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Trump urges Iran to make deal after bridge strike that killed at least 8 and injured 95, according to state media – live

The U.N. Security Council is set to vote on Friday on a Bahraini resolution to protect commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz, diplomats said. Diplomats said Bahrain, which currently chairs the 15-member Security Council, finalized a draft resolution seen by Reuters that would authorize “all defensive means necessary” to protect commercial shipping. “We look forward to a unified position from this esteemed Council during the vote that will take place on the draft resolution tomorrow, God willing,” Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani told the council. Bahrain, backed in its efforts to secure a resolution by other Gulf Arab states and Washington, had previously dropped an explicit reference to binding enforcement in a bid to overcome objections from other nations, particularly Russia and China. The draft seen by Reuters authorises the measures “for a period of at least six months ... and until such time as the council decides otherwise.”

Trump warns Tehran ‘more to follow’ after strike destroys Iran’s largest bridge

Donald Trump claimed responsibility for destroying Iran’s largest bridge, a day after he threatened to bomb the country “back to the stone ages” if a deal to end the five-week-long war he started was not reached. The US president shared footage of part of the newly built 136 metre-high $400m B1 suspension bridge between Tehran and Karaj collapsing dramatically on to the causeway below amid a rising plume of black smoke. Eight people were killed and 95 wounded, according to Karaj, Iran’s state media. The middle of the bridge was struck twice. Later imagery showed a clear gap at the heart of what had been one of Iran’s premier infrastructure projects. “The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again,” the US president posted on the Truth Social website, and he warned there would be “much more to follow” if a settlement was not reached. It was not clear if the bridge was being used by civilians at the time, though there appeared to be a lorry on one side of the bridge. One video appeared to show a projectile hitting the span where there was already damage. A day earlier, in a primetime speech Trump had declared the war the US and Israel launched on Iran on 28 February was a success “nearing completion”, and that the US would “very shortly” achieve nearly all its strategic objectives. But in his White House address, the president also repeated a threat to destroy Iran’s power plants, potentially cutting off electricity to millions of people. “We are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard and probably simultaneously,” he said. The attack on the bridge was one of several confirmed attacks in Iran this week, despite the difficulty of getting unsanctioned information out of the country, where the internet has been shut down by the authorities. Footage of a major strike earlier this week on a missile base in the city of Isfahan was confirmed on Thursday as genuine, with fiery plumes and secondary explosions filmed from a nearby car, whose driver expresses surprise at the scale of the attack. Isfahan is also where Iran is thought to have moved some or all of its 440kg stockpile of 60% enriched uranium, which in theory could be used to make 10 nuclear bombs if it could be enriched to 90% if Tehran still had the technology available. There has been speculation in the US that Trump has considered a high-risk airborne raid to seize the radioactive material from its underground storage – though the president said late on Wednesday that it was buried so deeply that “I don’t care”. Though most observers took Trump at his word, the US president has in the past engaged in misdirection. On 28 February, the US and Israel attacked and killed Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei and several associates at a point when negotiations over a new nuclear deal were thought to bear fruit. Iran also said the Pasteur medical institute in Tehran was hit on Thursday. Israel said it had struck a headquarters used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to finance armed proxies across the Middle East the day before. Iran said it would conduct “more crushing, broader and more destructive” attacks in the future. The war would continue until the “permanent regret and surrender” of Iran’s enemies, said Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for the Iranian military’s Khatam al-Anbiya central headquarters. Iran, however, has suffered far more than the US and Israel, in more than 15,000 bombing raids since the start of the war. At least 1,900 people have been killed and 20,000 injured in Iran since the start of the war, according to a rough estimate by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Oil prices jumped by 7% a barrel to $108 as there appeared to be no immediate sign of the conflict ending. António Guterres, the UN secretary general, warned that the world is “on the edge of a wider war” with catastrophic global implications as he called for an end to the fighting.

