Morning briefing Monday 2nd March

0:00This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwCWC. Staying competitive means getting ahead, not just keeping up. So how do business leaders cut through the noise and focus on what really matters. PwC takes you further with tech, from optimising the systems that put your data to work, to scaling AI from proof of concept to competitive edge. PwC helps you meet tomorrow's tech demands, so you can compete at a speed that rewrites the rules. Discover more at pwc.co.uk. This is the Times Radio Morning Briefing for Monday 2nd March. A suspected drone strike has hit RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus with no reported casualties.

0:44It came just hours after the UK agreed to let the US use British bases for defensive strikes against Iranian missile sites. Sakhir Starmer says the move is for a specific and limited defensive purpose, to prevent attacks threatening civilians and to save British lives. Michael Evans is a former defence editor of The Times. It is a very, very limited, restrictive change of mind by the Prime Minister, but nevertheless, I think quite an important one. Allies in the Middle East, countries that are currently under attack by Iran, they feel that if British bases could be available for the Americans, then it will be easier for them, in other words, shorter distances to cover.

1:24A White House official has said the US president will talk to Iranian leaders eventually. It's after Donald Trump suggested that those hoping to replace the killed Supreme Leader wanted dialogue. Yasmin El-Gamal is a former Middle East advisor to the Pentagon. He's been heavily influenced by the Israelis to strike and to enter into these military operations as a way to pressure the Iranians and hope that a new leadership, possibly a bit more scared, a bit more intimidated than the old leadership, would come to the table and give him the deal that he wants. Iran's president says he and two other officials will lead the country in the short term.

2:04Masood Pazeshkin has vowed revenge after the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in the US-Israeli airstrikes on Saturday morning. Omid Mamarian is an Iranian journalist and an analyst who lives in New York. How does he assess Iran's position? They are militarily very much disadvantaged. They don't have any chance fighting against the US, Israel and other countries. So what they count on is to create more and more harm for Israel and the US in particular when it comes to, for example, the global market energy. Oil prices have surged as tensions in Iran escalate, with Brent crude rising 13 % to around$82 a barrel.

2:46While Iran isn't a major producer, the risk to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about a fifth of global supply, is driving market concern. Britain is drawing up plans for one of the biggest evacuations in its history. Around 94 ,000 British people could be pulled out of the Middle East, according to the Foreign Office. The Home Secretary will announce today that people granted asylum in the UK will have their refugee status reviewed every 30 months. Shabana Mahmood will say that refugees, whose countries are deemed safe, will be expected to return home. Overnight curfews on social media are among the measures being considered by ministers to keep children safe online.

3:28Consultation on a potential ban for under-16s is being launched today. There's more on all these stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

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