Oil prices rose on Tuesday as renewed fighting between the US and Iran heightened fears of disruptions to crude supplies from the oil-rich Middle East.

Brent crude futures gained 56 cents, or 0.6 per cent, to $91.05 a barrel by 0044 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 83 cents, or 1 per cent, to $86.59 a barrel.

JD Vance has said the US military is “big enough” to handle threats, despite reports of munitions shortages.

“Are you concerned about reports of weapon shortages, the strain on the forces? Is the U.S. Military big enough to handle threats around the world, including China?” Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson asked the US vice president in a new interview.

“Look, we’re clearly big enough to handle threats around the world, including China”, Vance replied. “As the president has said, we want to have a positive relationship with the PRC [People’s Republic of China]”.

A handful of high-profile conservative influencers have reportedly been working as undisclosed government employees and using their huge social media followings to praise US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and defend the Trump administration’s policies.

Maness and Schlichter have active government email addresses ending in “.civ” – meaning they are civilian employees – and are assigned to the Defense Department’s undersecretary for personnel and readiness, sources told the Post.

Donald Trump has threatened to “hit them hard” after the US and Iran exchanged fire for the first time in a month, warning that “there will be a response” following Iranian missile strikes on US military bases in Jordan.

He called Iran “officially a failed nation without an airforce, a navy or a currency”.

The latest escalation began when US forces struck two Iranian missile launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iran was preparing to deploy naval mines in the crucial waterway.

Iran retaliated by targeting US bases, while the UAE said it intercepted an Iranian drone.

The renewed fighting comes as Washington intensifies sanctions aimed at crippling Iran’s economy and seeks to loosen Tehran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz.

US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is stepping down after 18 months on the job, the White House said Monday, in the latest departure of a top military leader during the Trump administration.

Driscoll and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s working relationship had endured months of tension during his time in the job, reported Reuters and CNN.

No reason was given for the departure of Driscoll, who is a friend of Vice President JD Vance, but tensions with Hegseth have been widely reported. It marks the latest in a series of shakeups of the military leadership, with the Army especially seeing major upheaval.

Retired US Army Major General Randy Manner has warned that the US is “much weaker than we were even before 9/11”.

Manner spoke out against US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for reportedly purging top Pentagon officials.

“Quite frankly, the secretary of defense has got to go,” Manner told CNN’s Erin Burnett.

Manner’s comments come as Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned following reported tensions with Hegseth.

When asked what JD Vance has learned from going to war with Iran, the US vice president said the Middle Eastern country’s leadership is “really crazy.”

“I think what I’ve learned is, these guys are really, really — meaning the leadership of the country — they’re really crazy.

“And they are willing to do anything, and I think not with a whole lot of strategic wisdom behind it, in order to accomplish as little flow of oil and gas as possible”, Vance told Fox News.

Iran has choked off the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil waterway in the Middle East, after the US and Israel began launching strikes against the country in late February.

Donald Trump has called the ongoing conflict in Iran a “relatively little war.”

“This is a relatively little war for us. This is not a big war”, the US president said from the Oval Office Monday.

Trump’s comments come as the war heads into its seventh month.

Donald Trump has vowed to “hit Iran hard” after fighting broke out between the US and Tehran for the first time in a month.

Missiles and a drone were fired by Washington at Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday night, before Iran targeted US military bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates in response.

US Central Command said it took “limited, precise action” on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “minelaying forces” in the shipping channel, where Mr Trump previously claimed the US Navy had cleared all mines.

At least three people were killed in the attack, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, with two of the dead said to be part of the Revolutionary Guards Navy.