The Gulf is on fire again. Sources confirm that US forces have launched airstrikes against Iranian-backed positions in Iraq and Syria after a drone attack on a US base killed three American soldiers. Iran responded in kind, firing ballistic missiles at a US airbase in Kuwait. The exchange, which broke a fragile informal ceasefire, has sent oil prices skyrocketing and triggered an emergency deployment of the Royal Navy to the region.
Documents obtained by this newsroom show that the Ministry of Defence has mobilised HMS Duncan and HMS Diamond, two Type 45 destroyers, to escort British-flagged tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. A senior naval source told me: 'We are not messing about. The Iranians have been emboldened. They think they can shut down the strait. They are wrong.'
The trigger for this latest escalation is murky. Official statements from Washington blame Tehran for the drone attack near the Syrian border. But I have spoken to intelligence sources who say the evidence is circumstantial at best. One former CIA officer put it bluntly: 'The administration needed a reason to hit back. They always do.'
Meanwhile, the Iranian response was swift and deadly. Satellite imagery confirms that at least six US aircraft were destroyed on the ground at Al Jaber Air Base. The Pentagon is downplaying the damage, but my sources inside the base paint a different picture: chaos, smoke, and body bags.
British shipping is now at the centre of this storm. The Royal Navy's deployment is not merely symbolic. Commercial vessels flying the Red Ensign have been warned to stay clear of Iranian waters. The insurance premiums for Gulf transits have tripled in the last 48 hours. This is a crisis that will hit the consumer's wallet at the petrol pump.
The question everyone is asking: will it escalate further? I have tracked the money behind both sides. The IRGC's shadow fleet is still moving oil through the Gulf, and US sanctions have done little to stop it. This is not about ideology. It is about control of the world's most strategic waterway. The ceasefire was always fragile. Now it is shattered.
I will be updating this story as more comes in. For now, the message from Whitehall is clear: British shipping will be protected. But at what cost? The last time the Royal Navy exchanged fire with Iranian fast boats, the result was a diplomatic standoff that lasted months. This time, the stakes are higher. The oil price is climbing. War drums are beating. And the silence from Tehran is deafening.
