Iran threatens US with ‘crushing’ assaults and launches strikes throughout the Middle East – hours after Trump vowed to ship nation to ‘again to Stone Age’ – dwell updates

Donald Trump claimed near-victory in the Iran war during a low-energy White House address to the nation last night that sent oil prices soaring and global stocks sliding.

The President spoke for just under 20 minutes and didn’t announce any major developments – including whether ground troops would need to be deployed in the Gulf or who would take over leadership of the pariah state.

Instead, he repeated that Operation Epic Fury would conclude ‘shortly’, noting that the US’s military objectives were ‘nearing completion’ before vowing to bomb Iran ‘back to the Stone Ages’ if it didn’t do a deal.

Watch all the lines from his presidential address here:

Oil prices have risen to $106 per barrel after the US President addressed in his first primetime speech since launching the war on Iran.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil was $99 before he spoke to the nation yesterday.

Trump blamed the spike on the ‘Iranian regime launching deranged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers and neighbouring countries that have nothing to do with the conflict.

He did briefly acknowledge concerns among US citizens about the war causing soaring fuel prices.

However, Trump insisted these rising prices would soon go down while also adding that countries that get most of their oil from the Gulf region should lead the way in opening the Strait of Hormuz, which is effectively blocked by Iran.

Britain, France and other U.S. allies have said they are willing to help to keep the strait open, but only after hostilities have ceased.

‘They can do it easily,’ Trump said. ‘We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil that they so desperately depend on.’

Trump was also frustrated that NATO allies had not offered to help open the strait, even threatening to withdraw from the 76-year-old alliance.

While he had told Reuters earlier in the day that he would discuss the US relationship with NATO in his speech, he did not mention the bloc.

Donald Trump must not abandon ‘a mess that he’s made’ in the Middle East, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said.

Asked whether she thought the special relationship was under threat as a result of Britain’s decision not to enter the war, and the criticism from Mr Trump which has followed, the Tory leader told broadcasters: “The special relationship is between the UK and the US, not between Donald Trump and Keir Starmer or whoever happens to be holding those offices.

‘We need to preserve it. We need the US. They are a close military ally. They help a lot on British security, we need to do what is in the British national interest.

‘But if I was speaking to him, I’d be saying, ‘if you break it, you own it’. That’s what Colin Powell, a former secretary of state in the US, had said. ‘If you break it, you own it’.

‘He started this war. We said that if he needed support against Iran, …use our air bases. That’s one of the things that Britain has done. He should now not be abandoning a mess that he’s made, if he thinks that it is a mess.’

Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz has threatened to send Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem to the ‘depths of hell’ after the Lebanese extremists fired rockets into northern Israel.

‘I have a clear message for Naim Qassem, Secretary-General of the Hezbollah terror organization: You and your associates will pay a very heavy price for the intensified fire toward Israeli civilians as they sit to celebrate the Passover Seder,’ Katz said after speaking to military officials.

‘You will not live to see this because you will be deep in the depths of hell together with Nasrallah, Khamenei, Sinwar and all the eliminated members of the axis of evil’.

It comes after Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets towards the Israeli port city of Haifa a short while ago.

According to the IDF, most of the rockets were intercepted and others were allowed to hit open areas.

by Tom Midlane and Joseph Palmer

Iranian drone strikes appear to have destroyed important US military assets and caused massive damage to vital energy infrastucture, the Daily Mail’s Photo Evidence show has revealed.

Since the US and Israel launched the first wave of bombing on February 28 that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic Republic has rained down drones on key strategic sites across the region.

In the latest episode of Photo Evidence, reporter Catherine Barnwell analyses satellite imagery to survey the effectiveness of the strikes and assess the scale of the damage.

Al Muwaffaq Air Base in central Jordan has become one of the most important hubs for US military operations in the region, she explains.

In the days leading up to the conflict, more than 60 US aircraft were spotted on the ground, among them some of the most advanced in America’s arsenal: F-35 stealth fighter bombers, F-16 fighter bombers and F-15 air superiority fighters.

Iran’s parliamentary speaker has claimed seven million Iranians are ‘ready to pick up arms’ and defend the nation.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf penned a message as Iran publicly declares it is preparing for a US ground invasion.’

