Damien McElroy

How the US decided to attack Iran. thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026…

Great to see the White Helmets being recognised and Jo Cox being remembered. Thank you @DavidTaylor85

Driven by a world that has become dangerous, resilience can, and should, be the new lifelong learning. Opinion | Damien McElroy @ddamned via @TheNationalNews #Echobox=1773667302" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">thenationalnews.com/opinion/commen…

This is the actual headline of a TV channel. Shameful. Since when do we put the religion of anyone in a headline? Islamophobia is rampant and out of control in Britain

France leads a warning of grave concern as its talks process flounders and war intensifies. 3/3 thenationalnews.com/news/europe/20…

We are gravely concerned by the escalating violence in Lebanon and call for meaningful engagement by Israeli and Lebanese representatives to negotiate a sustainable political solution. We strongly support initiatives to facilitate talks. 2/3 gov.uk/government/new…

Joint statement by the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom on the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. 1/3

Tonight attacks on Al Rashid Hotel in Baghdad & US Embassy in Green Zone in Baghdad and Victory base in BIAP plus attacks on Erbil mean an all out war by the Iraqi militias to broaden the conflict and engulf the country in the current military conflict.

Saudi Aramco is loading simultaneously 5 crude oil tankers in Yanbu and Al Mujjaiz terminals on the Red Sea coast. I don’t think that’s happened ever before.

The always clinical and readable @chedwardes nails the write up of a timely encounter with @YvetteCooperMP

With special thanks once again to @AlaricN of @business for citing our research in today's news article, titled: "Two Oil Tankers Seen at Kharg After Strikes, Satellite Firm Says" #OOTT #Iran #Tankers bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

One-off or sign of easing? Two tankers transporting LPG (think the butane canisters) have crossed the Strait of Hormuz in the last few hours on the way to India. The crossing happened after gov-to-gov talks between Tehran and New Delhi. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

@SkyNews @skygillian @AvaSantina @ddamned What a treat! Can't beat a good natter over the morning papers. Just hope there’s more sense than the usual nonsense! What do we reckon will top the headlines this time?

HMS Dragon has been equipped with ammunition and vital supplies, ensuring full operational readiness. The mission will strengthen capability in the Eastern Mediterranean, ensuring our people are protected and that British interests are defended.

Western official pressure Iraq to stop attacks from its territory: Damien McElroy reports from London:Western officials are pressuring th... thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026…

An estimated 110,000 of the 132,000 British nationals who have registered with the Foreign Office have signed up in the UAE thenationalnews.com/news/uk/2026/0…

The article correctly highlights the potential erosion of the Islamic Republic’s monopoly on violence, a cornerstone of its survival since 1979. However, there is another crucial pillar of regime control that deserves emphasis: fear. For decades, the Islamic Republic has not relied solely on physical force, but on the systematic cultivation of fear through propaganda, arbitrary detention, public executions, and periodic waves of spectacular violence designed to deter collective action. Violence was not simply repression; it was psychological warfare meant to reinforce the perception that resistance was futile. What may be changing now is not merely the regime’s capacity for violence, but its ability to instill fear. The events of January, when thousands of Iranians were slaughtered in just two days, were intended to reassert dominance through shock and terror. Instead, they may have produced the opposite effect. When people continue to resist despite mass slaughter, it signals that fear is losing its grip. A regime can survive hatred; it cannot survive when its population ceases to be afraid. Violence, when overused, can exhaust its own effectiveness. If repression no longer restores deterrence but instead deepens public resolve, then the regime’s traditional instrument of control begins to break down. That appears to be the deeper structural shift unfolding beneath the current military confrontation. If, as the article suggests, Operation “Epic Fury” is eroding the regime’s external monopoly on violence, and if domestically the population has already shed its fear, then the Islamic Republic faces a dual crisis: weakened coercive supremacy from above and declining psychological control from below. At that point, the decisive variable becomes mass mobilization. When people are summoned to the streets in sufficient numbers, and if they believe the regime can no longer guarantee its own survival, the final chapter of the system may begin. History shows that authoritarian regimes rarely collapse gradually; they appear immovable until, suddenly, they are not. The moment fear evaporates is often the moment change accelerates.

I took part in the Iftar. It is a great honor for me. For the thirteenth Ramadan in a row, the Muslim community of Ukraine and the Crimean Tatar people are marking it under difficult conditions – under Russian aggression and Russian strikes. We very much hope that next year Ramadan will be celebrated in peace. And this is what we wish for all peoples who are now in danger – in war. We see what is happening in the Middle East and the Gulf region. We hope that the regime in Iran does not prevail, because it is an anti-human regime, and it spreads war across virtually its entire region – it is important that people and countries succeed in defending themselves and that the war there does not drag on. I thank every state that truly helps protect life – both our lives here in Ukraine and the lives of other peoples. Let us remember: we are all confronting the same evil – those who destroy life, those who despise people. It is no coincidence that Moscow and the regime in Iran have been so close. What unites them is their lack of respect for people. All of us in Europe and in the world must be effective in defending against such regimes – we must be effective so that life prevails. May it be so. Thank you all. We will certainly not forget our people in occupation and in captivity. And we are doing everything so that normal human values prevail over Russian evil.

I have just come off the phone with the Government, who confirmed that they will award the New Medium Helicopter contract to Leonardo in Yeovil. ⬇️

#Statement | The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia condemns and denounces in strongest terms the blatant Iranian aggression and the flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and Jordan. The Kingdom affirms its full solidarity with and unwavering support for the brotherly countries, and its readiness to place all its capabilities at their disposal in support of any measures they may undertake. It also warns of the grave consequences resulting from the continued violation of states’ sovereignty and the principles of international law.