The Prime Minister will hold a Cobra meeting next week to discuss plans to help households with cost of living issues caused by the war, it is understood.

Lord Richard Walker, the cost-of-living tsar, said he has “asked the government to consider a temporary profit cap, if required, to stop producers and retailers exploiting the crisis to make windfall profits at the expense of consumers”.

The desire to stay out of other people’s wars is understandable, and there is no dishonour in John McDonnell, a Labour neutralist, seeking Liberal Democrat and Green support in parliament to try to block the United States using British bases for attacks on Iran.

But it is not possible for Britain to have nothing to do with the conflict in the Middle East. Our citizens’ standard of living is affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. British expatriates are vulnerable to Iranian missiles in several Gulf countries, which are allies. And British bases, including Cyprus and Diego Garcia, are also within range.

Mr McDonnell would no doubt want to give up British military bases around the world, and thinks that British expats and the allied nations that accommodate them should look after themselves. But even then he ought to recognise that Britain has an economic interest in the free passage of ships in international waters – at least until such a time, some decades in the future, when we can function without petroleum products at all.

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One person was killed after a fire broke out in two vehicles near Israel’s northern Galilee, the Israeli emergency service said on Sunday, after the Israeli military reported strikes from Lebanon toward a community along the north border.

Damage and wounded were reported, the Israeli military said, without further elaborating.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said the attempted attack on Diego Garcia was the first time Tehran had launched a long-range missile since the start of the war, and showed it is now capable of reaching cities like London, Paris or Berlin.

“We have been saying it: The Iranian terrorist regime poses a global threat,” the IDF said in a statement.

The Israeli military claimed the missiles could reach a distance of around 4,000km, posing a danger to dozens of countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.

Iran is ready to cooperate with the International Maritime Organisation to improve maritime safety and protect seafarers in the Gulf, the Iranian representative to the UN

maritime agency said, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Sunday.Ali Mousavi said the Strait of Hormuz remains open to all shipping except vessels linked to “Iran’s enemies”, adding that passage through the narrow waterway was possible by coordinating security and safety arrangements with Tehran.”

Diplomacy remains Iran’s priority. However, a complete cessation of aggression as well as mutual trust and confidence are more important,” Mousavi said, adding that Israeli and U.S. attacks against Iran were at the “root of current situation in Strait of Hormuz”

While the fate of many detainees arrested during the nationwide protests in January – which many consider to have been a “national uprising” – remains unclear, reports received by Independent Persian indicate that a new wave of arrests has begun across various cities in Iran.

Informed sources say that since the start of US and Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic on 28 February, the scale of arrests has expanded, with thousands detained on security-related charges.

Amirhossein Miresmaeili reports on an increase in security-related arrests in Iran during its conflict with the US and Israel.

Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper hit out at “reckless Iranian threats” after two ballistic missiles were fired towards the military base. Both were unsuccessful, with one shot down by a US warship and the other failing in flight.

However, The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was the first time Tehran had launched a long-range missile since the start of the war, and showed it was now capable of reaching cities like London, Paris or Berlin.

One of two Japanese nationals detained in Iran has been released and will be returning to Japan, foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, said on Sunday.

Mr Motegi, speaking on a Fuji Television talk show, said the person had been detained since last year and was released on Wednesday.

He said the person took a flight from Azerbaijan which was scheduled to arrive in Japan on Sunday.

Mr Motegi said another Japanese national who was arrested earlier this year is still in custody.

Mr Motegi said the release came after his repeated demands to Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and that he is “working to win an early release” of the other detainee while communicating with his family and other concerned parties.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has named the person detained in Iran in January as a journalist at Japan’s public broadcaster NHK.

The CPJ said the NHK journalist was arrested on 20 Jan by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was transferred 23 Feb to Evin Prison, quoting unidentified sources citing fear of persecution.

Mr Motegi did not identify either of the people detained and said the released Japanese national was detained in 2025.

The Israeli military said on Sunday that it is conducting strikes in Tehran, hours after attacks on southern Israel.

Late on Saturday, Iranian missiles hit the southern Israeli cities of Dimona and Arad, injuring dozens of people, including children, in separate strikes. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement early Sunday that they targeted “military installations” and security centres in southern Israel.

Israeli military spokesperson, Brigadier General Effie Defrin, said in a post on X that the country’s air defences were functioning but did not intercept the strikes. “We will investigate the incident and learn from it,” he said.

Israel’s secretive nuclear reactor is about 13km southeast of Dimona. Both cities lie near several military sites, including Nevatim Air Base, one of the country’s largest.

“This has been a very difficult evening in the battle for our future,” Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement released by his office following the strike on Arad.

“We are determined to continue striking our enemies on all fronts,” the statement said.

Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for global oil supplies, if a ceasefire is reached in the US-Israeli war with Iran, foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi said.

“If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up,” Motegi said during a Fuji TV programme.

“This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be something to consider.”

Japan’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows the country to use its Self-Defense Forces overseas if an attack — including on a close security partner — threatens Japan’s survival and no other means are available to address it.

Tokyo has no immediate plans to seek arrangements to allow passage through the Strait of Hormuz for stranded Japanese vessels, Motegi said, adding it was “extremely important” to create conditions that allow all ships to navigate the narrow waterway, which carries about a fifth of the world’s oil shipments.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi told Japan’s Kyodo news agency on Friday that he had spoken to Motegi about potentially allowing Japanese-linked vessels to pass through the strait.