Iran: The Latest

The focus of the US-Iran war rests once again on the Strait of Hormuz, is there any way to get it open again?  Since Donald Trump cancelled Project Freedom, Iran’s chokehold on the vital waterway is as tight as ever. But James Parkin has some ideas. The former Royal Navy rear admiral was in charge of the task force that broke the last attempted IRGC shut down in 2019, and tells Roland Oliphant that the US could do it again - if it really wanted to. He also explains what it is like fighting the fanatical but talented sailors of the IRGC navy, and why he thinks their claims to have mined the Strait are probably lies. Plus, The Telegraph’s foreign correspondent Akhtar Makoii gives the view from Iran amid growing expectations of an imminent peace deal today, and Venetia Rainey looks at why Israel has suddenly bombed Beirut despite a ceasefire. They also discuss the latest news of extensive damage to American bases in the Gulf and the long-term implications. Highlights ‘Trump could reopen Hormuz if he dared, I’ve done it’Retired Royal Navy rear admiral James Parkin speaks outCONTRIBUTORS:Roland Oliphant, co-host and chief foreign affairs analyst @RolandOliphantVenetia Rainey, co-host @venetiaraineyAkhtar Makoii, foreign correspondent @akhtar_makoiiJames Parkin, retired Royal Navy rear admiral CONTENT REFERENCED:Connor Stringer: How Trump’s ‘Project Freedom’ fell apart in one dayhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026/05/06/us-iran-trump-military-diplomacy-project-freedom/Henry Bodkin: US and Iran ‘close’ to deal to end warhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/05/06/us-iran-close-deal-end-war-israel-middle-east-hormuz-strait/Akhtar Makoii: Trump and Mojtaba Khamenei have more in common than they realisehttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/05/06/trump-and-mojtaba-khamenei-have-more-in-common-they-realise/Washington Post: Iran has hit far more U.S. military assets than reported, satellite images showhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2026/05/06/iran-us-bases-satellite-images/NBC: Trump’s abrupt U-turn on a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz came after backlash from allieshttps://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trumps-abrupt-u-turn-plan-re-open-strait-hormuz-came-backlash-allies-rcna343845Producer: Peter ShevlinExecutive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor► EMAIL US: Contact the team on battlelines@telegraph.co.uk ► GET THE LATEST HEADLINES: Find all our latest Iran coverage here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/iran-war/

Is America’s Operation Epic Fury really over?Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the US’s military campaign against the Iranian regime has finished, and there are growing reports of a US-Iran peace deal in the offing. Venetia Rainey and Roland Oliphant break down the top three news stories you need to know today, from why Donald Trump has ended Project Freedom in the Strait of Hormuz to the importance of talks between Iran and China. Plus, did a spat over the Iran war prompt Trump to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany last week? Berlin correspondent James Rothwell explains the significance of America’s significant troop presence in the country and why America’s pull-out is fuelling speculation that Nato is well and truly over. Highlights The end of Operation Epic Fury amid growing talks of a peace dealWhy Trump has pulled troops from Germany following Iran war spatCONTRIBUTORS:Venetia Rainey, co-host @venetiaraineyRoland Oliphant, co-host and chief foreign affairs analyst @RolandOliphantJames Rothwell, Berlin correspondent @JamesERothwellCONTENT REFERENCED:David Blair: Trump now has three options. They are all badhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/06/trump-three-options-all-bad/Akhtar Makoii: Trump and Mojtaba Khamenei have more in common than they realisehttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/05/06/trump-and-mojtaba-khamenei-have-more-in-common-they-realise/Donald Tusk: Nato is disintegratinghttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/05/02/donald-tusk-nato-is-disintegrating/Why the US cannot fight another war after Iran without China’s helphttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/30/us-cannot-fight-another-war-after-iran-without-china-help/Producer: Peter ShevlinExecutive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor► EMAIL US: Contact the team on battlelines@telegraph.co.uk ► GET THE LATEST HEADLINES: Find all our latest Iran coverage here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/iran-war/

