Pete Hegseth

Brent crude futures rose nearly 3% to $94 a barrel, which in turn prompted a selloff in government bonds

Beijing sent no high-level political representation to the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s leading defence and security summit

Trump’s most influential cabinet members and titans of industry made the trip on Air Force One

Evidence suggests Iran has restored operational access to 30 of 33 missile sites it maintains along Strait of Hormuz

White House is turning to rhetorical leaps as US president tries to put the biggest political crisis of his presidency behind him

As he revels in a multitasking role, the secretary of state has proven to be the president’s slickest advocate - and inspired talk of a future run for the White House’s top job

Iran renews drone and missile attacks on United Arab Emirates

Shouts of ‘war criminal’ and ‘despicable’ from protesters heard during defence secretary’s opening statement

Trump says he will not lift blockade on Iranian ports despite oil prices hitting wartime high due to Strait of Hormuz closure

His speech to White House correspondents’ dinner was keenly awaited, but controversy dissolved when gunfire began

His opposition to Donald Trump and the war on Iran is only a part of what makes Leo a unique and important figure in our time

UK and Spain rebuff reports of punishment by US over war stance as clashes continue in Lebanon

Memo also includes option to consider reassessing US diplomatic support for long-standing European ‘imperial possessions’ such as the Falkland Islands

The US secretary of war has repeatedly invoked God’s will to legitimise military aggression

Right before Pope Leo was elected, Trump put out a meme of himself as the pope

In the town forever linked to a crashed object in 1947, the truth is out there – between the myth and merch

Rite & Reason: In criticising the pope so harshly, Donald Trump seems to have lost the run of himself

Pontiff said he will ‘continue to speak out loudly against war’

A friend reminded me of a four-word letter to The Irish Times Gabriel Rosenstock wrote in 2007, when US troops were pouring into Iraq: ‘Cúrsaí ola, cúrsaí fola’

Let’s start our journey into the mind of the Trump administration with a blue fish

Continued strikes by Israel against militant group threaten to derail US-Iran ceasefire agreement negotiations

Long history of bloody US bombing campaigns began over Japanese cities during second World War

France’s Macron accuses Donald Trump of undermining Nato amid mixed messages over US-Israel conflict

Iranian Revolutionary Guards pledge to target US companies in region; Israel to demolish homes in Lebanon

No one at the Pentagon will curb his desire to flaunt US military might – certainly not the aggro Pete Hegseth

US president’s Iran war is straining Republican loyalty, leaving Vance both heir‑apparent and uneasy messenger in a moment of political risk

Senate nominee in Texas James Talarico says ‘Christian nationalism kills’ in response to Brooks Potteiger remark

Binyamin Netanyahu seems intent on obliterating Israel’s international standing

In Memphis it was possible to discern the key points that the Trump administration will use in advance of November’s midterm elections

The party had a euphoric vibe – until two famous guests had a bristling smackdown

White House accuses its own counterintelligence head of repeating ‘false claim’ aired by Democrats

Trump is at heart not merely cruel but a coward

Being deemed close to the boss lets you get away with murder – until it doesn’t

Unthinkable: Committing publicly to a moral standpoint can change you for the better, or the worse

Hollywood is used to being in the international persuasion business. Donald Trump’s triumphalist warmonger videos change that

US defense secretary Pete Hegseth’s bellicose and vengeful rhetoric describing the war in Iran grew out of his experience in Iraq

Some experts believe Iran has prepared for a six-month campaign of drone attacks

Administration officials are growing pessimistic about the lack of a clear strategy, but have been careful not to express that directly to the president

One Congress member is even apparently tabling a Bill to allow the US president to serve a third term

Donald Trump considers easing sanctions on Russia as part of package of options to combat spiking ‌global oil prices