Middle East crisis live: US war on Iran has cost around $29bn, Pentagon says

Pete Hegseth and other officials appear before House to face grilling on Iran war expenditure and military operations

Iran has expanded its definition of the strait of Hormuz into a vast operational area" far wider than before the war, according to a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy in comments likely to anger the US.

The strait is no longer viewed as a narrow stretch around a handful of islands but instead has been greatly enlarged in scope and military significance, according to Mohammad Akbarzadeh, deputy political director of the IRGC Navy, the state-affiliated Fars news agency reported this morning.