Alleged maple syrup scam in Quebec uncovered by Canadian broadcaster

An investigation by Canada’s national broadcaster has found that a major Quebec producer has been diluting its maple syrup with cane sugar and selling the fraudulent product to grocery chains. In a sting operation that involved false identities and covert recordings, journalists from Radio-Canada’s Enquête programme found that a low-cost syrup sold in major grocery store chains was heavily diluted. Samples of the brand, which is sold in hundreds of locations across Quebec, were sent to the province’s research and testing facility, Le Centre ACER. “This is the first time I’ve seen falsification of this kind. You can see that it’s outright cane sugar that’s been added to the cans,” Luc Lagacé, a microbiologist and the director of research at ACER, told Enquête. “This is not an accident. It’s deliberate.” Maple syrup is a dominant industry in Quebec, where decades of technological innovation and investment helped farmers harvest 239m pounds of it last year. The Francophone province is responsible for nearly all of Canada’s production and nearly three-quarters of global production. A barrel of syrup is worth nearly C$1,000. The industry is worth nearly C$1bn annually and the immense value of the market has lured criminal elements to Quebec’s global strategic reserve of syrup. In 2011, thieves slowly siphoned off maple syrup worth nearly C$18m from the stockpile, a heist that led to 40 arrests and jail sentences for five men. The investigation into the fraudulent syrup began when a reporter at CBC’s Radio Canada discovered an odd taste to the syrup he had bought. The can was labelled “pure maple syrup” and linked to a producer south-west of Montreal, Steve Bourdeau. Enquête had two people pose as buyers for a grocery store to reach out to Bourdeau. The journalists taped telephone conversations and later used a hidden camera to capture footage of Bourdeau. He told the reporters he knew it was illegal to cut maple syrup labelled as pure with other sugars – and said that he didn’t do that. Bourdeau’s syrup is sold by major grocery chains, including IGA and Metro. “I’m the best when it comes to prices. The others can’t even come close,” he said, adding his maple syrup cost less than C$5 a can. “There’s a lot of jealousy going on. Because I have the market. And it’s not entirely legal. And I got away with it anyway.” When Bourdeau was confronted with the findings from the lab tests, he initially denied the allegations before suggesting a supplier from outside the province was to blame. He told reporters he was launching his own investigation to try to determine how cane sugar had been mixed in with his product and would implement his own inspection system. The head of Quebec’s sprawling stockpile of syrup told CBC that using suppliers from outside the province was not illegal – but falsely labelling such syrup as having Quebecois origins was. Geneviève Clermont, head of ACER’s inspection division, said 90% of syrup from Quebec sold in bulk was tested, but she said that products canned and sold by producers themselves were not inspected regularly. Many of the popular maple-flavoured syrups sold in the US are made of corn syrup (or high-fructose corn syrup) with added flavourings and caramel to give the amber-like appearance of genuine maple syrup. Producing maple syrup, which can only occur during a narrow window of time in the spring, requires immense volumes of sap, which is then boiled down into the final product.

Coalition of countries discuss ‘every possible measure’ to pressure Iran into reopening strait of Hormuz

More than 40 countries gathered to discuss “every possible diplomatic, economic and coordinated measure” to pressurise Iran into reopening the strait of Hormuz, the UK foreign secretary has said. After chairing a virtual summit on Thursday, Yvette Cooper said coordinated action was needed as Iran’s “reckless strikes” on international shipping and efforts to “hijack the global economy” were hitting nations from across the globe “who played no part in this conflict”. She said: “That’s affecting petrol prices and mortgage rates here in the UK, but also jet fuel across the world, fertiliser to Africa, and also gas to Asia. So countries across the world are being impacted, and that’s why we’re so determined to see every possible diplomatic, economic and coordinated measure to get the strait reopened.” Whitehall sources said there were discussions at the summit about getting more countries from the global south to put economic pressure on Iran to make sure it does not profit from closing the strait. They said the scale of condemnation of Iran’s actions from countries that have previously been unwilling to resort to sanctions was striking. One option being examined by the UN is whether a humanitarian shipping corridor can be opened to make sure fertiliser gets through to prevent food shortages in poorer countries. As well as this week’s meeting, there will be a further military discussion next week on whether it may be possible to clear sea mines and rescue trapped ships in the strait of Hormuz. The meeting will be convened by Britain’s Permanent Joint Headquarters, where all its overseas military operations are planned, based in Northwood, north-west London, but some international leaders are expected to join virtually. The discussions took place without the US, which began the war on Iran. At the summit, the UK, France, Germany, Australia and some Gulf nations were exploring what could be done to restore access to the maritime route. The US president, Donald Trump, has suggested countries that rely on the strait should “build up some delayed courage” and “just grab it”. However, Keir Starmer has said unblocking the lane, which carries 10-25% of the world’s oil and gas supplies, would “not be easy”. Highlighting the importance of the strait, Cooper pointed to World Bank predictions that a continued blockage could push 9 million people worldwide into food insecurity “alongside the unsustainable increases that we have seen in oil prices and food prices hitting households and businesses in every corner of the world”. Australia, which has faced soaring petrol prices and mounting concerns about shortages, was represented on the call by the foreign minister, Penny Wong. She said the government in Canberra wanted to see coordinated diplomatic efforts to reopen the strait. “Iran’s de facto closure of the strait, coupled with its attacks on commercial vessels, civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas facilities, is causing unprecedented energy supply shocks and impacting oil and fuel prices. “Iran is deliberately inflicting economic pain on communities worldwide, including the Indo-Pacific, with the costs borne disproportionately by the most vulnerable.” Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said on Thursday that Trump must not abandon “a mess that he’s made” in the Middle East by leaving other countries to reopen the strait. Speaking during a visit to north-east England, she said: “If I was speaking to him, I’d be saying: ‘If you break it, you own it.’ That’s what Colin Powell, a former secretary of state in the US, had said. ‘If you break it, you own it.’ “He started this war. We said that if he needed support against Iran … use our airbases. That’s one of the things that Britain has done. He should now not be abandoning a mess that he’s made, if he thinks that it is a mess.” Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, told a press conference he was not “angry” with his ally, Trump, for entering the war, but said it was “difficult listening to the press conferences sometimes” to work out what the president’s motivation was. The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, meanwhile, urged Starmer to “step up” plans to reopen the oil and gas shipping route throttled by Iran, adding: “The prime minister needs to show an alternative.”

