Key events

Further to that, as Donald Trump addresses the defence summit at the US Army War College, he has been touting what he said was nearly $10bn in promised investments in technology while his war on Iran has reduced the US supply of Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot and THAAD interceptors.

“We’re really doing well with Iran,” Trump said, addressing a roundtable of cabinet officials and business and defense industry leaders, adding, “Iran is unhappy right now.”

The White House told the Associated Press the summit is bringing together key leaders in defense and some of the largest global investors to spotlight the importance of national security and identify investment opportunities.

Summit attendees include JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Blackstone President Jon Gray, Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet, General Dynamics CEO Phebe Novakovic, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, SpaceX director Antonio Gracias and artificial intelligence firm Palantir chief technology officer of analytics Shyam Sankar, McCormick’s office said.

Donald Trump is speaking at the Pennsylvania Defence and Innovation summit, where he has spoken about the war in Iran and speculated about whether a deal can be reached with the country or whether the US will “finish it off”.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is not happy right now,” he told delegates at a presidential roundtable.

“They want to settle so badly. They don’t like what we’re doing. We’ll find out whether we want to settle with them or if we just finish it off.”

Trump said his defence secretary Pete Hegseth has been “really amazing”, but said US munitions manufacturers needed to work faster.

“We need a little more speed. We have the best quality in the world, but we need a little more speed,” he said.

US military announces another wave of strikes against Iran

The US has said it is launching another wave of strikes against Iran in a further effort to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.

It will be the second set of strikes targeting Iran during daylight hours today.

In a post on X, US Central Command said it had “launched operations for a second wave of strikes today against Iran”.

“The strikes are targeting Iranian military capabilities used to threaten vessels freely transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, an international waterway vital to global commerce.”

The statement added: “The US military is holding Iran accountable at the Commander in Chief’s direction.”

Chaos and confusion bring US no closer to resolution on strait of Hormuz

Donald Trump has taken the war with Iran into a new, murkier phase as the two sides move further and further from the vague memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on 17 June.

And as during the opening phase of the conflict, the US leader’s objectives and methods are clouded in confusion, daily U-turns and boasts that within hours are revealed to be false.

Washington’s short-term aim is clear enough – to regain control of the strait of Hormuz from Iran – and the president seems willing to extend the bombing campaign from beyond Iran’s southern shores to achieve this.

But the resumed fighting is also likely to push oil prices towards $90 a barrel, potentially taking Trump closer to defeats at the US midterm elections that could bequeath him a final two years as a lame, if angry, duck.

Iran’s foreign ministry has summoned the British ambassador following the UK’s ban on support for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to Reuters.

On Monday, outgoing prime minister Keir Starmer said the government would designate the branch of the Iranian military under a new National Security Act, enabling law enforcement to take action against anyone deemed to be providing it with support, but falling short of proscribing the group as a terrorist organisation.

Iran 'better behave', says Trump - as he claims he doesn't like deadlines

Donald Trump ⁠said ⁠he does not ​like giving deadlines ⁠when asked by ⁠reporters ​on ‌Wednesday if Iran ‌had a ‌deadline before the United States starts attacking Iranian bridges.

“I ‌don’t like giving ​deadlines, but they pretty ⁠much know, they know ​the story ... ​they ​better ​behave,” ‌Trump ​said.

The US president, in fact, has a history of setting deadlines – or perhaps we should say, unenforced deadlines – for Iran to end the war he started but has since struggled to end. Some counts have it as at least eight deadlines, which he then publicly shifted or extended.

Indeed, since the conflict began on 28 February, Trump has repeatedly threatened to resume bombing if Iran didn’t reopen the strait of Hormuz, reach a deal, and/or hand over its enriched uranium. Over the last few months that has included several infamous threats to bomb civilian infrastructure including bridges and power plants – which would potentially be war crimes under international law.

He typically then walks back his threats within hours, extending or postponing his deadlines citing “progress” made in talks.

More on that now from Reuters, which reports that an explosive-laden ⁠drone ⁠was shot ​down by ⁠air defences ⁠over ​Erbil, ‌citing security ‌sources.

The drone ‌fell near ​the US ⁠consulate ​in the ​city, ​the sources told the news agency.

Explosions have been heard near the US consulate in Erbil, Iraq, AFP reporters on the ground are reporting.

I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.

Iran's top negotiator says Tehran has no reason to honour US MoU without benefits

Iran’s top negotiator ⁠Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Wednesday that ⁠if Iran ⁠did ​not benefit from its memorandum of ⁠understanding with the United States, “We have no reason ⁠to adhere to such an ​understanding.”

Iran has “never welcomed war, nor do we now”, the parliamentary speaker said in a statement posted on Telegram.

