'Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today,' Donald Trump warns Iran

He said it was a "great honour" to kill the Islamic Republic's leadership and forces - and told the world: "Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today.

His social media post in full read: "We are totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran, militarily, economically, and otherwise, yet, if you read the failing New York Times, you would incorrectly think that we are not winning.

"Iran's navy is gone, their air force is no longer, missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated, and their leaders have been wiped from the face of the earth.

"We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time - watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today.

"They've been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them.

"What a great honour it is to do so!"

His deadly threat came amid a desperate search for as many as six American service personnel after a US military plane crashed over Iraq.

An Iran-backed terror group claimed to have shot down a KC-135 refuelling aircraft in a statement on Friday morning.

It also followed his assessment of reports that Iran's new Ayatollah may be wounded or even in a coma.

Mojtaba Khamenei is "probably" alive but "damaged", the President said.

In the mysteriously absent Supreme Leader's first statement since his "election", which was read out by a newsreader on state TV, he said Iran would continue blocking the Strait of Hormuz.

The closure of the vital waterway, as well as several attacks on oil tankers stranded in the neighbouring Gulf, has seen oil prices shoot to their highest levels since summer 2022, a few months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine started.

In an attempt to calm markets and lower the price, the International Energy Agency's 32 countries, including Britain, have agreed to trigger an emergency release of oil reserves.

Then last night, the US Treasury lifted sanctions on Russian oil already at sea.

The exemptions will remain in place until April 11 and are expected to add hundreds of millions of barrels of crude to global markets.

Treasury chief Scott Bessent admitted Moscow would benefit from the move.

Though he vowed it would "not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian Government, which derives the majority of its energy revenue from taxes assessed at the point of extraction" - rather than on sales of already-extracted oil.

Around 130 million barrels of Russian oil is at sea at present.

Russia's presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev claimed further easing on restrictions was "inevitable, despite resistance from some Brussels bureaucrats".

While the Russians were crowing at their potential oil windfall, Britain's Defence Secretary warned Vladimir Putin’s "hidden hand" was behind some of Iran's tactics.

He said the oil money "helps him with a fresh supply of funds for his brutal war in Ukraine".

Mr Healey was briefed on British action in the conflict on a visit to Northwood military HQ in Hertfordshire on Thursday.

Asked on Thursday whether the UK would be prepared to help patrol the Strait of Hormuz, the Defence Secretary said it was "early days" and insisted there was an "international imperative" to resolve the situation.

He would also have been briefed on the news that British troops came under attack after an Iranian drone swarm targeted a joint UK-US base in Iraq on Wednesday.