Iran-US war latest: Trump’s military chiefs push to speed up weapons production amid Hormuz deal deadlock

The US is pushing for defence companies to “dramatically” accelerate weapons production as the Iran war drains through their missile supplies, it is understood.

Deputy defence secretary Steve Feinberg gave companies three weeks to lay out how they would “drive significantly faster, more aggressive delivery schedules and/or increased production for critical capabilities.”

“Years-long development cycles are not acceptable,” Mr Feinberg added in the memo, which was obtained by The Washington Post.

“We must dramatically accelerate our program schedules and expand our production capacity now.”

It comes as the head of Iran’s supreme national security council, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, said the Strait of Hormuz will remain shut until the US meet six conditions, including ending the war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq forever.

It comes as the UAE condemned an Iranian missile attack on its carrier as it passed through the Strait yesterday.

State news agency WAM initially reported ADNOC as saying one of its vessels had been targeted by a missile early on Saturday and that the situation was under control.

Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan, insisting Israel will not withdraw until Hamas fully disarms.

The US president claimed last month that there had been a breakthrough in his plan to end the war, which both Israel and Hamas agreed to last year and which started with the ceasefire.

Trump said that Hamas, which ruled Gaza for nearly two decades before ‌carrying out the October ​7, 2023 ‌attack on Israel that ⁠triggered the Gaza ⁠war, had agreed to lay ‌down ​its weapons.

The Iran-backed Houthis claimed today that they targeted Saudi Arabian forces in the Yemeni city of Mocha.

The rebel group also separately mounted an attack on a major Saudi oil refinery on the Red Sea coast.

The attacks come days after Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey signed a Nato-style defence pact which agreed any attack on one country would be seen as an attack on them all.

Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan, insisting Israel will not withdraw until Hamas fully disarms.

The US president claimed last month that there had been a breakthrough in his plan to end the war, which both Israel and Hamas agreed to last year and which started with the ceasefire.

Israel has continued to carry ⁠out strikes on Gaza since agreeing to the ceasefire last October.

The peace deal put forward by the US last year would have seen Hamas relinquish its weapons, Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza as the disarmament progresses, and an international stabilisation force work with a new Palestinian police force until a new Palestinian government takes over in Gaza.

A desperate scramble to find alternative routes is in overdrive as the world realises there is no ‘back to normal’ – but Trump’s insulted allies are determined to make him pay for the leverage his war has handed to Iran, says Anchal Vohra:

No one is holding their breath for a miracle as he US and Iran enter the final stages of negotiations over the future of the Strait of Hormuz.

Donald Trump says the Strait is "sort of open right now", even as Iran remains firm on charging a toll as high as seven per cent of the cargo price.

The head of Iran’s supreme national security council, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, has said that the Strait of Hormuz will remain shut until the US meets six conditions.

In comments carried by Iran’s IRNA news agency on Saturday, Zolghadr laid out his terms.

Included in full, in his words, these were:

Never threaten Iran with any language or insult the sanctities of this nation

End the war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq forever

Lift the naval blockade and withdraw its military forces (naval and air) from around Iran

Pay the damages of the two wars of aggression and imposition on Iran without any reduction or reduction

Lift the cruel and illegal sanctions against the Iranian nation

Unconditionally release the frozen and stolen assets of the Iranian people

President Donald Trump’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine, is seeking an “off-ramp “ from the ongoing war in Iran, according to a new report.

Caine has privately told other top administration officials that the country needs to find a way to exit the war, according to CNN, which cited three sources familiar with the matter.

Despite Trump claiming throughout the war that a peace deal, which would include his demand that Iran never obtain a nuclear weapon, was within reach, fighting has continued for more than five months.

“Caine is looking for an off ramp,” one of CNN’s sources said.

Struggling to find food, work or any semblance of normality - as well as living with the daily risk of bombing under a shaky ceasefire - the people of southern Iran tell Amirhossein Miresmaeili how they feel entirely on their own:

“We’re constantly terrified by the sound of explosions. The electricity and water keep being cut off. We are without jobs and have no food. It feels like no one is coming to help the people of southern Iran. Don’t want war.”

These remarks reflect dozens of messages and first-hand accounts received by Independent Persian from residents of the southern provinces of Hormozgan, Bushehr, Khuzestan and Sistan and Baluchestan.

Iran’s top security official has said the Strait of Hormuz will remain shut until the US meets six demands, including compensation for the war.

Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said on Saturday that the US must end all of its military interventions across the region before the strait can reopen fully to traffic.

He also demanded that all US forces pull back from around Iran, that Washington should compensate Tehran for “the two wars of aggression”, and that it should lift its sanctions.

Iran is currently not holding negotiations with the US and is only communicating through intermediaries, foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has said.

He added that talks can’t resume until Washington makes amends for what he described as violations of an Memorandum of Understanding between them.

Iran’s Mehr news agency reported that Araghchi said mediators were still trying to find ways to restart talks.