USA - The shocking news that Iran has missiles that may be able to reach London should make even critics of Trump’s war – among whom I number myself – ponder deeply. We don’t know how many such weapons Iran possesses, nor how accurate they are. But the regime has just fired two missiles at the British-American military base on the Chagos Islands, a distance of about 2,400 miles. Before the Iraq War, no one – not even Tony Blair in his most deluded state – thought Saddam Hussein could strike London. Nor was there any evidence that Iraq was trying to develop nuclear warheads. Iran, on the other hand, has almost certainly been doing precisely that.

IRAN - Iran has today vowed to lay mines throughout the entire Persian Gulf if the US and Israel attack the country's coast and islands including Kharg Island where Donald Trump is said to be considering an invasion. The US is drawing up plans to occupy or blockade Iran's Kharg Island, the country's main oil export hub, to pressure Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping. 'Any attempt to attack Iran's coasts or islands will cause all access routes in the Gulf to be mined with various types of sea mines, including floating mines that can be released from the coast,' a statement from Iran's Defence Council said today. 'In this case, the entire Gulf will practically be in a situation similar to the Strait of Hormuz for a long time.' Oil prices rose today after Iran dismissed Donald Trump's 48-hour ultimatum to fully reopen Hormuz or face having Iranian power plants blown up.

UK - General Sir Richard Barrons, who headed the UK's Joint Forces Command between 2013 and 2016, said Iran's power may have been 'serially underestimated'. The former forces chief was responding to questions over whether Trump was right to say the UK had done 'too little and too late' or whether opponents of the war were correct that the UK had been sucked into an American war. He added: 'Both could be true. War generally does not follow a script and the enemy always gets a vote and, in this case, the enemy's vote, Iran, has been serially underestimated.'

IRAN - Iran has issued a 10 million rial banknote as war and surging inflation send the costs of key staples soaring. The pink-coloured note, set to be the highest denomination issued by Tehran, is worth around £5.70. Iran’s central bank said the move would “ensure public access to cash”, although banks have been reportedly allowing only limited withdrawals. Tehran is now seeking to knock four zeros off the end of all its banknotes. Under the system, 10 million rials would be worth 1,000 rials.

USA - Meta is expected to lay off tens of thousands more people in the founder’s biggest bet yet — the entire industry fears the floodgates are open. No one can quite remember when the clocks started to disappear. But one day, around the time that Mark Zuckerberg launched his first epic cost-cutting effort at Meta in late 2022, employees started to notice that meeting rooms across the Facebook-owner’s offices no longer had timepieces hanging on their walls. The rumour, absurd though persistent, is that Meta’s leadership wanted to save money on AA batteries.

UK - Saudi Arabia is the world’s ­biggest oil exporter and if its trade routes are blocked, the ­consequences could be dire for the global economy. So can the West keep the Strait open? If so, how? And, with Riyadh now breaking from the largely neutral ranks of its Gulf neighbours, which other countries with vital interests in the region are willing to help the US? And who is giving Trump the cold shoulder?

IRAN - London, Paris and Berlin ALL 'under threat' from Iranian missiles after Tehran's mullahs 'use space rocket' to target British base on Diego Garcia - as experts warn the regime may have been 'serially underestimated'. Two ballistic missiles were fired towards Diego Garcia, a base in the Indian Ocean jointly operated by the US and the UK, on Friday night. Sources reported that one of the missiles failed in flight, while the other was intercepted by a US warship in what is believed to be the first ever strike on the military base. The IDF confirmed the Diego Garcia attack was the first time Iran had launched a long-range missile, capable of reaching a distance of around 4,000 km, since the start of the war. 'The Iranian terrorist regime poses a global threat. Now, with missiles that can reach London, Paris or Berlin,' it added.

USA - When the United States and Israel initiated the war against Iran last month, their messages were perfectly in sync on the sweeping goal of regime change. President Donald Trump told Iranians to seize their “only chance” for generations to “take over your government,” and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implored them to “cast off the yoke of this murderous regime.” But nearly three weeks into the conflict, the war aims are diverging between a US president who saw the historic opportunity of a quick military victory with only modest economic pain and an Israeli leader with grander visions of toppling a regime he’s sought to vanquish for 40 years, said multiple US, Israeli and Middle East officials and lawmakers familiar with the matter. Trump’s latest outburst against Israel’s attacks on Iran’s huge South Pars gas field on Wednesday laid bare the tensions between the two allies and the inconsistency of the president’s approach to the conflict.