‘We are not warmongers. But when the time comes to defend our homeland, every last one of us becomes a soldier.’

Donald Trump has claimed Ghalibaf is among the Iranian leaders negotiating with the US for a peace deal through intermediaries.

Military planners are being convened to look at how to de-mine the Strait of Hormuz as part of efforts to reopen the vital sea passage, Yvette Cooper has said.

Speaking at the start of the meeting, the Foreign Secretary stressed ‘diplomatic and international planning measures’ were the focus of a meeting of foreign ministers.

She said: ‘Alongside today’s discussions, we are also convening military planners to look at how we marshal our collective defensive military capabilities, including looking at issues such as de-mining or reassurance once the conflict eases.

‘But in today’s meeting, we are focusing on the diplomatic and international planning measures, including collective mobilisation of our full range of diplomatic and economic tools and pressures, reassurance work with industry, insurers and energy markets, and also action to guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers, and effective co-ordination that we need across the world to enable a safe and sustained opening of the Strait.’

by Aidan Radnedge, Senior News Reporter

Prices at the pumps are surging as the war in the Middle East intensifies costs for motorists – with diesel at one petrol station now approaching £3 per litre.

Millions of drivers are embarking on Easter getaway trips in the UK today despite the soaring cost of fuel – while others face rail shutdowns and packed airports.

Oil prices – which have a major impact on the cost of wholesale fuel – have hurtled upwards in response to Iran’s stranglehold on tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, following US and Israeli-led military strikes on the country.

The RAC says the average price of a litre of diesel at UK forecourts hit 184.2p, up by 29 per cent since the war started on February 28.

Average petrol prices have reached 153.7p per litre, a rise of 16 per cent over the same period.

One fuel station in Chelsea, west London. was seen selling diesel for 229.9p per litre, with the equivalent rate for petrol set at 288.9p.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has condemned ‘Iranian recklessness’ for ‘hitting global economic security’ as she addressed a virtual meeting of more than 40 countries aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Britain is seeking to lead a diplomatic initiative, understood to include 35 countries such as France, Germany and some Gulf nations, to reopen the passage, but Sir Keir Starmer has admitted restoring the flow of global trade will not be easy.

The virtual meeting will look at “all viable diplomatic and political measures” to reopen the vital oil and gas shipping route, which Iran has effectively closed for most exports.

Sir Keir outlined plans for the meeting to Nato secretary general Mark Rutte and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in phone calls on Wednesday afternoon.

Emmanuel Macron has said reopening the Strait of Hormuz by force is ‘unrealistic’.

Speaking to reporters in South Korea, the French President said: ‘Some people defend the idea of freeing the Strait of Hormuz by force via a military operation, a position sometimes expressed by the United States, although it has varied.

‘This was never the option we have supported because it is unrealistic. It would take forever, and would expose all those who go through the strait to risks from the guardians of the revolution but also ballistic missiles.’

French President Emmanuel Macron said Donald Trump’s remarks about how his wife ‘badly treats’ him are not ‘elegant’ or ‘up to standard’.

Speaking in Seoul, Macron responded directly to the President’s mocking comments aimed at him during a lunch hours before his national address on the Iran war.

Trump ridiculded Macron for being slapped by his wife Brigitte and for failing to send warships to the Middle East.

The US President was referencing the viral video from last May that appeared to show the French First Lady pushing Macron in the face as they prepared to get off a plane in Vietnam.

Trump’s comments came before a televised address to the American nation on Wednesday night, during which he promised the military was close to defeating Iran and pledged to bomb the Islamic Republic ‘back to the Stone Ages’..

‘Then I call up France, Macron – whose wife treats him extremely badly – he’s still recovering from the right to the jaw,’ the US President joked during an Easter lunch at The White House hours before, eliciting laughter from the audience.

US Central Command, otherwise known as CENTCOM, has released new video of military equipment being blown up in Iran.

In a statement Admiral Brad Cooper said: ‘Now in our 5th week of the campaign, it is my operational assessment that we are making undeniable progress.

‘We don’t see their navy sailing. We don’t see their aircraft flying, and their air and missile defense systems have largely been destroyed.’