He said Iran’s ‌approach to the war ​and negotiations to end it should be based on national interests, national ⁠security and a long-term ​perspective, ​adding that Tehran ​had no choice ​but ‌to rely ​on ​its own strength.

He called on Iranians to continue with their armed resistance, but to also “use the tools of diplomacy and negotiation to achieve and consolidate national interests”.

“We must always be prepared for battle and stand firm to protect our national security and interests,” he added.

The country’s ‌national security ‌depends on maintaining “Iranian arrangements” ‌in the strait of Hormuz, Ghalibaf said, adding that in order to do so, “Iranian armed forces have complete freedom of action as always to confront the enemy’s aggression.”

Iran’s education ministry has delayed exams for students across six provinces in light of the renewed US attacks, Al Jazeera reports.

The ministry said “final exams for all academic tracks in the 12th grade” were postponed. They had been scheduled to take place on Thursday and Saturday.

Earlier, the ministry announced it had relocated exam centres near sensitive or military sites to safer locations.

The US government issued sanctions on Wednesday targeting individuals and entities ⁠that it said were ⁠a ​part of an international network helping Iran procure weapons.

The sanction targets ⁠include Iranian and Russian nationals, as well as entities bases in Iran, Russia ⁠and Nigeria, the US Treasury Department said in ​a statement.

The move ‌comes amid heightened ‌tensions between Washington and Tehran, including recent hostilities ‌over control of the strait of Hormuz, and as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Iran through a series of sanctions measures.

Wednesday’s sanctions targets “exemplify Iran’s use of foreign aviation ‌and transport firms, financial conduits, and travel coordinators to obscure the IRGC’s role ​in illicit procurement and to move material and personnel globally,” the Treasury said in a statement.

The day so far

• The US ⁠military ⁠has denied ​that its ⁠forces struck a ⁠civilian ​wheat ‌storage facility ‌in Iran ‌on Tuesday. It said that Iranian military ‌targets were struck to ​degrade Tehran’s ability ⁠to attack ​commercial shipping in ​the ​strait ​of ‌Hormuz.

• Iran has threatened to halt all energy exports from the Middle East after the US reimposed a blockade of its ports and ships, as the two countries traded strikes for a fifth day and Donald Trump threatened to expand US strikes on Iran next week. The US blockade came into force early on Wednesday, prompting Iran to shut the strait of Hormuz and carry out a wave of retaliatory airstrikes on countries hosting US bases in the region.

• The US military said it has launched a new wave of strikes against Iran as the warring countries continue their back-and-forth attacks in the Middle East. US Central Command (Centcom) issued a statement today announcing the strikes that took place during daylight hours. In its attacks over recent days, the US has struck Iran only at night.

• Centcom said the strikes were “designed to further degrade military capabilities Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping in the strait of Hormuz”.

• The Iranian army vowed a “decisive response” after seven personnel were reported killed in a US attack on an Iranian military base. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported a number of personnel were also wounded in the incident at the base in Bampur in south-eastern Iran.

• More than 30 people have been killed in southern Iran in US attacks in recent days, said government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani. Iran’s health ministry said more than 260 people have been injured across the country in the latest wave of US strikes.

• Israeli airstrikes have killed at least a dozen people in Gaza over the past two days, local health officials said Wednesday, as strikes continue almost daily despite a months-old ceasefire with Hamas. On Wednesday, three members of a family were killed in central Gaza, Al Aqsa Hospital officials said.

• Iran’s foreign ⁠minister, Abbas Araghchi, travelled to Doha on ⁠Wednesday ⁠to attend ​the funeral of former Qatari emir ⁠Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Iran’s ISNA ⁠reported, days after ​Iran attacked ‌Qatar. Iran ‌has attacked what it ‌says are US targets in Qatar – a mediator between Washington and Tehran in the ‌Iran war – most recently on Sunday when ​the death of the former emir was announced.

• Lebanon and Israel concluded US-brokered talks in Rome on Wednesday, with a US official saying ⁠they had made progress on implementing a plan that could see Israeli forces begin to withdraw from some parts ⁠of southern Lebanon within ⁠days. The two ​longtime foes held ambassador-level talks at the US embassy in Rome on Tuesday and Wednesday - their sixth round of face-to-face ⁠negotiations since a new war erupted on 2 March between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, triggered by the wider regional ⁠conflict.

• Sirens rang out in Bahrain, while Kuwait and Jordan reported intercepting drones and missiles fired from Iran. The Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that Tehran forces launched a drone attack on a military base in Jordan that hosts US warplanes, while the IRGC claimed to have hit American facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait.

• US strikes targeted Iran’s southern port city of Bushehr, home to the country’s only civilian nuclear plant, according to state media. It was the second day in a row that the city has come under attack, according to IRNA.