course of action.
Mr Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, said the UK-US relationship was ‘important’ when asked on Tuesday morning whether it had changed in the way Mr Trump suggested.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘It has been for a long time and will continue to be, and we’re working in collaboration right now in the Middle East on defensive action to protect British citizens.
‘I think the president’s frustration, from the way he’s articulated it, has been that we were not involved in the initial American and Israeli strikes in Iran, but as the Prime Minister said to the House of Commons yesterday, we will only engage British armed forces when it’s in British interests, with a clear plan and on a legal basis.’
He told Sky News the US President’s words do not ‘negate the fact that we make decisions, as I say, on the basis of legality and British interest’.
In the Commons on Tuesday, Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty told MPs the UK’s relationship with the US is ‘strong’ and ‘will endure into the future on both the economic and the security fronts’.
Chris Philp, speaking for the Conservative Party, said the US action against Iran was ‘completely justified’ and that Sir Keir had ‘seriously undermined’ the special relationship by failing to back it right away.
‘Through his actions, Keir Starmer has very seriously undermined our special relationship with the US, which has been the bedrock of our security for decades now,’ the shadow home secretary said.
Mr Jones told broadcasters the UK was not involved in the ‘first wave’ of strikes at the weekend because it ‘didn’t meet the test the Prime Minister’s set out’.
An airstrike on an Iranian police centre also damaged residential buildings around it in Niloofar square in central Tehran on Sunday
Sir Keir told his Cabinet on Tuesday that the decision on Sunday to allow the US to use UK bases for defensive strikes was ‘lawful and in the national interest’.
The PM has seriously aggravated the White House by suggesting that US and Israeli strikes on Iran were illegal and set to unravel.
In an outspoken intervention, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth praised Israel for its central role in the offensive – but savaged the legalistic approach taken by Britain and other European allies.
‘Israel has clear missions for which we are grateful,’ he said. ‘Capable partners are good partners. Unlike so many of our traditional partners who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, humming and hawing about the use of force.’
Sir Keir made a partial U-turn on Sunday after Iran lashed out at civilian targets in Gulf states and RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, saying US jets would be able to fly from British bases for the ‘limited’ objective of destroying Iranian missile launchers and stockpiles.
He told MPs on Monday that an estimated 300,000 British nationals in the Gulf region were ‘at risk’ as Tehran targeted hotels and airports.
But he ruled out going further, saying he would not participate in US-led attempts to bring about ‘regime change from the skies’.
Mr Trump said the PM took ‘far too long’ to lift the ban on US forces flying from RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia.
The US President said he was ‘very disappointed in Keir’ over his attempts to hand sovereignty of the strategically vital Diego Garcia to Mauritius.
Sir Keir acknowledged that Mr Trump had ‘expressed his disagreement’, but insisted it was in Britain’s national interest to abide strictly by international law.
He told MPs repeatedly that any military action had to have a ‘lawful basis’ and a ‘viable thought-through plan’ – and suggested the US had neither.
Downing Street said the PM’s commitment to upholding international law was ‘iron-clad’.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch suggested that the PM was distancing himself from US actions on Iran to avoid further alienating Muslim voters and so-called ‘progressives’ who deserted Labour for the Greens in last week’s by-election.
She accused Sir Keir of trying to placate voters ‘whose political loyalties are swayed by conflicts in the Middle East, not the British national interest’.
‘It isn’t international law or principle,’ she said. ‘It’s pure, partisan, political calculations from a party that has surrendered its right to govern our country.’
She added: ‘Why is it that under this Prime Minister, international law always seems to be at odds with our national interest?’ The Tory leader said British people ‘will be wondering why our country’s response has been so weak’.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the PM’s dithering was ‘pathetic’, adding: ‘Our Prime Minister is not a leader, he’s a follower, and he looks weak in the eyes of everybody.’
The PM marched against the Iraq War in 2003 and declared it illegal. He told MPs on Monday he was determined to prevent Britain being dragged into another legally questionable conflict in the Gulf.
‘We all remember the mistakes of Iraq, and we have learned those lessons,’ he said. ‘Any UK actions must always have a lawful basis and a viable, thought-through plan.
‘President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to join the initial strikes,’ he said.
‘But it is my duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest, and that is the judgment I made. I stand by it.’
Former Tory security minister Tom Tugendhat, who served in the Iraq war, said there was ‘zero comparison’ with the current situation as there are no plans for a UK ground invasion, although Mr Trump later said he was prepared to put ‘boots on the ground’.
A legal opinion drawn up the PM’s controversial Attorney-General Lord Hermer ruled that the assault on Iran could not be deemed self-defence despite the regime’s long history of attacks on the West, including targets in the UK.
