Sir Keir Starmer has so far refused to allow US aircraft to deploy to the British-owned base in the Chagos Islands, Diego Garcia, before a potential attack on Iran.

Don't expect a war to end as quickly this time.

The gambit was successful. At least twice, the president weighed ordering an attack on Iran, only to be dissuaded by aides from moving forward. But America now appears to be on the brink of war with Iran again. And this time, instead of acting as a deterrent, the Pentagon’s war plans are being used to draw up options for the president to consider.

If the United States attacks Iran, Tehran says it won’t just respond — it will target every American base and military asset across the Middle East. And this isn’t just a fiery speech or a social media post.

Bilateral agreements that were signed with UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan (although the latter has never ratified the agreement). They marked the first formal recognition of Israel, since Egypt did so in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. Since then, progress has stalled.

President Trump has not yet made a final decision about whether to strike Iran, sources told CBS News.

President Donald Trump faces one of the weightiest decisions of his second term as he orders the largest military buildup in the Middle East in 22 years.

In other words, as my colleague Josh Keating reported last week, “It really looks like we’re about to bomb Iran again.” What is Trump trying to accomplish? Trump’s core demand is a new nuclear deal to limit Iran’s uranium enrichment and block its path to a potential nuclear weapon.

Iran and the U.S. traded threats and warnings even as negotiators sat down to discuss a deal to avert a war, but Tehran says "we now have a clearer path ahead."