UK - The joint statement, published by the UK's Starmer government, appears to commit the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Netherlands to participating in escorts through the Strait:

IRAN - Iran is revealing new military capabilities as its war with Israel and the US enters its fourth week, and the regime still has more cards to play, from as-yet-unseen missiles to allied militias and sleeper cells abroad. The missiles fired at the US-UK Diego Garcia base required a range of around 2,400 miles, far beyond previous estimates of Iran’s capabilities. Tehran’s military also deployed the Haj Qasem, a newly developed medium-range ballistic missile with a half-tonne warhead, for the first time this week. Iran’s most powerful weapon, the Khorramshahr-4, has been used in greater numbers in recent attacks. Regime officials remain bullish despite heavy personnel and material losses inflicted by US-Israeli air strikes, and are threatening escalation. Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia said in an interview this week that: “We are using weapons in this war that we have not used in the past, and we will use them more in the coming days.” The regime is also known to have amassed a large stockpile of cruise missiles, including anti-ship variants that could prove effective in close-quarters fighting if naval vessels attempt to break its blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

USA - The US and Israel underestimated Iran's capabilities and it's unlikely the regime will collapse, according to a Middle East analyst, who warned that Iran could now be more determined to obtain nuclear weapons. In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Danny Citrinowicz, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan think tank, said he believes the chances of regime change are "very slim," especially without the use of ground troops — which would be a potentially disastrous gambit, he said. "We had our hopes too high," he said. "If somebody thinks that by air campaign, you can topple this regime, despite the fact that it's weak, but it's still very strong, I think we should think twice."

USA - The city of Los Angeles is being sued for its wild and unsupported claim that believing the Bible is a mental illness. Its anti-Christian ideology was revealed in a recent dispute with a city employee who as a Christian objected to the LGBT promotions in his department during June, and asked for permission to work remotely during that time period so as to avoid giving the appearance that he endorsed that agenda. The fight is being handled by Liberty Counsel, which already has filed a legal action against the city. “Instead of working remotely, officials suggested he simply use the ‘back door’ or seek ‘mental health counseling’ if the ‘Pride’ flag caused him distress,” the legal team explained. “[Eric] Batman received the suggestion that his religious beliefs about human sexuality ‘may need counseling’ as overtly hostile toward his religion,” the legal team said. The legal team pointed out that being allowed to work remotely is exactly the accommodation the city already allows for Muslims when they object to something in their workplace offending their beliefs.

UK - After a late-night debate in the House of Lords, a dark decision was reached that will affect generations to come, and deliver the United Kingdom into the arms of the ‘culture of death’ once and for all. In a shameful turn of events, the peers voted to allow abortion up to birth. This barbaric practice will now become lawful, in yet another sign of the decadence of Britain, and of the Western World in general. The amendment included a clause to change the law to decriminalize abortions for any reason, including if women did not want to have a child of a certain sex – and at any point up to and during birth.”

UK - The culture of death is taking hold of the United Kingdom. A mere two days after the UK House of Commons voted to decriminalize late-term abortion ‘up to birth’, the Labour party of failing Prime Minister Keir Starmer has approved a bill legalizing assisted suicide. Starmer was glad to vote for the bill, and – as proof of just how committed the UK has become to the culture of death – a good deal of Tories (including failed Globalist, former PM Rishi Sunak) and even Reform UK MPs also backed the bill. The ‘Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill’ was approved in the House of Commons by 314 votes with 291 against, a majority of 23 (down from a majority of 55 in the last reading of the bill). The Bill now goes to the House of Lords for further scrutiny, and if approved in the upper house it will ‘pave the way for assisted dying services to be introduced by the end of the decade’.

USA - President Trump just sent out a major warning to Iran over their South Pars gas field, threatening to blow it to kingdom come if Iran attacks Qatar’s LNG gas facility again. In short, Israel blew up a small portion of the South Pars gas field and Iran attacked Qatar’s LNG facility in response. Trump condemns the attack by Iran, says Israel won’t attack the gas field again, but tells Iran he’ll destroy it himself if Iran attacks Qatar’s LNG facility again.