‘You have to be serious’: Macron criticises Trump’s mixed messages about Nato and Iran

Emmanuel Macron has sharply criticised Donald Trump’s inconsistent and often contradictory pronouncements on the Iran war and Nato, saying if “you want to be serious” it was better not to come out with something different every day. “There is too much talk … and it’s all over the place,” the French president said on Thursday during a state visit to South Korea. “We all need stability, calm, a return to peace – this isn’t a show!” Macron added: “You have to be serious. When you want to be serious, you don’t go around saying the opposite every day of what you just said the day before. And perhaps you shouldn’t talk every day.” Macron also mounted a strong defence of Nato, accusing Trump of undermining the transatlantic defence alliance through repeated remarks questioning the United States’s commitment to its continued membership. “I believe organisations and alliances like Nato are defined by what is left unsaid – that is, the trust that underpins them,” he said. “If you cast doubt on your commitment every day, you erode its very substance.” The comments follow mixed messages this week from the US president and others in Washington on the progress of the war, as well as criticism of European leaders for declining to back it and suggestions that the US may leave Nato. Trump has suggested variously that the war was as good as won and the US did not need the support of its allies; that he expected allies to join the US military operation; and that they should act alone and “go get their oil” in the strait of Hormuz. He also said this week at a private White House lunch that Nato had “treated us very badly” and “will be treating us badly again if we ever need them”. In comments to Reuters, he said he was “absolutely without question” considering leaving. He told the Daily Telegraph that a US exit was “beyond consideration”, calling the organisation a “paper tiger”, and has elsewhere criticised the defence alliance for its reluctance to support the month-old war, labelling its members “cowards”. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, this week also suggested the US would “re-examine” whether the alliance was still serving US interests, while Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, declined to confirm the US would defend Nato allies in the event of an attack. Nato’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, is to visit Washington next week to try to repair relations, and other European leaders have defended the alliance, with the UK’s Keir Starmer calling it “the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen”. Two US senators, Republican Mitch McConnell and Democrat Chris Coons, said in a joint statement late on Wednesday that the Senate would “continue to support the alliance for the peace and protection it provides” for the US, Europe and the world. While Trump did not mention Nato in an address to the nation on Wednesday night, the repeated remarks from Washington have further strained transatlantic relations already damaged by the US president’s attempted Greenland grab in February. Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said on Thursday that Trump’s repeated threats to withdraw from Nato, along with the prospect of a “massive” energy crisis in Europe and other factors, all looked like a “dream plan” for Russia’s president Vladimir Putin. EU diplomats said Trump’s increasingly frequent attacks on Nato were “nothing very new” and largely reflected “the difficulty of the situation he’s landed himself in”. One official said they would start to worry “when the paperwork actually goes in”. Congress passed legislation in 2023 that would prevent any president from pulling out of Nato without its approval. Nato’s mutual defence clause requires all members to respond to an attack on one, but does not imply support for a unilateral offensive. Many EU leaders are under political pressure over the war, which is deeply unpopular in Europe and has sparked a surge in energy prices and rising inflation since Iran effectively shut the strait of Hormuz, which carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil. Trump said on Wednesday he may end the war without a deal and told countries that rely on fuel shipments through the strait to “just grab it”. European and other states have said they will only help secure the strait if there is a ceasefire. With pressure growing, about 40 countries on Thursday explored ways to restore freedom of navigation to the waterway during online talks. The UK, which convened the talks, said they were focused on diplomatic and economic tools. France said the process would be multi-phased and could not begin until hostilities had calmed or ended. “It can only be done in consultation with Iran,” Macron said, adding that Paris considered a military operation to free the strait “unrealistic”. Macron, who said remarks by Trump poking fun at the French president’s marriage were “neither elegant nor up to standard” and did not “merit a response”, also said US and Israeli strikes would not resolve the issue of Tehran’s nuclear programme. “A targeted military action, even for a few weeks, will not allow us to resolve the nuclear issue in the long term,” he said. “If there is no framework for diplomatic and technical negotiations, the situation can deteriorate again in a few months.” Iran’s armed forces responded to Trump on Thursday with a warning for the US and Israel of “more crushing, broader and more destructive” attacks. The war will continue until the “permanent regret and surrender” of Iran’s enemies, said Ebrahim Zolfaqari, the spokesperson for the Iranian military’s Khatam al-Anbiya central headquarters, in a statement carried by Iranian media. Trump said in his address on Wednesday that the US was “very close” to achieving its objectives but attacks would intensify and Iran would be brought “back to the stone ages, where they belong” unless Tehran agreed a negotiated settlement. “Messages have been received through intermediaries, including Pakistan, but there is no direct negotiation with the US,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baqaei, was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency on Thursday.

