Iran-US war latest: Tehran says conflict will go on ‘until enemy’s surrender’ after Trump says US will withdraw soon

British foreign minister Yvette Cooper held a virtual meeting with around 40 countries on Thursday to discuss options to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The meeting included reps from France, Germany, Canada, the UAE and India. The US was apparently absent from the group.

Cooper said that partners were focused on diplomatic planning (not military). “Economic tools and pressures” – likely sanctions – were also on the agenda, she said.

European diplomats said putting the coalition together was at an early stage, with Britain and France leading. Officials said the talks would focus on which countries were prepared to take part before military planners meet for talks next week.

France said the process would be multi-phased and could not start until hostilities had calmed or ended.

A global recession and widespread fuel rationing are likely if the conflict in the Middle East does not end soon, a leading economic body has warned.

Oxford Economics forecast that a prolonged war could see an “unprecedented” shortage of around 12 per cent of consumption, leading to widespread rationing and supply chain disruption.

France’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux says at a news conference that the Group of Seven countries and the Gulf Cooperation Council will hold a meeting next week to discuss the situation in the Strait of Hormuz.

The G7 consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the US. The GCC consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

A highway bridge linking Iran’s capital Tehran to the western city of Karaj was hit by air strikes on Thursday, Fars news reported.

Early assessments suggest several people were injured. Other areas of Karaj were also struck, Fars reported.

The agency added that the B1 bridge is considered the Middle East’s highest bridge and was inaugurated earlier this year.

Iran is recruiting children as young as 12 into military-aligned roles in a desperate effort to mobilise the population and bolster its war effort, human rights groups have warned.

A senior official with the IRGC called on the public to step up and ‘defend the homeland’ in comments to state-affiliated media last week. He said there were volunteer roles for children to support in a number of roles.

Rights groups have said the military recruitment and use of children aged 15 and under constitutes a war crime.

Wayne Jordash KC, president of international law foundation Global Rights Compliance, told The Independent such a move would ‘unequivocally’ be a war crime.

“International law is clear on the recruitment and use of children, that is those under 15, in hostilities. This is not even about whether Iran has signed or ratified particularly conventions … It is about customary international law, that is law which is legally binding on all states, even without being written into domestic law and which prohibits these practices.”

Several countries have already cut deals to guarantee unimpeded transit. One Iranian lawmaker said last week that Tehran was charging $2 million for a journey.

But people with knowledge of the situation say that a more formal system is now emerging to offer certain ship operators safe passage in return for a variable fee.

Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has issued a lengthy statement on an account generally associated with him on X on Thursday, writing: “You come for our home… You meet the whole family.”

“Back when I was eighteen years old, I grabbed my rifle and ran straight into the fight to defend the soil of my beloved, unbreakable Iran, the only home I ever knew,” he wrote in the post shared on social media. He went on to describe his brother’s death “for our homeland”.

“My own brother, Hassan, he laid it all on the line in that same fight for our homeland. He never came home. To this day, I still ache to wrap my arms around him one more time. That kind of pain never leaves a man.”

He hit back: “We are not warmongers. But when the time comes to defend our homeland, every last one of us becomes a soldier.”

Ghalibaf claimed that a “powerful national campaign” had swept across the country bringing forward “around seven million Iranians” who have joined the country’s armed forces in less than a week.

“Iranians don’t just talk about defending their country, we bleed for it. We’ve done it before, and we’re ready to do it again,” he continued.

“You come for our home… you’re gonna meet the whole family. Locked, loaded, and standing tall. Bring it on.”

The UK government has changed its travel advice for Jordan, advising against all but essential travel for the entire country, apart from its border with Syria where it advises against all travel.

Here’s what it means for you:

The Iranian navy is escorting foreign tankers through the Strait of Hormuz in return for large fees paid in Chinese currency and crypto, according to a report.

People with knowledge of the situation say that a more formal toll system is now emerging to offer certain ship operators safe passage in return for a variable fee.

Sources told Bloomberg that approved oil tankers pay a fee starting at $1 per barrel of oil, paid in yuan or cryptocurrency.

Successful payment grants ships access to a route and a secret passcode they can broadcast on approach to the Strait, summoning a patrol boat for escort through the channel.