Is the US-Iran war about to restart amid escalating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz?Donald Trump has launched Project Freedom - a US Navy mission to break the Iranian blockade imposed since the beginning of the war. However, while the White House has framed the escort of neutral vessels as a “humanitarian gesture”, Tehran sees it as an escalation. Iran has fired missiles and drones at ships and an oil port in the UAE, and today says it is “just getting started”. Roland Oliphant and chief foreign affairs commentator David Blair discuss the latest updates and why both sides are now likely locked in a downward spiral, putting us “one step” away from renewed all-out fighting. Plus, former US Navy submariner Bryan Clark, director of the Center for Defense Concepts and Technology at the Hudson Institute, explains why America must put more force into the Strait of Hormuz if it wants to win against a patient enemy like Iran. He also talks through Iran’s remaining naval capabilities, from midget subs to fast boats. HighlightsWhy Trump’s Project Freedom will fail without more forceAn ex-US Navy submariner on what it will take to reopen the Strait of HormuzCONTRIBUTORS:Roland Oliphant, co-host and chief foreign affairs analyst @RolandOliphantDavid Blair, chief foreign affairs commentator @davidblairdtBryan Clark, senior fellow Hudson Institute @clarkdefenseCONTENT REFERENCED:Trump has finally realised he must seize the Strait of Hormuzhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/04/trump-finally-realised-seize-the-strait-of-hormuz/Producer: Peter ShevlinExecutive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor► EMAIL US: Contact the team on battlelines@telegraph.co.uk ► GET THE LATEST HEADLINES: Find all our latest Iran coverage here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/iran-war/

Within living memory, Tehran ruled an oil-rich great power brimming with intellectuals inspired by British democracy. So how did it become an impoverished rogue state at war with the West?In this special Bank Holiday edition, Ali Ansari, professor of Iranian history at the University of St Andrews, takes Roland Oliphant through Iran's tumultuous modern era: from the 1906 Constitutional Revolution and the 1953 coup, to the 1979 ousting of the shah and the 2026 US assassination of Ali Khamenei.From the blunders of the unlikely "midwife" of the modern Iranian state - Great Britain - to the catastrophic decisions of successive Supreme Leaders after the founding of the Islamic Republic, he charts the course that shaped the country Donald Trump is fighting today. How do the myths overshadow the facts of the CIA's 1953 coup and the Iran-Iraq war? Why is the regime so obsessed with enriching uranium and fighting Israel and America? And is the UK guilty of betraying Iranian dreams of democracy?Plus, how the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company brought association football to Tehran. Highlights Oil, revolution and ayatollahs: how Iran went from great power to rogue state Professor Ali Ansari explains 20th-century Iranian historyCONTRIBUTORS:Roland Oliphant, co-host and chief foreign affairs analyst @RolandOliphantAli Ansari, professor University of St Andrews @aa51_ansariCONTENT REFERENCED:Part 1: ‘Iran thinks it’s still a great power’: Why the regime won’t surrenderhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/03/why-the-iranian-regime-wont-surrender-ali-ansari/Producer: Max BowerExecutive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor► EMAIL US: Contact the team on battlelines@telegraph.co.uk► GET THE LATEST HEADLINES: Find all our latest Iran coverage here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/iran-war/

