ISRAEL - Israel has vowed to assassinate Iran's new supreme leader, who will succeed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as new strikes were launched on military targets across Tehran. Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said the new leader will be a 'certain target' for the US and Israel amid reports the Ayatollah's son Mojtaba is the favourite to take over. Katz said: 'Any leader selected by the Iranian terror regime to continue leading the plan for Israel's destruction, threatening the United States, the free world and countries in the region, and suppressing the Iranian people, will be a certain target for assassination, no matter his name or where he hides.'

USA - Donald Trump last night launched another withering attack on Keir Starmer, dismissing him as 'no Churchill'. In a major blow to the Special Relationship, the US President said he was 'not happy with the UK' and branded it 'very, very uncooperative' over his assault on Iran. Sir Keir was also under fire closer to home as Britain yesterday scrambled to protect its RAF base on Cyprus, which was hit by a suicide drone thought to have been fired by Tehran's proxies late on Sunday night. The UK was left embarrassed as military minnow Greece will have warships in position to protect RAF Akrotiri days before the Royal Navy will be anywhere near the danger zone. And Sir Keir announced that Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon, along with helicopters with counter-drone capabilities, would head to the Mediterranean only after Emmanuel Macron ordered a French frigate to the region.

MIDDLE EAST - Iran's Revolutionary Guards have today declared they have 'complete control' of the crucial Strait of Hormuz. Iranian forces say any vessels seeking to pass the strait - a vital route for world oil and gas supplies - risked damage from missiles or stray drones. It comes as US President Donald Trump said yesterday the US Navy was ready to escort oil tankers through the crucial Gulf passage. The Guards said they had also launched more than 40 missiles at US and Israeli targets in a new wave of strikes.

UK - Official figures show that unemployment in Britain is rising fast. If it continues as the OBR predicts, the annual unemployment rate is expected to peak at 5.3 percent for the first time in more than a decade. Much of the damage has been self-inflicted. Businesses have blamed rising joblessness on higher taxes and inflation-busting increases in the minimum wage. Record increases in National Insurance contributions have made hiring much more expensive, particularly for young people looking for their first job. It’s no surprise that young people are among the hardest hit. Of the 1.88 million people who were jobless but looking for work in the final three months of last year, almost half have been out of work for more than six months. A growing number of Britons have been out of work for more than a year. This matters. History shows that the longer people remain detached from the job market, the harder it is to re-engage them.

USA - The man who led Goldman Sachs through the 2008 financial crash says he can “smell” a fresh crisis brewing. Lloyd Blankfein said he saw parallels to the global financial crisis and saw signs the economy was getting closer to a crash. “I wonder where there’s hidden secret leverage,” he said in an interview with Pablo Salame, Citadel’s co-chief investment officer. “Now everyone says, ‘Oh, the world’s not leveraged.’ That’s exactly what everybody said in the mortgage crisis until you suddenly discover that there was a lot of mortgage risk in Iceland.” “It sort of smells like that kind of a moment again,” Mr Blankfein added. “I don’t feel the storm, but the horses are starting to whinny in the corral.”

USA - Gold reached an intraday high of $5,299 per ounce on February 28, 2026, following US and Israeli airstrikes on Iranian targets, continuing a seventh consecutive month of gains. Gold doesn’t panic. It doesn’t issue press releases. It doesn’t hold town halls or commission polls. It simply reflects what is real — and right now, what is real is that the global financial system is under more stress than most Americans are being told.

IRAN - Iran’s decision to retaliate against US-Israeli air strikes has dragged many of its neighbours into the conflict. Tehran has continued to strike military bases that house US troops across the Middle East and has not shied away from hitting civilian targets, including high-rise buildings, airports and shipping. Any sense of calm and safety in the oil-rich Gulf has been shattered at Iran’s behest. It has struck 12 nearby countries in retaliation for America’s Operation Epic Fury, which killed Iranian regime figureheads such as Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president. Those hit by Iran range from Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, to France and the UK, via its RAF station at Akrotiri in Cyprus. It is thought that Tehran is lashing out at America’s allies in the belief that it could pressure the Trump administration into halting the attacks that have beheaded the Islamic regime.

UK - Britain is scrambling to send a warship to Cyprus after France announced a major deployment to the eastern Mediterranean. The Royal Navy is expected to send a Type 45 destroyer, either HMS Dragon or HMS Duncan, to the region after an RAF base was attacked by Iranian drones on Monday night. France’s nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier and its strike group are heading to the area. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has also ordered anti-drone weapons and a frigate to the eastern Mediterranean. Mr Trump also told The Telegraph that he was “very disappointed” in Sir Keir after he refused to let the US use the Chagos Islands base of Diego Garcia to launch strikes on Iran at the start of the war. Gulf states are also understood to have expressed concern at Sir Keir’s reticence. Around 300,000 Britons are currently in the countries under fire from Iran.

IRAN - US President Donald Trump said he would not rule out sending US ground troops into Iran “if necessary,” telling the New York Post he was “not ruling anything out” as the US and Israel press their campaign under Operation Roaring Lion. Speaking on Monday, Trump said he “didn’t care about polling,” argued that leaders sometimes must act without clear public backing, and claimed the operation was “way ahead of schedule.” Our objectives are clear. First, we're destroying Iran's missile capabilities... Second, we're annihilating their navy... Third, we're ensuring that the world's number one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon... And finally, we're ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund, and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders."

UK - This weekend, Iran, or possibly one of its proxies on the Mediterranean shore, launched two attacks at British sovereign territory: RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. The first salvo fell short, the second, possibly a single drone, hit. Thankfully there were no casualties and damage was minimal. To be clear, British sovereign territory has been attacked and remains under threat. Our response? Very slow. Why didn’t we get a destroyer out there ages ago? Meanwhile our bases get hit and we do nothing, because we lack the leadership and confidence to know whether we should even be present at all. We need to wake up and take action now before it’s forced upon us and costs more. Today, right now, that day is getting closer.