Police officer lay down in sun and took selfies while on duty guarding murder investigation scene after teenage boy stabbed to death, jury hears
A serving police officer took selfies while on duty guarding a murder investigation scene following the fatal stabbing of a teenage boy, a court heard today.
PC Ryan Connolly, 41, took pictures of himself – including one where he was lying down in the summer sunshine – while manning a cordon, a jury was told.
The Merseyside Police officer had been tasked with securing the scene in Liverpool on July 3, 2018 following the killing of Daniel Gee-Jamieson, 16.
Daniel died in hospital after he was stabbed during a fight watched by up to 30 youths.
Prosecutor Peter Wilson told the jury at Manchester Crown Court there were ‘selfies of him stood there and then laying down’.
‘You may think if you are guarding the scene of a murder then you would not be sending selfies whilst on duty, and would consider that to be an important job and something that deserves respect, rather than laying down taking a selfie,’ he told them.
Police officers are ‘entrusted by the public not only to uphold the rule of law, but to safeguard and protect the society’ and therefore ‘cannot abuse their position of power and trust’, the prosecutor added.
Connolly is accused of unlawfully taking six crime scene photos, as well as using his mobile phone to take photos of police documents and people with whom officers were dealing.
Ryan Connolly, 41, (pictured in 2022) is on trial accused of taking selfies while on duty guarding a murder scene following the fatal stabbing of a teenage boy
Connolly allegedly took 24 photos of people arrested at police stations and hospitals before sharing them on WhatsApp
He allegedly took 24 photos of people arrested at police stations and hospitals before sharing them on WhatsApp.
The jury of seven women and five men were told that some of those photographed included domestic violence victims or ‘vulnerable’ people with mental health problems.
Connolly, of Liverpool, denies four counts of misconduct in a public office.
The court heard that the ‘inappropriate’ photos were taken between February 2014 and February 2020 while he was on duty.
Connolly allegedly took selfies where Daniel Gee-Jamieson (above), 16 was fatally stabbed
He was arrested on February, 4 2020 and his mobile phone was seized during an anti-corruption investigation by Merseyside Police.
Mr Wilson said: ‘The defendant states in his response to the misconduct allegations that the images recovered from his mobile phone had been taken for a work purpose.
‘He also says that he took the images using his personal mobile phone for ease and quickness.
‘His case is that none of the photographs were made public and only shared with the individual police officer he intended them to be shared with and not, under any circumstances, within a group chat.
‘The prosecution case is that his actions in taking the pictures on his personal mobile and having them stored in WhatsApp and not on any police system whatsoever amounts to criminal misconduct.’
Photos taken by Connolly showed him posing near the cordon and did not include any images of Daniel, the court heard.
One featured him in a park which surrounded the crime scene in the Gateacre area and all were taken before 9am.
Giving evidence, Detective Constable Kayleigh Greaves, who reviewed the photos, said: ‘The cordon covered a large area.
‘It took a lot of officers to guard the scene.’
She added: ‘There was nothing sensitive about the images.’
Mr Wilson asked DC Greaves: ‘If you are on guard at a murder scene, is there any reason for you to take a selfie?’
The officer replied: ‘No.’
Owen Cousins was later cleared of Daniel’s murder but convicted of manslaughter and jailed for 11 years.
The trial continues.
Drill rapper DSavv finally arrested ‘after smuggling himself to France on lorry’
A drill rapper and armed robber on the run from prison for weeks has finally been arrested.
Daniel Boakye, 21, who also goes by the rap name DSAVV, fled police for a second time on February 15.
Met police have confirmed he was arrested after a tip he was in France.
A spokesman said: ‘A man who absconded from Lewisham Hospital has been detained in France.
‘At around 20:18hrs (local time) on Monday, 2 March, Daniel Boakye was arrested in La Bouëxière, France on suspicion of escaping lawful custody.
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‘His arrest follows a joint operation by officers from the Met, National Crime Agency and French law enforcement partners.
‘It is believed Boakye, aged 21, was smuggled out of the country in a lorry after he absconded while in police custody on Sunday, 15 February.’
‘Arrangements are now underway to return him to custody in the UK.
‘Enquiries are ongoing to identify those who may have assisted Boakye to evade capture.’
In a video posted on social media, a young man claiming to be the rapper was again mocking police who have failed to locate.
Sitting in a chair in a dark room, the attention seeker brags: ‘I’m that guy I’m the boss of the UK.
‘Done it twice now they think I’m insane.
