Donald Trump has reportedly turned his focus from the Nobel Peace Prize to the Nobel Prize for war after being overlooked for the former. The US president bombed Iran on Saturday, following the kidnapping of the Venezuelan president, in what critics describe as a war with no real plan other than to inflict damage and achieve regime change.
Pete Hegseth claimed Iran had been fighting a 47-year one-way war against the US, a conflict Trump is said to be the first to notice. However, with Ayatollah Khamenei dead and no obvious successors, experts warn of years of instability and sectarian fighting ahead. Trump has admitted to accidentally killing his second and third choices to take over, and US involvement is expected to end once the president loses interest.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced a difficult decision over the weekend. He initially chose not to join US and Israeli attacks on Iran, but later allowed the US to use British bases for defensive actions after an Iranian attack on a Cyprus airbase. Starmer described the decision as a two-part process, emphasising it was a matter of international law and aimed at avoiding the mistakes of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.
Starmer's response drew criticism from both left and right, with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch calling it a sign of weak government. However, the prime minister insisted there was no secret plan to slide into a war of aggression, and that the UK's actions were purely defensive.