Jewish diaspora leaders urge Israeli president to stop West Bank settler violence

The former British foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind is among leading members of the Jewish diaspora urging the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, to intervene to stop “attacks by Jewish extremists” on Palestinians in the West Bank. An open letter to Herzog facilitated by the London Initiative – a liberal Zionist network of 360 people, including eminent Jewish, Israeli and Israeli Palestinian figures – has attracted more than 3,000 signatories, including diplomats, philanthropists, rabbis and academics from Australia, Canada, across Europe, South Africa the UK and US. It follows a spate of killings and arson attacks by settlers on Palestinian civilians in March. The letter said: “Israel’s security forces are clearly better able to protect Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, living under different levels of Israeli military and civil control, from Jewish terror. That they do not act decisively suggests a lack of directives from the government.” The letter, timed for the Jewish festival of Passover, added: “Mr President, the terror, death and destruction inflicted by Jewish-Israeli extremists against innocent Palestinians across the West Bank is an abomination. “It is not only morally shameful but a strategic threat to the future of Israel. It damages world Jewry and the relationship of future generations with Israel. Sadly, based on events and on the statements of the most extreme coalition partners it can be concluded that the violence now engulfing the West Bank is not only condoned by the government but is in fact policy.” UK signatories to the letter include Matthew Gould, the former UK Ambassador to Israel; Lord Michael Levy, former Middle East envoy and a close ally of former prime minister Tony Blair; Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major; the Tory peer and Times columnist Daniel Finkelstein; the philanthropist Dame Vivien Duffield; and Sir Mick Davis, a former Conservative party treasurer who co-founded the London Initiative. Prominent signatories outside the UK include the billionaire Canadian philanthropist Charles Bronfman; the Israeli diplomat Ilan Sztulman Starosta; Michael M Adler, a former US ambassador to Belgium; and the former Canadian ambassador to Israel Jon Allen. Herzog’s office posted his response on X. Referring to what he called the “recent surge of violence by extremist elements in Judea and Samaria” and “grave offences against innocent people”, he added: “I share your conviction that these acts of violence stand in stark contradiction to the values upon which Israel was founded and to the enduring ethical tradition of the Jewish people.” Herzog said he had demanded the authorities “employ all available means to bring those responsible to justice and put an immediate end to this unacceptable phenomenon”. He added that “violence and vigilantism” were not only “shameful crimes against innocents” but that these actions interfered “with the unceasing efforts … to contend with clear and present Palestinian terror threats”. He went on to say that “at a time when Israel is in the throes of a bitter war against enemies that seek its destruction, and the Jewish people is contending with a fierce and rising tide of antisemitism around the world, this kind of violence against innocents further plays directly into the hands of Israel’s detractors, fuelling hatred that weakens us as a nation and jeopardises Jews everywhere.” The letter follows one sent to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in August 2025. Facilitated by the London Initiative and signed by 6,300 Jews worldwide, it called on him to “permanently restore the provision of food and humanitarian aid to the Gazan population” and end the war in Gaza, “enforce the law in the West Bank”. It also said members of his government had “used language of racism, hatred and incitement without censure”, urging him to commit that “neither you nor any member of your government will again advocate policies of starvation or expulsion as weapons of war”. The latest letter says that since then the situation regarding “attacks by settlers and their supporters” has “only deteriorated, reaching a new nadir during the war with Iran”.

