Middle East crisis live: US ‘committed to finishing the job’ in Iran, Rubio says, amid fresh strikes in Tehran

Strikes in west Tehran are heavy, BBC reports; US state secretary tells Al Jazeera the straight of Hormuz will be open ‘one way or another’Donald Trump is weighing a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds (454kg) of uranium from Iran, the Wall Street Journal is reporting, citing unnamed US officials.The mission would likely put American forces inside the country for days or longer, the report says.But the president remains generally open to the idea, according to the officials, because it could help accomplish his central goal of preventing Iran from ever making a nuclear weapon.The combined effect of both waterways being shut to commercial traffic from countries that neither the Iranians nor Houthis favour would be devastating.Napoleon Bonaparte’s remark that “the policy of a state lies in its geography” has never seemed more apt. Continue reading...