British defence minister John Healey quit on Thursday over a months-long dispute over military spending, accusing ​Prime Minister Keir Starmer of failing to commit the resources that are needed to keep the country safe from mounting threats, Reuters reported.

The resignation, accompanied by a scathing critique of ‌the prime minister, is another indication that Starmer’s authority is draining away and exposes a crisis at the heart of the government – how it can ramp up defence spending when there is little money to spare and the welfare budget keeps rising.

Healey, a previously loyal minister, had been locked in talks with Starmer and finance minister Rachel Reeves over how to meet the additional military spending needed, delaying Britain’s Defence Investment Plan, which was due last year.

“You have ​been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country,” Healey said in his letter to Starmer.

Starmer responded ​with a letter expressing regret at Healey’s resignation and by appointing the security minister, Dan Jarvis, as defence secretary.

But around the same time ⁠as that appointment, a junior defence minister, Al Carns, also quit, saying the spending plans were “not built for the threat we face.”

The unexpected resignations are another blow to Starmer, ​who is likely to face a challenge to his leadership in the coming months.

Starmer’s health minister, Wes Streeting, resigned last month, accusing the prime minister of lacking a vision, and another challenger, Greater Manchester ​Mayor Andy Burnham, is attempting to return to frontline politics to launch a leadership bid.

Britain, historically a great military power, was left exposed in March when it was unable to immediately deploy an advanced warship to Cyprus after its air base there was hit by an Iranian-made drone, read the report.

Already contending with the U.S.pivot away from protecting Europe, Britain is now the third-biggest spender in NATO, having been overtaken by Germany in 2024, and the investment plan was aimed at bringing the ​armed forces to a state of “warfighting readiness.”

Starmer has pledged the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, aiming to lift it to 3% of national output in the next ​parliament, meaning tens of billions of pounds of additional money for defence.

But Healey said the plan he had seen would increase defence spending to only 2.68% in 2030, when it will already reach 2.6% next year.

That ‌compares to Germany’s ⁠plans to spend 3.7% of its GDP on defence by 2030. France is set to be lower than Britain at 2.5%.

General Richard Barrons, formerly commander of the Joint Forces Command and an author of a defence review in 2025 which was supposed to inspire the spending plan, told Reuters that he was angry to see the government fail to deliver.

“It’s clear they understand the risk that the UK is facing. And they say the right things about defence, and then they are guilty of failing to match those words with money,” he said.

Healey said Starmer’s proposed increase in funding ​for defence fell “well short” of what was needed ​to help the military meet increased threats ⁠from Russia as well as demands to increase its presence in the Arctic and the Middle East.

The government has struggled to find the extra cash at a time when the economy is stagnating and both debt and the overall tax burden are at or close to their highest level in decades.

Healey, who had previously served in the governments of former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, was widely liked by ​colleagues and the defence sector.

One ⁠Labour lawmaker said the resignation was a “hammer blow to Starmer.” Another said it was now inevitable Starmer would be forced out of his job within months. A third said it had taken the Labour defence team completely by surprise, Reuters reported.

About a quarter of Starmer’s lawmakers have called for him to step down after his Labour Party in early May suffered the heaviest losses for any British prime minister in local elections in ⁠more than ​three decades.

Healey’s departure, less than a month before a NATO summit, will not help.

Kevin Craven, the head of Britain’s ​defence lobby group ADS, said Healey’s resignation was a “damning reflection” of Starmer’s approach.

“The consequences for the UK, and indeed our allies, of getting our Defence Investment Plan wrong – as now seems certain – are of a magnitude far beyond our worst fears,” ​he said.

The United States launched new strikes against multiple targets overnight in Iran, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, as President Donald Trump vowed even more attacks if no peace deal is secured.

The ​military’s Central Command announced the strikes were complete about four hours after they began shortly after midnight in Tehran, saying in a post on X that the targets included “military surveillance capabilities, communication ‌systems, and air defense sites across Iran.”

“The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression,” Central Command said, Reuters reported.

The attacks were the latest development in an escalating exchange of strikes that threatens to reignite a full-scale war, which was paused in early April when the two sides agreed to a fragile ceasefire.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said early on Thursday they had launched counter-attacks on 18 U.S. military targets at airbases in Kuwait and Bahrain, and Bahrain’s interior ministry said sirens were sounded.

Iran’s top joint military command also warned it would ​fire on any vessel attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely closed for months. Iranian media reported that two ships were fired upon.

U.S. Central Command denied that the strait was closed, ​saying commercial ships were still transiting the strait despite Iran’s threats. Trump said earlier in the day that vessels have been crossing the strait without Iran’s permission as part ⁠of a clandestine military mission.

Trump told Fox News reporter Trey Yingst on Wednesday evening that the strikes would stop shortly but that he would “bomb the shit out of them” if Iran’s leaders did not sign an agreement with the ​U.S. immediately, Yingst wrote on X.