TikTok pulls Israeli ultranationalist’s account for breach of hate speech rules

TikTok has removed an account belonging to an ultranationalist, pro-settlement Israeli influencer for breaching hate speech and bullying rules after the Guardian flagged videos showing him harassing activists in the occupied West Bank. The Guardian has reviewed dozens of videos posted by various social media figures that have gone viral on TikTok and Instagram documenting the harassment of Palestinians as well as physical attacks on Israeli and international activists. The accounts began to proliferate after the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, since when Israeli forces and settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank. In recent weeks violence has intensified further, with repeated attacks on homes. The burgeoning far-right ecosphere has risen in tandem with the growing influence of far-right parties and figures in Israeli politics. “Dehumanising Palestinians is now mainstream in Israel,” said Yuli Novak, the executive director of the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. “Influencers gain popularity through incendiary messaging.” Prof Anat Ben-David, a digital media researcher at the Open University of Israel, said: “The circulation of videos showing settlers harassing Palestinians in the West Bank, alongside rightwing activists targeting journalists, points to a troubling convergence between platform dynamics and on-the-ground violence.” TikTok said this week it had removed an account belonging to the far-right social media personality Roi Star after it was flagged by the Guardian. In a video he posted to TikTok and Instagram in January, he films himself entering a house being used as a base by leftwing activists in Ras Ein al-Auja, in the Jordan valley, and pepper-spraying an activist who tries to prevent him for gaining access. The activists also filmed the encounter. “This is Judea, not fucking Palestine,” Star yells in a clip posted by one such activist, Andrey Khrzhanovskiy. In Khrzhanovskiy’s video, Star is heard threatening activists and their families with continued harassment. “I know your number. I know your family. I know where everyone lives,” he says at one point. Reached by the Guardian, Star said he had gone to “talk about peace” with the leftwing activists and claimed Ras Ein al-Auja was not Palestinian land but an open Israeli public space. He said he used pepper spray as it was “the most minimal thing you can do to defend yourself”. Asked about the threats he made, he said: “It’s all acting… It was just the moment got heated up … My intentions were not to get that extreme.” He added: “It is my right as a citizen of Israel to walk around public areas … It [the West Bank] belongs to Israel. And if Arabs want to live there, they should be good Israeli citizens.” TikoTok said it had taken down Star’s account for breaching the platform’s rules on hate speech and bullying. The platform said that under its community guidelines, it does not allow “the presence of violent and hateful individuals on our platform, including violent extremists, and do[es] not allow praise, glorification of extremists.” TikTok said it had also removed videos from “other TikTok creators linked to Israeli far-right agitators”, without identifying either the content or the creators. Khrzhanovskiy said: “This is not the first ethnic cleansing in history, but this is the first ethnic cleansing that you can watch live on TikTok. There is a certain irony in me denouncing this. Settlers film us, we film them – a parallel battle unfolding both on the ground and online.” Barak Cohen, an Israeli activist, said: “These far-right influencers have crossed a serious line. Violence against Palestinians feeds mob dynamics. The demand is for violence.” Influencers’ use of social media to promote ultranationalist agendas is mirrored by Israel’s far-right politicians. In August last year the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, drew condemnation after he posted footage to X in which he was seen taunting the Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti in jail. Another member of the Knesset, Zvi Sukkot, of the far-right Religious Zionist party, was filmed in the occupied West Bank denying settler violence. Sukkot said he was “proud to be part of the Jewish settlement enterprise in the land of Israel, which belongs to the Jewish people according to the Bible”. He dismissed accusations that he had denied settler violence, saying he had “led the fight against polluting environmental terrorism that endangers the health of the settlers”. Mohammad Hureini, a human rights activist who lives in Masafer Yatta, where settlers attack daily, said the videos posted by far-right agitators had a profound psychological and social impact. “When people see this content, it heightens fear,” he said. Instagram continues to host numerous accounts linked to far-right Israeli agitators. Meta, which owns Instagram, has not replied to a request for comment. Ben-David said: “While platform policies remain deliberately ambiguous on hate speech, they are explicit in prohibiting actions that threaten harm to individuals. Yet such content is routinely amplified without meaningful intervention.”

