PM is in Saudi Arabia before expected wider trip to regional allies, who may see him as more reliable than TrumpMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe UK has a “job” to help reopen the strait of Hormuz, Keir Starmer has said, as Iranian reports said the key shipping route was closed again just hours after a supposed ceasefire.The prime minister met British and local military personnel at an airbase in Taif, Saudi Arabia, at the start of what is expected to be a wider trip to Gulf allies, one billed as a mirror to his efforts to pull together a plan for how a ceasefire might operate in Ukraine. Continue reading...

Starmer says UK wants to help with opening of Hormuz strait on Gulf visit
PM is in Saudi Arabia before expected wider trip to regional allies, who may see him as more reliable than Trump Middle East crisis – live updates The UK has a “job” to help reopen the strait of Hormuz, Keir Starmer has said, as Iranian reports said the key shipping route was closed again just hours after a supposed ceasefire. The prime minister met British and local military personnel at an airbase in Taif, Saudi Arabia, at the start of what is expected to be a wider trip to Gulf allies, one billed as a mirror to his efforts to pull together a plan for how a ceasefire might operate in Ukraine. Continue reading...
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Trump and former loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene trade jabs as Maga split over Iran widens – US politics live
President calls Greene a ‘traitor’ as former US representative accuses him of flipping from ‘America First to America Last’ Success or surrender? Iran ceasefire exposes rift in Trump’s Maga movement Sign up for the Breaking News US email Pete Hegseth repeated Donald Trump’s social media comments that Iran will cease uranium enrichment – a condition that Tehran has previously refused to budge on. “Any material they should not have, will be removed right now,” Hegseth said. “The president has been clear from the beginning, there will be no Iranian nuclear weapons.” Continue reading...

Australia news live: ‘Deeply concerned’ Penny Wong says Lebanon should be included in ceasefire and calls for aid workers to be protected
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At least 182 killed as Israel strikes central Beirut after saying Iran truce doesn't apply there
Lebanon’s health ministry said that Israeli strikes on Wednesday killed 182 people, the highest single-day death toll in the Israel-Hezbollah war. Israel launched a barrage of strikes in central Beirut and elsewhere in the country as a shaky ceasefire took effect between the U.S. and Iran. Iranian officials have maintained that the deal was supposed to include Lebanon, while Israel and the U.S. have insisted that it does not. FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks with Sami Nader, Director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs.