The attack by US drones on Iran’s Larak Island reveals that Donald Trump’s mission control, like Houston and Apollo 13, has a major problem.
Sunday’s strike has led to the resumption of open hostilities between Iran and America after a relative lull since July.
The war, which was intended to last six weeks at most, has now run for more than six months. To say there is no credible peace settlement in sight might qualify as the understatement of the year.
The markets quickly got the message – within minutes of the news of the attacks on the island in the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices moved up two per cent on world markets.
The Larak mission comes only four days after Trump had announced that the strait was free of mines, thanks largely to US clearing efforts, and that shipping lanes were open. The Iranians responded by calling this a “blatant lie”.
Scottish students discover 1,000-year-old Viking church
Students discovered the remains of what is thought to be a medieval Viking church about 1,000 years old during an archaeology field trip to an uninhabited Scottish island.
Where was the medieval site found?
Pupils from Gordonstoun, a private school once attended by the King, made the discovery on a six-day field trip to Swona, a tiny Orkney island about seven miles north of John O’Groats where only feral cattle live.
The medieval building bears similarities to other Viking churches from the 10th and 11th centuries. Its remains, including what is thought to be the foundation of its altar, were found beneath a more recent building.
How was it found?
The Gordonstoun team helped professional archaeologists from the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (Orca) to uncover the remains.
Gordonstoun housemaster Dan McLean, who organised the trip, said: “The only real hint about a church being on the island is a map reference to a ruin known locally as the ‘Twinly Kirk.’”
After discovering a step leading to the possible church altar, the group found other clues regarding construction method, layout and orientation.
Another clue was that it was dry stone, and there was no clay bonding or mortar. There are also cairns nearby and a wall that blocks access to a landing point.
dan mclean, gordonstoun housemaster
More conclusions to come?
- Radiocarbon dating of the students’ samples could draw more conclusions about the structure.
- The pupils also explored a probable prehistoric settlement in the centre of the small, privately-owned island.
- Elsewhere, they investigated a circular ditch believed to have been the site of a Viking warning beacon.
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UK POLITICS
Mayor hopeful Cleverly swipes at Reform on London crime
Sir James Cleverly has said mayoral candidates cannot “credibly” stand for election to run London while “obviously” hating the city, in remarks that will be interpreted as a swipe at Reform UK.
Battle for the capital
The former home secretary, who has announced he’s stepping down as shadow housing secretary to bid for the Conservative nomination for London mayor, made the comments when asked about claims from Reform’s mayoral candidate, Laila Cunningham, that the capital is unsafe.
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Is London safe?
Cunningham said this week that her children are “petrified” to visit Shepherd’s Bush following a stabbing, and has frequently characterised London as gripped by crime, telling The i Paper last year that there are “no safe parts” in the capital.
Asked directly about her comments, Cleverly told The i Paper: “I’m not here to talk about her. Let her talk about her and let her justify her statements.”
Cleverly on London crime
- Cleverly argued responsibility for crime in London lay with the current mayor, Lord Khan of Tooting.
- He said the capital’s performance on crime was “an outlier” in the UK while he was home secretary.
- Cleverly went on to criticise those who often depict London as afflicted by crime.
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I don’t think you can credibly be the candidate for mayor of London if you obviously hate the city you’re trying to get elected for. I love London. I’m unapologetic about that.
james cleverly
Reform: Cleverly is ‘out
of touch’
- A Reform UK spokesperson said Cleverly was “out of touch”.
- If “James Cleverly thinks crime is not an issue in London then he’s even more out-of-touch than we originally thought”, they said.
- The spokesperson added: “London needs a mayor that is realistic about the issues the city faces, not one that will turn a blind eye to them.”
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US and Iran trade strikes in first hostilities for weeks
The United States and Iran have traded strikes for the first time since late July, breaking a lull in fighting during an intermittent war that has lasted more than six months. Here’s what we know.
Where did the US strike?
US forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, with Central Command claiming the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines.
News outlets in Iran reported explosions near Larak island.
Donald Trump posted an AI-generated video on his Truth Social platform of the bombing of the Kharg Island oil hub, claiming it’s “going to be blown to smithereens!”.
What was Iran’s response?
Later, Iranian state TV showed what it said were ballistic missiles being fired by Iran at US bases in Jordan in response to the American strikes. Jordan’s military said it intercepted eight missiles in the country’s airspace early Monday.
The UAE air force also intercepted an Iranian drone over its territorial waters, the country’s defence ministry said.
US ‘eliminated’ Iran’s threat
- The US disputed Iran’s claim that its strikes were an act of aggression.
- “Iran created the threat and the US military eliminated it,” Centcom said.
- This was “to protect civilian mariners, commercial shipping, and the free flow of global commerce” in the Strait of Hormuz, it added.
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Return to open conflict?
Since last confirming it had struck Iranian targets on 29 July, the US had turned its focus to increasing economic pressure in a bid to end the months-long war.
A return to open conflict would be dangerous for the region, where Iran has targeted US military bases and infrastructure in Gulf countries since the fighting began on 28 February.
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Thousands of prisoners set for early release
Thousands of prisoners are set for an early release as part of controversial Government plans to ease jail overcrowding.
Here’s what we know.
Cutting the numbers
About 5,000 prisoners were due to be released early from October, down from 6,000, after ministers intervened to block rapists and “serious” child sex offenders from being eligible.
Under further changes announced by Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Sunday, several hundred more criminals will now be exempt from the early release scheme.
More exemptions
- Anyone convicted of unlawful killing, including all forms of manslaughter, is now ineligible.
- The exemption extends to those convicted of causing death by dangerous driving or allowing the death of a child.
- Grooming gang perpetrators will also be blocked from early release amid concerns about a potential loophole in the system.
The unlawful killing exemption means two men tied to the killing of PC Andrew Harper will remain behind bars after backlash over their initial eligibility for early release.
Burnham also confirmed the Government will seek to end imprisonment for public protection sentences (IPPs), releasing offenders previously assessed to pose a significant risk of causing serious harm to the public.
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What are IPPs?
IPPs, available between 2005 and 2012, meant offenders given such a sentence could only be released once the Parole Board determined they no longer posed a threat. They essentially meant some offenders could be held indefinitely; several hundred still were as of June 2026.
More than 2,000 IPP offenders are in jail, including 1,415 who were recalled to prison.
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Potential problems
However, Labour’s justice minister Jake Richards warned MPs in January that abolishing IPP sentences retrospectively “would result in prisoners being released whom the independent Parole Board has determined are too dangerous”.
Meanwhile, Sir David Gauke, the ex-Tory justice secretary who helped Labour craft the early release scheme, has warned that freeing IPP prisoners could be even riskier than releasing killers and rapists early.
Patel to be replaced by Tugendhat in Tory reshuffle
Ex-Tory leadership hopeful Tom Tugendhat is set to replace senior Conservative Dame Priti Patel as shadow foreign secretary, it has emerged.
New international role for Patel
Dame Priti said she would now look to strengthen Tory links with global centre-right and fellow conservative parties through a new “international role”.
Tugendhat, her reported replacement in Kemi Badenoch’s shadow cabinet, returns to the frontbenches, having previously served as security minister under former Tory prime ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
China hawk Tugendhat
- Patel called for stronger action to protect the UK from threats posed by China, Iran and Russia.
- Tugendhat is one of the most hawkish MPs on China and has campaigned against plans for the new super embassy in London.
- He has been on the backbenches since a failed Tory leadership campaign in 2024.
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Tory reshuffle continues
The move comes as part of Tory leader Badenoch’s impending reshuffle of her frontbench, with the role of shadow housing, communities and local government secretary also vacant after Sir James Cleverly quit to run for London mayor.
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Weekend lie-in may be good for your health
Having a lie-in at the weekend may actually have health benefits, new research suggests.
Here’s what we know.
No shame for sleeping in
Researchers from Korea University gathered data on 41,000 adults over a seven-year study, measuring participants’ “catch-up” sleep at the weekend as well as their blood pressure and level of physical activity.
One key takeaway, the team said, was that people should not feel “lazy or guilty” for staying in bed a little longer at the weekend.
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Weekend slumber: facts and figures
Blood pressure boost
1 h 27 min
The study showed one to two hours extra sleep helped maintain good health.
Sleeping for an extra hour and 27 minutes resulted in .
9%
This amount of extra sleep was linked to a nine per cent less chance of high blood pressure.
The study also found any level of extra sleep on the weekend was linked to a six per cent lower likelihood of high blood pressure.
But don’t overdo it…
When weekend catch-up sleep becomes excessive, the degree of sleep irregularity and circadian disruption may increase, which could offset that benefit.
Dr Nawton Lee, korea university
A common problem
It comes as one in three adults in Britain have high blood pressure, or hypertension. The average British adult also records less than the NHS-recommended seven to nine nightly hours of sleep.