Donald Trump faces a critical decision as the Iran war drifts into a stalemate: double down on military force or hope the US blockade will break the deadlock.  Amid a deadline today for Trump to get Congress’ approval for further military operations under the War Powers Act, new reports suggest the Pentagon has requested the deployment of America’s Dark Eagle hypersonic missiles to the Middle East. Venetia Rainey and Roland Oliphant discuss the latest updates from the region. Plus, what is Russia’s role in the Iran war? Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’s Iran program, explains how Moscow has supported Tehran and is using it as a “pawn” in the broader fight against the West. He also analyses the significance of the viral Iranian Lego propaganda videos and Mojtaba Khamanei’s latest statement. Highlights US 'could deploy hypersonic missiles' to Middle EastHow Russia is supporting Iran to fight the WestCONTRIBUTORS:Venetia Rainey, co-host @venetiaraineyRoland Oliphant, co-host and chief foreign affairs analyst @RolandOliphantBehnam Ben Taleblu, Foundation for Defense of Democracies @therealBehnamBTCONTENT REFERENCED:US asks to move Dark Eagle hypersonic missiles towards Iranhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/30/us-asks-to-move-dark-eagle-hypersonic-missiles-towards-iran/1,000 targets a day in Iran: How AI is accelerating warhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/01/1000-targets-day-how-ai-accelerating-america-iran-war/Maven: the AI system helping the US bomb Iranhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdHYDGHN5rQProducer: Peter ShevlinExecutive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor► EMAIL US: Contact the team on battlelines@telegraph.co.uk ► GET THE LATEST HEADLINES: Find all our latest Iran coverage here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/iran-war/

The UK is in shock after an Iran-linked Islamist group claimed yet another attack on Jews in London. In the wake of the Golders Green stabbing attack, national security editor Rozina Sabur looks at what we know about the shadowy online group known as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI) and its links to the Iranian regime. Plus, as Donald Trump weighs whether to take further military action against Iran or in the Strait of Hormuz, Samuel Olsen, chief analyst at risk and intelligence firm Sibylline, explains that the conflict has further indebted the US to China. Why? Beijing’s near-total dominance of the supply chain of rare earths and critical minerals, which every bit of modern military kit requires. Trump’s upcoming visit to Beijing to meet Xi Jinping is likely to centre on this issue - as well as Taiwan. Elsewhere, Venetia Rainey and Sophia Yan analyse what we learned from Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth’s first under-oath testimony on the war and why the ceasefire seems to be holding everywhere apart from Iraq. HighlightsWhy the US cannot rearm post-Iran war without China Rozina Sabur on the Iran-linked group claiming to be behind the Golders Green attackCONTRIBUTORS:Venetia Rainey, co-host @venetiaraineySophia Yan, senior foreign correspondent @sophia_yanSamuel Olsen, chief analyst Sibylline @samolsenxCONTENT REFERENCED:Project Vault: Trump’s battle to break China’s critical mineral strangleholdhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/09/project-vault-trumps-battle-to-break-chinas-mineral-strangl/China just proved it can cripple the US military in days. Now Trump is furioushttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/20/china-just-proved-it-can-cripple-the-us-military-in-days-no/The Iranian sleeper cell bringing terror to Europehttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/03/23/iranian-sleeper-cell-islamic-movement-companions-synagogue/Producer: Peter ShevlinExecutive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor► EMAIL US: Contact the team on battlelines@telegraph.co.uk ► GET THE LATEST HEADLINES: Find all our latest Iran coverage here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/iran-war/

From the Strait of Hormuz to Lebanon, the Iran war has seen the West’s foes adopt asymmetric warfare with growing efficacy. Fresh off the boat from the Omani side of the Strait, Adrian Blomfield joins Venetia Rainey and Roland Oliphant. He explains how being out on the busy, misty and historic waterway helped him to understand why it is almost impossible for the US to counter Iran’s so-called “mosquito” fleet of fast boats.Meanwhile, Jerusalem correspondent Henry Bodkin discusses the growing threat posed by Hezbollah as it adopts Ukrainian drone tactics to fight Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. He talks through a particularly worrying video showing the terror group flying a fibre-optic first-person view (FPV) drone at a medivac helicopter. Plus, Venetia and Roland run through the latest updates from today, including Donald Trump’s new threat to Iran and bad signs from the Iranian economy. Highlights: Adrian Blomfield on his trip to the Strait of HormuzHenry Bodkin on the growing threat posed by Hezbollah as it adopts Ukrainian drone tacticsCONTRIBUTORS:Venetia Rainey, co-host @venetiaraineyRoland Oliphant, co-host and chief foreign affairs analyst @RolandOliphantAdrian Blomfield, senior foreign correspondent @adrianblomfieldHenry Bodkin, Jerusalem correspondent @HenryBodkinCONTENT REFERENCED:Hezbollah attacks Israeli military helicopter with fibre optic droneshttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/28/hezbollah-attack-israeli-idf-helicopter-fibre-optic-drones/Adrian Blomfield: Here in the Strait, Iran’s mosquito fleet renders Trump blockade futilehttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/28/strait-of-hormuz-irans-mosquito-fleet-winning-blockade/Akhtar Makoii: Iran’s cost of living is out of control as Trump’s blockade takes holdhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/29/irans-cost-of-living-trump-blockade/Producer: Peter ShevlinExecutive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor► EMAIL US: Contact the team on battlelines@telegraph.co.uk ► GET THE LATEST HEADLINES: Find all our latest Iran coverage here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/iran-war/

