Trump backs Pete Hegseth amid renewed tensions with Iran – as it happened

This blog has now closed.Sign up for the Breaking News US emailDonald Trump said ⁠today that ⁠he had paused US strikes on Iran to give diplomacy another chance, but he ​was ‌ready ‌for “strong military ‌action” if diplomacy fails.Washington was in “very deep ⁠talks with Iran”, the president told Axios, but, he added: “If they don’t work out, we will be go back to very strong military action.”I am going to talk to Bibi about the fact that if I weren’t president, Iran would have had nuclear weapons by now and Israel would have been destroyed.Without me, there would be