The US military says it has downed six Iranian ballistic missiles launched towards its Gulf allies, while a seventh missile failed to reach its target.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it targeted a US airbase in Kuwait and the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, according to Iranian state media.
The attack came on Friday just hours after the US military also shot down four Iranian attack drones headed towards the Strait of Hormuz, with US Central Command saying they “posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic”.
US forces later struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in Goruk and on Qeshm Island along the strait “to defend against further attacks”, according to Centcom.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump said Washington did not necessarily need a ceasefire deal in order to get Iran’s enriched uranium.
"We could get it right now. I don't think they could stop us if we wanted, but there's no reason to. It's entombed”, he told reporters in the Oval Office.
Key Points
- US downs Iranian ballistic missiles targeting Kuwait and Bahrain
- Trump boasts about US naval blockade
- Trump says US 'largely finished' Iran war
- US shoots down four Iranian drones bound for Strait of Hormuz
- Two men guilty of stabbing Iranian journalist in London
Everything you need to know this morning
07:30 , Nicole Wootton-Cane
Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know after the US said it downed six ballistic missiles aimed at Gulf states:
• The US military says it has downed six Iranian ballistic missiles launched towards its Gulf allies, while a seventh missile failed to reach its target
• Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had targeted US bases and assets in Kuwait and Bahrain
• US forces later struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in Goruk and on Qeshm Island along the strait “to defend against further attacks”
• No injuries have currently been reported
Watch: Trump says he does not need deal with Iran to get enriched uranium
07:00 , Rachel Dobkin
Oil executives warn Trump that Iran war will cause gas prices to spike within weeks due to dwindling supplies: report
06:00 , Rebecca Whittaker
Several oil industry executives have reportedly privately warned the White House that the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz is straining global oil inventories and could lead to gas price spikes in the coming weeks.
For more than three months, Americans have been forced to confront high gas prices as a result of President Donald Trump’s war with Iran. The conflict has disrupted global oil production because Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 34 percent of the world’s oil passes.
But executives from unidentified oil companies have warned senior administration officials in recent weeks that they’re concerned prices could rise further as a result of diminishing oil supplies, four executives told Politico.
Read more from Ariana Baio here:
Oil execs warn Trump that gas prices could spike due to dwindling supplies: report
Iran is using Lebanon as a 'bargaining chip', Lebanon's president says
05:00 , Rebecca Whittaker
Lebanon's president has accused Iran of using his country as a “bargaining chip” with their negotiation with the US.
Speaking at the presidential palace in Beirut Joseph Aoun told CNN in an interview that Lebanese people are "fed up" with the war between Israel and the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.
It comes as Israel and Lebanon agreed to pause fighting, but Hezbollah objected to the agreement.
Aoun told CNN that Iran is “not trying to help us … the people of Lebanon are paying the price … for the sake of your own interest,” adding, “our interests … do not coincide with your interests.”
He added the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “are using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation.”
US downs Iranian ballistic missiles targeting Kuwait and Bahrain
04:16 , Adam Withnall
The US military says it has downed six Iranian ballistic missiles launched towards its Gulf Arab allies.
US Central Command said on social media late on Friday night that Iran fired seven ballistic missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain, with US forces intercepting six of the missiles and a seventh failing to reach its target. The military said there were no reports of harm to American personnel.
Kuwaiti’s military said forces were intercepting missiles and drones attacking the country, while Bahrain activated air raid sirens and told residents to move to the nearest safe location and follow official instructions.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it targeted the Ali Al Salem airbase, which hosts US forces in Kuwait, and the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in the tiny Gulf island nation of Bahrain, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
Trump boasts about US naval blockade
04:01 , Rachel Dobkin
US President Donald Trump has boasted about the United States’ naval blockade against Iranian ports.
“The blockade is unbelievable. There's never been a blockade like that”, Trump said at an event in Wisconsin Friday. “We have the greatest military anywhere in the world”.
US Central Command said Friday that American forces have redirected 129 commercial vessels and disabled six more to “ensure compliance” with its blockade.
USS Tripoli (LHA 7) transits the Arabian Sea as the amphibious assault ship supports the ongoing U.S. blockade against Iran. U.S. forces have redirected 129 commercial vessels and disabled 6 to ensure compliance. pic.twitter.com/dxqiwk53YS
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) June 5, 2026
Trump says US 'largely finished' Iran war
03:00 , Rachel Dobkin
US President Donald Trump has claimed the United States has “largely finished” its war against Iran.
Speaking at an event in Wisconsin Friday, Trump said, “We had to extinguish a nuclear weapon...this was going to be a very capable country that was going to have a massive nuclear presence, and we weren't going to let that happen.
“Nobody wanted that to happen, and we've largely finished that”.
Trump suggested that the war will end with a peace deal or “a more difficult way”.
US shoots down four Iranian drones bound for Strait of Hormuz
02:08 , Michelle L. Price
The US military reported shooting down four Iranian drones launched toward the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, then striking some of the Islamic Republic’s coastal surveillance radar sites.