Despite being symptomless, high blood pressure increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
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Trump’s follow-up to the Larak strike was to post an AI-generated video on his Truth Social platform showing the major Iranian oil loading facility on Kharg Island, at the northern end of the Gulf, “being blown to smithereens” in an air attack.
The latest exchange of fire means that there is little chance of meaningful peace talks before the US midterm elections in early November, and Israel’s general election on 27 October. It means rising prices on the international energy markets and at the petrol pumps for US voters.
Trump is facing a serious military credibility gap. Not only have his forces been using up ammunition at an alarming rate – in keeping with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s indulgence of video wargame culture – but they are overstretched in terms of personnel, too. The carrier USS has just headed back to port after operations in the Gulf. It had been at sea for more than 205 days at one point, and crew wrote home about depression, anxiety and even suicide.
Hegseth is criticised for his constant purges of the officer corps of the services, promoting those loyal to the Maga cause. Important elements of the reserve have been cancelled – which means the air and naval services are becoming short of vital maintenance and supply crew, according to critics. He recently fired the editor and publisher of Stars and Stripes, the services’ in-house newspaper.
Trump himself has recently insisted that the US Navy goes back to using steam catapults on aircraft carriers, instead of the cutting-edge magnetic rail launchers currently being fitted. Steam catapults take up huge amounts of space – and consume huge amounts of steam energy. Meanwhile, the navy is tasked with designing the new Trump-class battleship, two dozen at least, at a cost of $29bn (£21bn) each at today’s prices – roughly a third of the total UK defence budget.
In Iran, Trump faces an adversary more like him than he realises. Neither likes to play by the rules. On the day Trump resumed attacking Iran, the new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, called for “all Muslims to unite against their common enemy”, adding: “and you all know who that is.”
In six months of war with Iran, Trump has stretched US military capability and credibility as never before this century. He faces a more ruthless foe in Tehran than he did before he invaded on 28 February.
The cabal of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) generals led by the force commander Ahmad Vahidi, security chief Mohsen Rezaei and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, is uncompromising. They seem indifferent to the desperate plight of most Iranians as the economy lies in ruins. But they recognise the advantage Trump has given them in their control of the Strait of Hormuz.
They also seem to understand how to play Trump’s peculiar habit of insulting and alienating his allies, from the Gulf to the UK, Denmark and Canada. They know he does this as his diplomatic and military resources grow ever thinner.
The strait now risks becoming a tollbooth for a new toughened Iranian regime. It is reported that the IRGC has been charging a about $2m (£1.5m) to let oil tankers through.
On Monday morning, Iranian media reported that a tanker had hit a sea mine at the approaches to the strait because it was taking “an unauthorised route”. This has not been confirmed.
The attack on Larak Island was intended to stop Iran from launching rockets and laying mines across the Gulf. Larak sits at the apex of the Strait of Hormuz, in the narrows between the peninsula of Oman and the UAE and the major Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.
The reporting of the follow-up to the attack by US Reaper drones is a familiar brew of fact and fantasy. The Iranian regime reported that it had retaliated by attacking two US-run air bases in Jordan with cruise missiles. Reports from Jordan suggested the missiles had been shot down, though no evidence was supplied. The UAE official media reported that there had been no attack on Jordan.
Unease has been growing for weeks, not least among some Republican supporters, about the profligacy and wastage in the way Trump and Hegseth have run the war in the Middle East. Huge numbers of rockets, missiles and air defence systems have been expended.
The despatch of at least 50,000 extra US military personnel, at least two aircraft carrier groups, plus Marine Expeditionary Units with their air wings and light aircraft carrier support, is deemed to have weakened American military capability and posture worldwide.
Two-thirds of all Patriot air defence missiles have been used. Only 600 or so are made each year, though this is about to increase, at a price of around $4m (£2.9m) each.
Stockpiles of Tomahawk land attack missiles are running low, as are the sophisticated, precision-guided, air-launched missiles and rockets used profligately by Israeli and US forces in the attack on Iran in March.
These did a lot of damage and killed a cohort of the Iranian leadership, including supreme leader Ali Khamenei and his most adroit diplomat, Ali Larijani. However, it failed strategically, landing much of the world with a problem: the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Before this war, Kharg handled roughly 90 per cent of Iran’s oil exports, with 20 per cent of global energy exports, both oil and gas, passing through the strait.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, perversely, is likely to play further confrontation with the ayatollahs to his advantage at the hustings.
But for Trump, the mess he has created in Iran has caused him irreparable damage – he will see just how much at November’s elections.