| Unlock full access to our free-thinking journalism for less than 50p per week. | | Donald Trump has declared that he will jointly run the Strait of Hormuz with Iran after announcing a five-day ceasefire on striking its energy sites, write Neil Johnston and Fiona Parker, our Senior News Reporters in the region.
For all the talk of peace, there was little sign of a climbdown between Iran and Israel overnight.
From midnight until early morning, Tehran fired six salvos of missiles towards Israel, waking residents in major Israeli cities again with the sound of air raid sirens. | A missile fired from Iran in the sky over Hebron, in Israel’s West Bank, this morning | Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has said that Jerusalem will keep bombing the Islamic Republic. Meanwhile, fear for the world economy continues to grow with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, claiming this morning that the global energy crisis caused by the war in Iran is now “critical”.
Claiming progress on a peace deal yesterday evening, Trump said America would “jointly control” the key oil route and promised there would be a “very serious form of regime change” in the Islamic Republic. The US president said peace was likely but insisted that if negotiations fell apart, America would “just keep bombing our little hearts out”.
Below, David Blair, our Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator, explains why, despite Trump’s change in tone, this is no longer his conflict to end.
 | David Blair Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator | Donald Trump may have blinked by suddenly postponing his threat to bomb Iran’s power plants and disclosing “constructive” talks with the regime, but his latest zig-zag does not change one vital fact.
For as long as Iran’s de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz remains in place, Trump cannot end this campaign. What began as a war of choice to eliminate what he described as “imminent threats from the Iranian regime” has become a war of necessity.
That dawning realisation could explain Trump’s newly conciliatory tone. Breaking Iran’s grip on the strait by force would require a protracted war and perhaps the deployment of US ground forces. The US president has mused about seizing Kharg Island in the Gulf and holding it hostage to force the regime’s hand. However, America is only prepared for a short offensive. The USS Gerald R Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, was redeployed from the Caribbean, where she had led the operation to overthrow Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, and sent to the Mediterranean to launch air strikes against Iran. | USS Gerald R Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, was ordered to the Mediterranean to launch air strikes against Iran | Her crew has been at sea for nearly nine months. If they are still in action in April, their mission will become the longest by any US carrier since the Vietnam War.
Trump would prefer a deal to a long war, but why should Iran oblige him? It seems inconceivable that the Islamic Republic’s surviving leaders would relinquish the most powerful card in their hands by lifting the blockade and allowing a return to the status quo ante. Trump may get a prolonged war of necessity with Iran whether he wishes it or not.
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Go deeper with our full coverage of the Iran war:
Follow the latest on the conflict ➤
Trump: I’ll run Strait of Hormuz with ayatollah ➤
The secret talks pushing America and Iran towards peace ➤
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| Dundee Every week, one of our writers argues that their hometown is the best in Britain – but will their case convince you? This week Alan Dymock explains why, despite its surrounding narrative of decline, Dundee remains a characterful gem.  | Alan Dymock Commissioning Editor, Sport | In Scotland we not only celebrate our greatest poet, Rabbie Burns, but our worst as well: William McGonagall. The arch mangler of rhyme and reason, his most notorious work was written about the Tay Bridge disaster and he was a weaver in the city. So it feels only fitting that the people of Dundee treasure his memory.
Because nothing there is meant to fit; not really. Yet it does.
The place where roundabouts are called “circles”. Where high cuisine is twa pehs and a plen bridie (it’s pies and pastry, guys, and wait until you hear about an ingin ain ana).
In Dundee it’s about knowing something isn’t quite right and battering on anyway. The highest point is the Law – an old word that already means Hill, yet folk in town still call it the Law Hill. Sure, there is a harrowing drug problem and no one below Hadrian’s Wall seems to know which of our football teams is which, but this is also where Mary Shelley found inspiration for Frankenstein. The Beano and the Dandy are our greatest exports if you discount lovely effing and jeffing Brian Cox.
This is where the word “eh” is your most important tool – a sound that can be weaponised to mean either “I” or “me”, or “yes”, or to pause or to resoundingly ask with one syllable: “You what?” | Alan pictured with his mother, father and brother in Dundee | So aye, I could tell you about the historic ship Discovery, or the V&A Museum; “Jute, Jam and Journalism” or the easy transport links to St Andrews and Edinburgh. Frankly, I’d rather tell you about the warmth of the people, misspent hours queuing at Clark’s 24-hour bakery, or why the Perth Road pub crawl is one of Britain’s true wonders.
Yes, Dundee is disorientating, but it does not seem to care and that is the city’s secret weapon. That’s why I will always love it.
What do you think of Dundee? Let us know here. | | Test your knowledge with The 1% Club, a game based on the hit TV show. Solve five logic-based questions starting with the foundation question, all the way to the summit.
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Try your first game for free here and play The 1% Club every day on Telegraph Puzzles. | Pint-sized politics Every weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal reader correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes...
The Kenton, a pub in Hackney, east London, has taken the decision to ban all under-18s, having grown tired of being “mistaken for a crèche”. I read The Telegraph’s report with a sense of trepidation. I live just a few miles away and fear that as is often the case with things that happen in Hackney, the trend could spread.
There’s a wonderful pub just up the road from me where, every weekend, young families stage something of a takeover. A couple of years ago, I occasionally resented this – in particular, whenever I was precariously carrying a round of drinks and nearly slipped on a slick of rejected sweet potato puree. Now, though, I have a toddler, and everything is different. Call me a hypocrite, but I believe that, by mid-afternoon on a Saturday, parents richly deserve a pint.
Shauna Brown does not share this view and many readers agreed with her. “I think I would pay an entry fee to be guaranteed no bratty children and entitled parents,” wrote Caroline Boothby.
Trish Bullock added: “Good for that pub. I like children, but there are places that are not suitable for them. Too many parents these days let them run wild.”
Rick Kirkby suggested a compromise: “A pub near me used to have a sign on the door: ‘This is a pub which allows children in, not a playground that serves beer’.”
Penny Still, meanwhile, recalled: “When our children were young, we would always ask the landlord if they could eat with us, and they were always impeccably behaved (they knew that an early bath and bedtime beckoned if they weren’t).”
For Andy Webb, there were more pressing concerns: “I see worse behaviour from adults in pubs: shouting, swearing and generally acting as though no one except their group is there. I also object to entitled dog owners who think it is OK for their pets to come sniffing around you while you’re eating.” Do you agree with the Kenton’s landlord? Send your responses here, and the best will feature in a future edition of From the Editor PM, to which you can sign up here.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. | | Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including PlusWord, Sorted, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was ARROGANCE. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. | | Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback here. | Quiz answers: - Foundation: Chemistry
- The Ascent: Ring
- The Summit: Salad
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