Trump threatens both Iran and NATO allies ahead of primetime address on war: ‘Back to the Stone Ages’ – UK Times

British RAF Regiment gunners have shot down 10 Iranian drones overnight.

The specialist soldiers shot down the aerial robot weapons as part of their duties while protecting British bases in the Middle East.

Elsewhere overnight into Wednesday, UK fighter jets, including Typhoons and F-35s, as well as Wildcat helicopters, have continued defensive missions in Cyprus, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

A large island housing anti-ship missiles in the Strait has been briefed as a possible target of a ground offensive to break Iran’s grip, alongside key oil export hub Kharg Island.

James C Reynolds reports:

Talks of a potential ceasefire are taking place in exchange for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, Axios reporter Barak Ravid has reported on Wednesday.

It comes as sources said US vice president JD Vance has been talking to “intermediaries” about the Iran conflict as recently as Tuesday, according to Reuters.

He is reported to have delivered a “stern” message that Trump was impatient and warned of growing pressure on Iranian infrastructure.

Earlier we reported that Iran had denied talks of a ceasefire, calling the false and baseless according to Iranian state media.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson has said that President Donald Trump’s statements on Tehran requesting a ceasefire are false and baseless, Iranian state TV reported on Wednesday.

Iran has said it would welcome Russia as a mediator to help resolve the conflict with the United States and Israel, according to Russia’s state‑run TASS news agency citing Iran’s envoy to Moscow, Kazem Jalali.

Pakistan had most recently taken a lead on negotiations after Gulf countries who had led peace talks prior to the outbreak of war were forced to rebuff Iranian attacks on their territory instead.

Marco Rubio has said that the US is not concerned about the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which normally accounts for around a fifth of the world’s oil trade.

Appearing on Fox News on Tuesday (31 March), the secretary of state was questioned on whether the US will ensure the Strait is reopened as part of its conditions on leaving Iran.

Mr Rubio responded that the US “depends very little on the Strait”.

“This is a problem for the world. It’s countries around the world that should be stepping up and dealing with that and saying that’s intolerable and that’s what we’ve encouraged them to do.”

An oil tanker leased to state-owned QatarEnergy was hit by an Iranian cruise missile on Wednesday in Qatari waters, the defence ministry said.

Qatar was targeted by three cruise missiles coming from Iran. Two were intercepted while the third hit the Aqua 1 fuel oil tanker, but caused no casualties.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said they had targeted the oil tanker because of what they said were its ties with Israel.

“Aqua One was precisely targeted in the central region of the Persian Gulf in a missile battle,” state media quoted the IRGC as saying.

Donald Trump has doubled down on comments that the US will consider withdrawing from Nato following a lack of support over Iran.

The American president is due to address the nation in a scheduled speech this evening.

He promised he would “express my disgust” with Nato in his speech and said he is “absolutely” considering withdrawing the US from the alliance.

President Donald Trump has said that the United States will be returning to Iran to do “spot hits” if they need to after the conflict ends in new comments to Reuters on Wednesday.

“We have some more targets left,” he said.

“They won’t have a nuclear weapon because they are incapable of that now, and then I’ll leave, and I’ll take everybody with me, and if we have to we’ll come back to do spot hits.”

He added that he “does not care about nuclear material” and that the US would be out of Iran “pretty quickly” signalling that the country would be wrapping up its military operations in the region soon, contrary to reports of a ground invasion.

Trump claimed that “we’ve had full regime change in Iran”.