President Donald Trump said Sunday that the strike on Iran he ultimately called off would have been the largest of its kind in decades.

“It was going to be a massive attack,” the Republican president told reporters aboard Air Force One. “It was going to be an attack that would have been, by far, the biggest attack since World War II.”

His comments followed a Truth Social post on Saturday in which Trump wrote that the U.S. military was “locked and loaded” for what he cast as an unprecedented campaign against Iran.

But, he said, he decided to hold back after appeals from Iran and several Middle Eastern allies, who suggested a deal was within reach.

Britain’s economy could be sent into a recession next year if the crucial Strait of Hormuz remains closed into 2027 amid a prolonged Iran war, according to a report.

The latest EY economic outlook warned that gross domestic product could slow sharply to 0.5 per cent this year and contract by 0.2 per cent next year if the Middle East conflict is not resolved and the vital waterway – through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas is normally carried – remains shut until early or mid-2027.

This adverse scenario could see inflation soar to 6.4 per cent by the end of 2026 due to surging oil and energy prices, the report cautioned.

But if the Strait of Hormuz reopens by the end of the third quarter of this year, EY’s base case forecast suggests growth will remain fairly resilient, with EY upgrading its outlook to 0.9 per cent expansion in 2026 and maintaining its prediction for 1.2 per cent growth in 2027.

Drivers have stolen an average of nearly £200,000 worth of fuel from UK forecourts every day since the start of the Iran oil crisis, according to analysis.

Fuel theft prevention company Forecourt Eye said incidents of fuel taken without payment soared by 20 per cent in the five months after the conflict began on 28 February, compared with the preceding five months.

The increase in pump prices driven by the war means the value of stolen fuel rose by 48 per cent over the same period, reaching an estimated daily average of £194,000 across the UK’s 8,359 forecourts.

Israeli airstrikes struck Gaza for a second consecutive day on Sunday, killing at least 18 Palestinians, medics reported. The renewed violence unfolded despite an announcement from US president Donald Trump of a breakthrough in efforts to implement last year’s ceasefire agreement.

From dawn, Israeli warplanes targeted Gaza City in the north, the central city of Deir al-Balah, and the southern area of Khan Younis, marking the highest daily death toll in weeks, according to Palestinian health officials.

President Trump’s assertion on Thursday, claiming Palestinian Hamas militants and other armed groups had agreed to disarm, had previously raised hopes of a turning point in efforts to end the conflict.

Iran executed ⁠two Iranian nationals ⁠this morning ​after ⁠accusing ⁠them ​of ⁠sending sensitive ‌military and security ‌location coordinates ‌to ⁠Israel during the Iran-war, the Fars ‌news ​agency ‌reported.

Riyadh has previously said it will only seek to acquire a nuclear weapon if its rival Iran develops one. With Trump’s war failing to curb Tehran’s nuclear programme, experts tell Suha Kidwai the new agreement could plunge the region into further instability.

US president Donald Trump said a deal will be reached with Iran on the Strait of Hormuz and an agreement to denuclearise Tehran will follow.

He said Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar had asked him to call off the strikes.

“When the allies ask to call it off, you’ve got to sort of say, well let’s see,” he said.

“The reason they asked is they think there’s a deal, there’s a deal on Hormuz and there will be a deal on the nuclear – or you might call it the denuclearisation of Iran, I call it the denuclearisation of Iran.”

US president Donald Trump suggested that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman played a particularly important role in him turning away from escalating the fight, according to reports.

The US president spoke by phone with the de facto leader of the kingdom on Saturday before announcing he was halting strikes that he later boasted would have one of the biggest US operations since World War II.

The crown prince conveyed that an escalation in fighting could have a severe impact on the global economy if Tehran responded to a new US bombardment by targeting some of the America’s Gulf allies, according to a person briefed on the call who was not authorised to comment publicly and requested anonymity.

Saudi officials, the person added, have underscored in their engagements with the Trump administration that the kingdom is in a good position to defend itself against further potential Iranian strikes — as are fellow energy titans Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — but that Kuwait could be more vulnerable to attacks by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said there has been an explosion in close proximity to a tanker off the coast of Oman.

The UKMTO yesterday said the incident took place about 20 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman. The ship and its crew were safe, the UKMTO added.