Iran-US war latest: Israel says it has ‘thousands of targets’ left to hit as Trump issues Strait of Hormuz warning to Nato

Sir Keir Starmer will pledge to help households with the cost of living amid the energy price spike caused by the war in the Middle East, after he appeared to resist Donald Trump’s calls to send warships to the region.

The prime minister this morning will say that helping households with living costs is “my first priority” as he announces a subsidy for those who use heating oil to warm their homes, after they faced price spikes caused by the war.

Sir Keir yesterday did not heed calls from Mr Trump to deploy warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil trade route in the Middle East being blockaded by Iran.

Instead, Britain is currently mulling over the possibility of sending mine-hunting drones to the region amid worries of an Iranian build-up of explosives in the narrow sea passage.

Inside Downing Street, Sir Keir will say: “It’s moments like this that tell you what a Government is about.”

My answer is clear. Whatever challenges lie ahead, this Government will always support working people. That is my first instinct – my first priority – to help you with the cost of living through this crisis.”

Vietnamese authorities have warned the country’s aviation industry to prepare for potential flight reductions from April after China and Thailand halted exports of jet fuel due to the Iran war, increasing the likelihood of shortages.

Vietnam imports more than two-thirds of its jet fuel needs, with 60 per cent coming from China and Thailand, according to documents from the aviation regulator and importers seen by Reuters.

“There are risks of jet fuel shortages for Vietnamese airlines from the beginning of April and the following months,” the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said in a March 9 document sent to the ministry in charge of transport.

It said airlines should review their plans, especially for domestic routes, and instructed airport operators to prepare additional parking space for Vietnamese carriers “in case they have to cut down on operations due to lack of aviation fuel.”Vietnam has also seen reduced supplies from Singapore, the document showed.

The Israeli military said this morning that its troops had begun limited ground operations against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon in recent days to bolster forward defences.

Emirates said it expects to operate a limited schedule after 10am local time today, following a drone strike near Dubai International Airport that forced authorities to temporarily shut down flight operations.

“Unfortunately, some flights from today’s schedule have been cancelled. Affected customers will receive a cancellation notice and will be advised on reaccommodation options,” the airline said.

The disruption to energy markets caused by the Iran war is an “abject lesson” in the risks of relying on fossil fuels and underscores the case for governments to wean their economies off oil and gas, the UN climate secretary will tell EU policymakers.

While geographically far from the crisis in the Middle East, the European Union has felt its disruption through surging global energy prices. European gas prices have jumped by 50 per cent during the two-week war.“Fossil fuel dependency is ripping away national security and sovereignty, and replacing it with subservience and rising costs,” Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN climate change arm UNFCCC, will tell EU officials and government ministers at an event in Brussels.

“Europe is more reliant on fossil fuel imports than almost any other major economy,” Stiell will say, in prepared remarks that warned reliance on fossil fuels was leaving consumers “at the mercy of geopolitical shocks and price volatility”.

The EU imports more than 90 per cent of its oil and 80 per cent of its gas. EU leaders are hurriedly drafting emergency measures to shield consumers from the energy price spike and avoid a repeat of Europe’s 2022 energy crisis, when Russia slashed gas deliveries, sending prices to record highs.

The Israeli military has claimed that it still has thousands of targets to hit across Iran, with new ones identified every day.

“We have a precise plan. We still have thousands of targets in Iran, and we are identifying new targets every day,” military spokesman Brig Gen Effie Defrin said in a televised briefing.

Donald Trump said he was expecting China to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz before his scheduled meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping in Beijing at the end of this month.

However, the US president said he might postpone his trip if it did not provide assistance.”I think China should help too because China gets 90% of its oil from the Straits,” Mr Trump said.

“We may delay,” he said in reference to his visit if China did not offer support in the Gulf.

Oil ‌prices slipped this morning, paring early gains after US president Donald Trump called on other countries to help safeguard the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for global oil and gas shipments.

Brent crude futures fell 24 cents, or 0.23 per cent, to $102.90 a barrel by 0049 GMT after settling $2.68 higher ​on Friday.

US West Texas Intermediate crude slipped $1.07, or 1.08 per cent, to $97.64 a barrel, after gaining nearly $3 in the previous session.

Both ​contracts have surged more than 40 per cent this month to their highest levels since 2022 after the US-Israeli ⁠attacks on Iran prompted Tehran to halt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz – choking off a fifth of global oil supply in ​the biggest disruption ever.

US president Donald Trump has accused Iran of using artificial intelligence as a “disinformation weapon” to misrepresent its wartime successes and support.

“AI can be very dangerous, we have to be very careful with it,” Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One shortly after he made a post on his Truth Social platform where he accused Western media outlets, without evidence, of “close coordination” with Iran to spread AI-generated “fake news”.

The comments come amid renewed tensions between the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and broadcasters after Trump took aim at media coverage of the US and Israel’s war with Iran.

FCC chair Brendan Carr on Saturday threatened to pull licences of broadcasters who did not “correct course” on their coverage.

On Truth Social, Mr Trump claimed that Iran had shown “kamikaze boats” that do not exist. He further stated that Iran used AI to falsely depict a successful attack on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, adding that publications that propagated the news should be charged with treason.