Iranian news agencies reported explosions in several cities, including Sirik, Kargan, Bandar Abbas, Minab, Varamin and Karaj.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth presented the move as an effort to force Iran into a deal to end ​the conflict, telling reporters during a visit to Central Command in Florida that the strikes would “advance our military interests and also enhance our diplomatic position.”

“We will strike them hard tonight, and hopefully Iran makes a good decision,” he said. “If we need to negotiate with bombs, we’ll negotiate with bombs.”

The United States and Iran have traded fire several times since the tentative ceasefire took hold, even as negotiators have unsuccessfully sought an end to the war, now in its fourth month. Trump has repeatedly said a deal is close, though there has ​been no sign of a breakthrough, while also threatening to resume bombing.

The U.S. military earlier targeted air defenses and radar sites around the Strait of Hormuz after a U.S. attack helicopter was downed near the strategic waterway on Monday. ​Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on U.S. bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain. A U.S. official said there was no significant damage.

Iran accused the U.S. of striking reservoirs that supplied drinking water to 10 villages and violating international law.

“This is not collateral ‌damage — it is ⁠a calculated war crime and a flagrant violation of human rights,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghei said.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump, who has threatened before to destroy Iran’s civilian infrastructure, did not say whether the coming strikes would target power plants and bridges.

Despite the belligerent language from both sides, there were signs of continuing diplomatic efforts.

A delegation from Qatar, which has been mediating between the United States and Iran, landed in Tehran on Wednesday to hold talks on the latest developments, Iranian media reported.

TRUMP CLAIMS A SECRET MISSION

The war has killed thousands and disrupted roughly one-fifth of the world’s supply of oil and natural gas, sending prices sharply higher. Iran has blocked traffic through the ​Strait of Hormuz, while the U.S. has maintained its ​own blockade on Iranian ports.

The conflict has become a ⁠political headache for the White House, with public polls showing Trump’s approval ratings sinking amid voter anger over high gasoline prices. Some Republicans have openly worried the war’s unpopularity could cost them control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.

Oil prices rose nearly $3 following Trump’s threat of escalation, and extended gains in early Asian trade on Thursday.

Trump told reporters at the ​White House on Wednesday that vessels carrying 100 million barrels of oil have defied Iran to travel through the strait as part of a secret military mission.

Hegseth ​said ships have been transiting the ⁠strait “in the middle of the night, protected by the United States in a way that Iran can’t stop, they can’t see it.”

Separately, the U.S. military said it disabled an oil tanker transporting Iranian crude in the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday for a second consecutive day.

FIGHTING IN LEBANON CONTINUES

Fighting in a parallel war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon has continued. Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 13 people on Wednesday, Lebanese security sources said, while Hezbollah claimed fresh attacks against ⁠Israeli forces.

Tehran’s demands ​include an end to Israel’s attacks in Lebanon, the lifting of sanctions on Iran, the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets, ​and recognition of its control of the strait.

Trump says Iran must end its restrictions on shipping through Hormuz. He also says any peace deal must ensure Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon.

Iran denies any such ambition.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors passed a U.S.-backed resolution on Wednesday telling Iran ​to declare its remaining enriched uranium stocks and let inspectors verify them. Iran branded the resolution as “political”.

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan has been suspended pending a vote by member states on his fate, the court’s governing ​body said on Monday, following a probe into accusations of sexual harassment made against him.

A diplomatic source ​briefed on the decision told Reuters the court’s governing body’s executive bureau has ruled ⁠Khan had committed serious misconduct following an 18-month-long probe into accusations that the prosecutor had non-consensual sexual interactions with ​a lawyer in his office. The source added that the bureau has recommended the prosecutor should be removed from ​office, Reuters reported.

The ICC’s governing body will send its conclusion on to all 125 ICC member states which will vote on Khan’s fate in a special session convened at a later date.

In its press release, the bureau said it had made a decision on the ​disciplinary proceedings against Khan and referred the matter to the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties, but did not give ​details about what it decided.

“The decision of the Bureau and the related documentation will remain confidential,” the press release said.

Khan’s lawyers ‌said ⁠in a statement that he rejected the decision in the strongest terms, and repeated he denies any wrongdoing. “The decision is unlawful, procedurally unfair and unsupported by evidence,” the statement said.

The International Criminal Court has been thrust into crisis by the investigations into Khan — its most prominent official — as well as by U.S. sanctions over the court’s actions, including arrest ​warrants for Israeli officials for ​alleged war crimes.

Khan has ⁠not been at the helm of the ICC office of the prosecutor since last May when he took a voluntary leave of absence pending the outcome of the ​inquiry. He is the first ICC prosecutor to be formally suspended from his role ​by the ⁠court’s oversight body.

Sources told Reuters earlier that a report by United Nations investigators found a “factual basis” for the allegations of sexual misconduct made by a female aide and that witness accounts “lend support to her claims”.

However, a second report by three ⁠judges ​that analysed the U.N. report found the evidence insufficient to establish ​the truth of the allegations “beyond a reasonable doubt”, they added.

Lawyers for Khan had told Reuters that the judges unanimously concluded that the “factual findings do ​not establish misconduct or breach of duty.”