How have Trump’s Iran war aims changed and has he achieved any of them?

In his address to the nation on Wednesday evening Donald Trump said the US would “very shortly” achieve its strategic objectives in Iran – partly because the White House has constantly adjusted its goals since the start of the war on 28 February. Eliminate Iran’s missile and drone threat In an eight-minute video released on 28 February, Trump promised that the US would “destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground”. Before the war Iran was estimated to have about 2,500 high-speed ballistic missiles and destroying the programme was a key goal for Israel too. Iran’s missile launch rates have been reduced by about 90% and its long-term manufacturing capacity has been significantly degraded. However, Tehran has retained a continued, if modest, capacity to strike Israel and the Gulf, causing fear, damage and small numbers of casualties. There have been seven to 19 waves of attacks a day on Israel by Iran since the fourth day of the war, according to the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies. The most heavily targeted Gulf state, the United Arab Emirates, said on Thursday its air defences had engaged 26 drones and 19 missiles from Iran. However, sources told Reuters last week that the US could only determine with certainty that it had destroyed about a third of Iran’s missile arsenal. On Wednesday Trump said the US was “hurting their … missile programme at levels never seen before” and that Iran’s missiles and drone launches had been “dramatically curtailed” – a notable softening of his opening position. Prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon At the beginning of the war, Trump said “we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon”. At the time Iran held a stock of 440kg of 60% enriched uranium, enough to make 10 bombs if it could be upgraded to the necessary 90%. However, western intelligence agencies and independent experts did not believe Iran had the capability to build a single bomb, particularly after last June’s bombing of the country’s nuclear sites by Israel and the US during the 12-day war. A range of Iranian nuclear sites have been further targeted over the past five weeks, making bomb building inconceivable, but the nuclear material remains, probably at a site in Isfahan. On Wednesday Trump declared he “didn’t care” about this because it was “so far underground” at a location monitored by satellite. Destroy Iran’s navy and air force, and end threats to shipping Trump promised to “annihilate their navy” at the start of the war and last week Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, added destroying Iran’s air force to the list of US objectives. They are goals that have been broadly achieved. Trump said on Wednesday that Iran’s navy and air force had both been eliminated. At the end of March, the White House claimed that 150 Iranian vessels had been destroyed. US claims about Iran’s air force are less clear, but it has not been militarily effective and the US and Israel have enjoyed air superiority since day one. However, this may not be as significant as claimed because asymmetric threats are very hard to reduce to zero. Iran has been able to close the strait of Hormuz through periodic drone attacks and it is thought to retain the ability to mine the waterway. On Wednesday Trump said it was up to other countries to “take the lead” in reopening the strait, as he tried to walk away from a problem he had created. In response, the price of Brent crude oil rose by 8%. Demilitarise pro-Iran proxies The initial Trump promise was “to ensure that the region’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilise the region or the world and attack our forces” – a wide commitment encompassing Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and groups in Iraq. Conflicts involving all are ongoing. Israel has begun an invasion of southern Lebanon aimed at clearing out Hezbollah and Shia Muslims below the Litani River, though rocket fire into Israel from the north continues. The Houthis have conducted three missile attacks into Israel and have threatened to close the Red Sea. Drone attacks on western bases in Erbil, northern Iraq, have continued nightly. On Thursday the US embassy in Iraq warned there could be attacks by local militias in Baghdad and urged Americans to leave the country for their own safety. Trump, meanwhile, appears to have modified his objective. His aim, he said on Wednesday, was simply to prevent Iran from helping its regional allies – in his words, to “crush their ability to support terrorist proxies”. Regime change This was at first a Trump goal, with the president telling “the great proud people of Iran” on 28 February that “the hour of your freedom is at hand” – though he advised would-be protesters to wait for the US-Israeli bombing to stop, which it has not. There has been no sign of any popular uprising following the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war, not least because previous protests were brutally suppressed in January. The subsequent installation of Khamenei’s son Mojtaba demonstrated that the existing Iranian regime had endured, despite lingering questions over his wellbeing. Trump and his allies had already backed away from the goal, though on Wednesday the president repeated an argument that “regime change has occurred” because of Ali Khamenei’s death – though it has made little difference for now. A more nuanced question is whether the younger Khamenei and his backers in the Revolutionary Guards can endure in the medium to long term. If the US-Israeli bombing were to stop tomorrow, Iran would be isolated and weakened, similar, arguably, to the Assad regime after surviving the early phase of the Syrian civil war.