Iran-US war latest: UK sends destroyer back to Middle East while Trump awaits Tehran’s response to peace plan

German chancellor Friedrich Merz stated on Saturday that Europe needs to work to preserve the NATO alliance functioning, regardless of variations with the United States that the Iran war has uncovered.

Tensions between Donald Trump’s administration and European NATO companions have raised questions on the way forward for NATO.

Already excessive after US criticism of Europe over protection spending and points like immigration coverage, tensions have elevated after Germany and different European international locations refused to help the US and Israeli war in opposition to Iran that started on the finish of February.

“We are really willing to keep this alliance alive for the future,” Merz stated at a press convention with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

He additionally stated Sweden and Finland had strengthened the European pillar of the alliance.

“We know that there are some differences. We know that we are seeing challenges, all of us, but our final goal is to bring this conflict to an end and to guarantee that Iran is not able to produce nuclear weapons,” Merz stated.

“And ‌this goal is a common goal between America and Europe.”

A satellite tv for pc picture reveals a suspected oil spill close to Kharg Island, Iran’s predominant oil hub.

The picture, which was taken on Wednesday, reveals that the spill covers dozens of sq. kilometers of sea.

“The slick appears visually consistent with oil,” Leon Moreland, a researcher on the Conflict and Environment Observatory, stated.

He estimated that it was overlaying an space of ​​roughly ⁠45 sq. km.

The Pentagon declined to say whether or not there had been current strikes on Kharg Island.

President Trump revealed he advised Secretary of State Marco Rubio to inform Pope Leo that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon” forward of a key go to final week.

Rubio met with the American-born Catholic chief Thursday after weeks of attacks from the president and simmering tensions between the US and the Vatican over the war in Iran.

Donald Trump is heading to China for a highly-anticipated bilateral summit with Xi Jinping, a yr after getting into a tariff war with Beijing. Experts consider that is Washington’s try to clean ties with its commerce nemesis.

President Trump will probably be in Beijing from May 14-15, the place either side are anticipated to talk about Chinese export controls of uncommon earths, an agricultural merchandise deal for partial tariff reduction, the US-Israel war on Iran, and efforts to convey stability to their relations.

The Independent’s Arpan Rai experiences:

Two oil tankers had been hit by the US Navy after they tried the violate America’s Strait of Hormuz blockade on Friday.

US Central Command (CENTCO) launched footage exhibiting strikes on the empty tankers M/T Sea Star III and M/T Sevda as they tried to sail into an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.

US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS George HW Bush (CVN 77) disabled each vessels after firing into their smokestacks.

A Royal Navy warship is making its war to the Middle East forward of a doable worldwide mission to safeguard delivery within the Strait of Hormuz.

The Ministry of Defense stated the kind 45 destroyer HMS Dragon is being deployed from the Eastern Mediterranean and can “pre-position” within the area.

The proposed UK and French-led mission would happen as soon as hostilities between Iran and US-Israeli forces ended.

It would contain a coalition of countries keen to guarantee freedom of navigation within the strait, an important route for world oil and gasoline provides together with different items together with fertilizer.

A spokesperson stated: “We can confirm that HMS Dragon will deploy to the Middle East to pre-position ahead of any future multinational mission to protect international shipping when conditions allow them to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

“The pre-positioning of HMS Dragon is part of prudent planning that will ensure that the UK is ready, as part of a multinational coalition jointly led by the UK and France, to secure the strait, when conditions allow.”

The resolution to transfer HMS Dragon from the jap Mediterranean, the place it had been defending British bases on Cyprus, will permit the destroyer to contribute instantly ought to the defensive mission within the strait be launched.

The US on Friday introduced a bevy of sanctions aimed toward impacting the Iranian weapons provide.

The sanctions goal 10 people and corporations situated throughout the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe, the Treasury Department stated.

Those sanctioned “are enabling efforts by Iran’s military to secure weapons, as well as raw materials with applications in Iran’s Shahed-series unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and ballistic missile program,” Treasury wrote.

“While the surviving IRGC leaders are trapped like rats in a sinking ship, the Treasury Department is unrelenting in our Economic Fury campaign,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent stated in a press release.

“Under President Trump’s decisive leadership, we will continue to act to Keep America Safe and target foreign individuals and companies providing Iran’s military with weapons for use against US forces.”

The US and Iran appeared no nearer to discovering an finish to their war on Saturday morning, after a day through which the 2 sides traded hearth within the Gulf regardless of a tenuous ceasefire:

• Donald Trump’s crew stated it anticipated a response from Tehran to a US peace proposal on Friday night, though none has but been introduced
• Speaking in Rome on Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated the US was anticipating a response the identical day, though an Iranian international ministry spokesperson stated Tehran was nonetheless weighing its response
• Sporadic clashes continued on Friday between Iranian forces and US vessels within the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s semi-official Fars information company reported, risking an already shaky ceasefire