Morning briefing Tuesday 14th July

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 Times Radio's Morning Briefing on Tuesday the 14th of July. I'm Daryl Jackson. The U.S. military has carried out a third night in a row of airstrikes on Iran.

0:42In a statement, it said the attacks were launched under Donald Trump's direction. The U.S. president spoke from the Oval Office. We had a deal yesterday or the day before yesterday. It was all done. And then they broke up that deal immediately because they found out there was something in the deal they didn't like. And they're wired differently and we're not going to put up with it. We are just going forward. We're attacking them tonight. We're taking out all of their capability for anything having to do with the Hormuz Strait. And I think in the end, we will end up just controlling the whole thing.

1:16Meanwhile, the UAE's Ministry of Defence says one crew member has been killed and several have been injured after two tankers were hit by Iranian missiles in the Strait of Hormuz. Donald Trump says the US will reinstate its blockade of Iranian ports. The president also claims American guardians will impose a 20 % fee on cargo shipped through the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for keeping the vital trade routes safe. David Goldwyn, a former U.S. State Department special envoy, told Times Radio that the U.S. doesn't have the capability to do that. If the U.S. was able to militarily provide safe passage over Iranian objections, we wouldn't have needed a memorandum of understanding, we wouldn't have needed a ceasefire.

1:55But the reality is, is that we do not have the ability to provide safe passage by military means. We can certainly punish the Iranians. We can try and attack missile sites. We can try and attack drone factories, but they only have to hit one ship. We have to take out all of those offensive measures, and that has proven impossible to do. Andy Burnham says it's a concerning development that counter-terror police have taken over the investigation into Anne Whittacombe's murder. The prime minister in waitings called it an appalling act of violence against someone who has contributed so much to our national life.

2:25Yesterday, the Home Secretary revealed a 28-year-old man arrested was not known to the Prevent Anti-Extremism programme. The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, also admitted the security of former MPs and non-Westminster politicians is a concern. Kirsty Blackman, SNP MP and Chief Whip, who was part of the Speaker's Conference on MPs' Security, told Times Radio dangers in public life are increasing. The MPs that I know are much more likely to get threats, they're much more likely to face abusive behaviour than perhaps 10 years ago or 20 years ago when I was first involved in politics. Part of that is around the access, around social media, but part of it is, I don't know, there seems to have been a shift in some of the culture around it being OK to abuse politicians now.

3:14A fifth British national has been identified as a victim of the wildfire in southern Spain. Authorities say a British national and a Belgian couple were the latest people to be identified following the fire that swept across the Andalusia region last week. Thirteen people have so far died in the tragedy. And Sir Keir Starmer will continue his final visit to France as Prime Minister today, after Andy Burnham was effectively confirmed as his successor. The Prime Minister is expected to attend Bastille Day celebrations alongside other world leaders in Paris. and you can hear more on all of those stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

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