US Central Command stated on social media that "The attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic”.
The military is enforcing a blockade on Iranian ports in response to Tehran's restrictions on the vital shipping route for global oil and natural gas exports, a move that has driven up energy prices.
It marks the latest in back-and-forth attacks straining a tenuous ceasefire and efforts to extend that truce.
Read more...
US shoots down four Iranian drones bound for Strait of Hormuz
Calls for $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets to be released
01:00 , Rebecca Whittaker
A top Iranian official has said a potential peace deal between the US and Iran is weighted on the Trump administration agreeing to release $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets.
In an interview with CNN Mohsen Rezaei, military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei warned the US would “enter into a dark corridor” should it resume fighting.
“The negotiations are at a deadlock and Trump must break this deadlock,” he said.
“The ball is in Trump’s court.”
It comes as Iran reportedly demanded the release of $12 billion in frozen funds after an agreement is signed with the US. This money would be followed by another $12 billion, according to CNN.
But the US has concerns that unfreezing the funds could remove a key leverage point over the regime.
Pictured: Israel strikes southern Lebanon
Saturday 6 June 2026 00:00 , Rebecca Whittaker
Two men guilty of stabbing Iranian journalist in London
Friday 5 June 2026 23:30 , Rebecca Whittaker
Two Romanian men have been convicted in a London court over the stabbing of a journalist from a Persian-language television station, an attack prosecutors say was carried out at the behest of authorities in Tehran.
A jury at Woolwich Crown Court found Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Pouria Zeraati, a presenter at London-based Iran International, was stabbed in the leg in March 2024 outside his home in the Wimbledon area of London.
He recovered from the attack and returned to work.
Police said former professional soccer player Badea and another man attacked Zeraati before fleeing in a getaway car driven by Stana and then flying out of the country from Heathrow Airport.
Badea and Stana were arrested in Romania in December 2024 and extradited to the UK.
The third suspect, David Andrei, is the subject of criminal proceedings in Romania.
“This was a targeted and violent attack and it was the prosecution’s case during the trial that it was carried out on behalf of the Iranian regime,” said Chief Superintendent Kris Wright of Counter Terrorism Policing London.
The jury’s verdict does not conclude that the attack was conducted on behalf of Iran, though prosecutors said the judge may determine that when the defendants are sentenced on July 3.
Iran’s senior diplomat in the UK has denied Tehran was behind the attack.
Iran launches drones towards Strait of Hormuz
Friday 5 June 2026 23:20 , Rebecca Whittaker
Iran has launched multiple drones towards the Strait of Hormuz, CNN has reported.
US forces have taken out at least three of them out, according to a United States official.
Recap: US forces board sanctioned vessel in Indian Ocean, Pentagon says
Friday 5 June 2026 23:00 , Rebecca Whittaker
US forces overnight conducted an interdiction of the sanctioned stateless vessel M/T DAVINA in the Indian Ocean, the Indo-Pacific Command said on Friday.
“We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate,” it wrote in an X post.
Washington has imposed a blockade on Iran's trade by sea while Iran has fired on ships to prevent them sailing through the Strait of Hormuz waterway at the entrance to the Middle East Gulf. U.S. forces have intercepted multiple commercial and oil tankers in the Indian Ocean in recent months.
Iran has about 22 per cent of missiles left, according to Trump
Friday 5 June 2026 22:56 , Rebecca Whittaker
Donald Trump has said Iran has about a fifth of its missiles left, according to an interview with NBC News.
"They have some missiles, they have some drones. I would say percentage wise, maybe 21-22 per cent of their missiles. It's a lot of missiles, but it's not what it was when we first attacked," Trump was quoted as saying.
Watch: Trump claims US military 'wants to' wipe out' all of Iran and is 'ready to do it'
Friday 5 June 2026 22:30 , Rebecca Whittaker
How the war in Iran could impact £3bn of UK pensions
Friday 5 June 2026 22:00 , Rebecca Whittaker
As a barrage of Iranian missiles rained down on the Fujairah oil terminal, the explosion was deafening and the destruction dramatic: a brutal fire, thick black smoke stretching into the sky – and untold damage to one of the region’s crucial pieces of fossil fuel infrastructure.
Read more here by Josephine Moulds and Nick Ferris:
How the war in Iran could impact £3bn of UK pensions
British couple jailed on spying charges in Iran are on hunger strike
Friday 5 June 2026 21:30 , Rebeca Whittaker
A British couple jailed on spying charges in Iran have lost an appeal against their convictions, their family have said.
Craig and Lindsay Foreman were handed 10-year prison sentences in February after being convicted of espionage, which they both deny.
The couple’s family have claimed they were not permitted to attend their appeal hearing.
They were jailed following their arrest in January 2025 while travelling through Iran during a round-the-world trip by motorcycle.
The couple are on a hunger strike, according to the family, adding that all communication between them has been cut off by Iranian authorities.