‘On my side we’ve got guns from Ukraine. Catch me if you can, I’m in a Wray on the way to the plane.’
‘I’m a magician like poof out of space.’
While police will probably be frustrated at the video, hip-hop fans were less impressed.
One commented: ‘He would be the biggest legend in UK Rap history if he could rap well’.
On Wednesday, he posted a video with an article on Boakye’s escape from prison was displayed on a TV in the background while the young man rapped.
‘I just broke out of jail like Modie, f*** the government fam they’re phoneys,’ he said.
‘Prison break, s*** fam – f*** these police. On the roads, I’m a legend like Toby, but I can’t go wrong like Kobe.’
Boakye is understood to have links to London gang OFB – Original Farm Boys – based on the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham.
He is known for his lyrics boasting of committing knife crimes, in one rap he says: ‘Man plug that shank in his socket. You should’ve saw the way he ran, that muppet.
‘Still caught him and I chinged that muppet. Crime scene juice got spilled like bucket.’
When he was in prison he had lots of fans calling for his release.
Between June 2021 and January 2022, Boakye and three other teenagers participated in a spree of robberies and attempted robberies across London, Essex Live reports.
Armed with knives, they forced victims to hand over their mobile phones and provide passcodes to unlock them.
The group then transferred victims’ cryptocurrency into ‘hot wallets’, stealing more than £115,000 in total.
They also used stored bank details to buy top-up cards, pay for taxi fares and complete other fraudulent transactions.
The gang were only caught after detectives identified their home addresses from takeaway orders they paid for using stolen bank details.
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Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz – what impact will it have on the world?
As fighting in Iran boils over, the most strategic oil passageway in the world – the Strait of Hormuz – is in the spotlight.
Concerns have been raised about just disruptions to the flow of Gulf oil shipments to Europe, the US and Asia after Iran said it was ‘closing’ the shipping lane.
About a fifth of the world’s oil is transited through the shipping lane, which splits Iran on one side and Oman and the UAE on the other, and links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean.
Iran’s attacks on neighbouring Gulf States have prompted major energy companies, like QatarEnergy, to halt the production of liquefied natural gas, and global prices have already spiked.
Here’s how the closure of one of the largest shipping lanes could affect the world.
What does this mean for energy prices?
The UK imports oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from a variety of places, not just the Middle East.
However, if supplies passing through the Strait of Hormuz are disrupted, then demand for alternatives goes up and there could be a significant rise in gas and electricity prices, which is what happened after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
David Aikman, director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, warned: ‘If it persists, it will raise household bills and business costs in the months ahead, putting renewed upward pressure on inflation.”
Petrol stations across the UK are already seeing ‘sorry we are out’ signs as gas prices skyrocket and people look to fuel up.
Drivers have been told ‘not to panic buy’ by the AA as oil prices have subsequently skyrocketed, with the global benchmark Brent crude increasing by 13% – the highest level recorded since July 2024.
In Greater Manchester, dozens of vehicles were seen waiting for petrol at the Trafford Centre.
And in Kirkdale, Liverpool, queues for pumps stretched beyond stations and into nearby roads.
Shop prices could increase as well
UK retailers are bracing for knock-on effects that could reach British shoppers in the form of higher prices and fewer discounts.
Again, the impact will depend on how long the conflict lasts, but rising oil and shipping costs alongside disruption to supply routes and raw materials could start to filter through to shop prices in the months ahead.
Analysts have said specific categories to watch include fragrance, as the Middle East plays a key role in producing ingredients used in many perfumes, particularly oud and other luxury scent bases.
The countries currently affected by conflict are also significant producers of dates, olive oil, nuts and spices such as saffron.
However, fashion, electronics and homeware could also be affected if freight costs increase or delivery times lengthen, as many UK brands rely on global supply routes that pass through or near the region.
Why is the Strait of Hormuz so important?
Tankers collecting from various ports on the Persian Gulf must go through Hormuz, a 60-mile-wide part of the Persian Gulf which has been at the heart of regional tensions for decades.
Although most chokepoints can be bypassed by using other routes, which often add significantly to transit time, some have no alternatives.
Maritime ship experts say shipowners are increasingly wary of using the waterway, with some ships having tightened security and others cancelling routes there.
Can Iran actually close the Strait of Hormuz?
Technically, yes.
The UN allows countries to exercise control of their territorial seas up to 13.8 miles from their coastlines, and some portions of the Strait lie entirely in Iran and Oman’s territorial waters.
Iran’s navy has been severely damaged by strikes, and it remains unclear just how it would have the manpower to shut it down, but experts warned the IRGC could lay mines using fast attack boats.
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