The Secretary of State, Pete Hegeseth, has also requested an urgent $87bn in funding for the Pentagon from Congress.

US military says it's launched an 11th night of strikes on Iran as they vie for control of choked-off Strait of Hormuz.

July 22 (UPI) -- The United States and Iran traded attacks overnight and into Wednesday morning as Washington sent mixed signals about prospects for diplomacy.

July 22 (UPI) -- The United States and Iran traded attacks for an 11th consecutive night, with the U.S. military striking targets to degrade Iran's ability to threaten ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz and Iran retaliating early Wednesday with claimed strikes on U.S. bases in the region.

The US strikes came as Trump ruled out talks with Iran, while diplomatic efforts to revive a collapsed ceasefire showed little progress.

Iran's interior minister held closed-door talks with Pakistan's top leadership as Islamabad sought to revive the broken interim deal with Washington. The outreach unfolded as US strikes, Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and regional unrest exposed the deal's collapse.

Beirut is working towards a "complete Israeli withdrawal" from areas it occupies, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Wednesday on a visit to a village where Lebanon's army recently deployed.…

WASHINGTON, July 21 - The U.S. military said late on Tuesday it ended its latest round of strikes on Iran that marked the 11th consecutive night of American attacks. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.