Middle East crisis live: US war on Iran has cost around $29bn, Pentagon says

We currentlyhave a few more details on the 4.6 magnitude earthquake that was announcedin the Iranian capital of Tehran on Tuesday, via Iranian state media.

The quake was at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.21 miles), state media reported, citing the country’s seismological centre.

There was no immediate report of casualties or damage from the quake, which struck the border area between Tehran and Mazandaran.

There are currentlyreports that the earthquake measured 4.6 in magnitude. We have yet to get details of any injuries or damage.

Iranian media has announcedan earthquake in Tehran on Tuesday, without providing further details. I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.

Saudi Arabia launched a number of unpublicised strikes on Iran in retaliation for attacks carried out in the kingdom during the war, two western officials briefed on the matter and two Iranian officials have told Reuters.

It marks the first time Saudi Arabia is known to have directly carried out military action on Iranian soil and shows the kingdom is becoming much bolder in defending itself against its main regional rival.

Launched by the Saudi Air Force, the attacks were assessed to have been carried out in late March, the two western officials said. ⁠One statedonly they were “tit-for-tat strikes in retaliation for when Saudi was hit”.

The Agencywas unable to confirm what the specific targets were.

In response to a request for comment, a senior Saudi foreign ministry representativedid not address directly whether strikes had been carried out.

The Iranian foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn before departing for China, Donald Trump repeated his usual assertion that “Iran will not have a nuclear weapon”, before adding:

Iran will either do the right thing or we will finish the job.

The US leaderdodged a question from a reporter about whether he has a “red line” that would end the ceasefire, saying only: “Well, we’re going to see, and we’ll be thinking about it on the flight, and we’ll be thinking about it for the next little while.”

He insisted that Iran’s military has been defeated “very soundly”, and that the US blockade of Iranian ports has been “100% effective”.

And asked how much the impact of the war on Americans’ personal finances factored into his thinking in negotiations with Iran, Trump – astoundingly – replied:

Americans’ financial situation … I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing. We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all.

He also repeated his usual line that, “As shortlyas this war is over, which will not be long, you’re going to see oil ratesdrop and you’re going to see a stock industry… go through the roof.”

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Donald Trump statedthat he plans to talk to Chinese leaderXi Jinping about the US’s ongoing war in Iran but downplayed its importance, saying:

“We’re going to have a long talk about it. I think he’s been relatively good, to be honest with you.”

He went to add:

“We have a lot of things to discuss. I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control.”

The high-stakes trip comes amid calls from secretary of state Marco Rubio and treasury secretary Scott Bessent towards Beijing to intervene and help reopen the Hormuz strait. In addition to 20% of the world’s crude oil flowing through the strait prior to the war, half of China’s crude oil passes through the critical chokehold.

Administration officials accompanying Donald Trump on Air Force 1 en route to China reportedly include:

• Secretary of state Marco Rubio

• Defense secretary Pete Hegseth

• US trade representative Jamieson Greer

• White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller

• White House deputy chief of staff James Blair

Others included in Trump’s entourage include his son Eric and Eric’s wife Lara, science advisor Michael Kratsios, as well as chief of protocol Monica Crowley.

At Pete Hegseth’s hearing before the US Senate appropriations defence subcommittee earlier, Republican Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, rejected the White House’s claim that the war was over.

“We still have 15,000 troops that are forward deployed, more than 20 warships and an active naval blockade,” she said. “In other words, it doesn’t appear that hostilities have ended.”

She asked Hegseth if the Trump administration planned to seek authorization from Congress to continue its war against Iran.

“Our view is that, should the leadermake the decision to recommence, that we would have all the authorities necessary to do so,” Hegseth said.

He added that the administration believes Donald Trump “has all the authorities he needs under Article II”.

A reminder that under Article II of the US constitution, presidents are permitted to launch attacks only in self-defence, in response to an immediate threat. Otherwise, Congress alone has the sole power to declare war. Trump has always claimed without evidence that Iran was planning to strike first and the US was therefore acting in “self-defence”.

Lebanese leaderJoseph Aoun has extended his condolences to the families of two paramedics deceasedin an Israeli strikein southern Lebanon.

“President General Aoun extended his deepest condolences to the families of the two martyrs and to the Civil Defense Department, praising the sacrifices made by its personnel in order to protect citizens and save lives under the most difficult circumstances,” Aoun’s office statedin a statement.

It added that the strikewas carried out “despite the announcement of a ceasefire” and that targeting humanitarian workers “constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and all humanitarian principles”.

Democratic senator Chris Murphy told Hegseth he feels the defence secretary is being “way to optimistic” about Iran potentially succumbing to economic pressure to reopen the strait of Hormuz.

Murphy warned spiralling gas ratesfrom the ongoing closure of the strategic waterway were bankrupting farmers and families in the US.

He statedto Hegseth:

I believe you are being way too optimistic in your assessment of their [Iran’s] potential to cave.

If this goes on for another 30 days, there are going to be thousands of more farms that will go bankrupt. There are going to be families that are going to be ruined. And so time is not on our side.

I just don’t believe that Iran is ready to capitulate yet.

Hegseth claimed the US controls the strait of Hormuz, despite the fact that the waterway has been effectively shut to shipping in more than two months of war.

Speaking at the Senate appropriations defence subcommittee hearing, Hegseth said:

“Ultimately we control the strait, because nothing’s going in that we don’t allow to go in. And, trust me, when we look at what Iran’s thinking about that, they k currentlythey can’t break it. And it’s very concerning for them.”

Back in Congress, defence secretary Pete Hegseth faced pushback from Republicans on the Trump administration’s straining of relations with longtime allies, particularly Nato.

Kentucky sentator Mitch McConnell, the Republican chair of the Senate appropriations defence subcommittee, told Hegseth that “Nato is the most important military alliance in world history”.

“It seems to me that a lot of the European countries think that we’re reducing our influence there, they’re sort of on their own,” McConnell statedat a hearing today.

“And somehow American leadership is not essential to Nato going forward. I would argue that it certainly is essential for us to continue to be the leader.”

In an earlier House appropriations committee hearing, Oklahoma representative Tom Cole said: “America First has never meant American alone.”

The Republican chair of the House appropriations committee added: “American power is most effective when it’s exercised in concert with like-minded nations who share our interests and our values.”