Iran’s regime is facing an existential crisis prompted by the US-Israeli war. Despite taking a military battering and the economy being in ruins, Tehran refuses to surrender to Donald Trump. Historian Arash Azizi takes Roland Oliphant and Sophia Yan inside the clash between the regime establishment and the ultra-hardliners who fear their vision of the Islamic Republic will not survive peace.  He explains why the country’s powerful, IRGC-linked chief negotiator Mohammad Ghalibaf is increasingly being attacked in Iranian media and the dilemma facing the Islamic Republic as it looks to make a deal without surrendering the anti-American dogmatism that revolutionaries hold so dear. Plus, senior foreign correspondent Adrian Blomfeld reports from the Strait of Hormuz and Sophia and Roland discuss the significance of the UAE pulling out of OPEC. HighlightsArash Azizi on why Iran’s hardliners are a “bunch of losers with no power”How the Iranian regime is facing a choice between reform and destruction CONTRIBUTORS:Roland Oliphant, co-host @rolandoliphantSophia Yan, senior foreign correspondent @sophiacyan Arash Azizi, author and historian Yale University @arash_tehran CONTENT REFERENCED:Adrian Blomfield: Here in the Strait, Iran’s mosquito fleet renders Trump blockade futilehttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/28/strait-of-hormuz-irans-mosquito-fleet-winning-blockade/Robert White, Iona Cleave: Trump ‘unlikely to accept’ Iran’s Hormuz deal https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/28/iran-war-live-trump-peace-talks-hormuz-strikes-lebanon/Producer: Peter ShevlinExecutive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor► EMAIL US: Contact the team on battlelines@telegraph.co.uk ► GET THE LATEST HEADLINES: Find all our latest Iran coverage here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/iran-war/

The US has severely depleted key munitions in the Iran war - and it’s already having global consequences. From delayed deliveries to allies such as Japan, South Korea and Ukraine, to a knockon impact on any future wars - such as a potential conflict with China over Taiwan - new analysis of America’s strategic stockpiles do not make for comfortable reading. Venetia Rainey talks to Mark Cancian and Chris Park from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) about what’s running low, why and what impact it will have. Plus, will Donald Trump strike a deal with Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz instead of prioritising a nuclear agreement? That’s what Tehran is reportedly proposing today, but as veteran US diplomat David Satterfield explains, that comes with its own problems. With Iran playing the long-game in an asymmetric war, the former ambassador says Trump does not have many good options available. CONTRIBUTORS:Venetia Rainey, co-host @venetiaraineyDavid Satterfield, former US diplomat and director of Baker Institute for Public PolicyMark Cancian, senior fellow CSIS @MarkCancianChris Park, research associate CSIS @chrhsparkCONTENT REFERENCED:Last Rounds? Status of Key Munitions at the Iran War Ceasefirehttps://www.csis.org/analysis/last-rounds-status-key-munitions-iran-war-ceasefireProducer: Elliot LampittExecutive Producers: Venetia Rainey & Louisa Wells► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor► EMAIL US: Contact the team on battlelines@telegraph.co.uk ► GET THE LATEST HEADLINES: Find all our latest Iran coverage here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/iran-war/