The US has launched new strikes against targets in Iran for the second consecutive day, following through on Donald Trump’s promise to “hit them hard again” as a two-month-old ceasefire appears close to collapse.US Central Command announced in a statement that forces began “launching additional self-defence strikes today at 5:15 p.m. ET [10.15pm UK time on Wednesday] against multiple targets in Iran at the Commander in Chief’s direction”.The two days of strikes followed the downing of a US Apache helicopter over the strait of Hormuz, which the US president has blamed on Iran.The threats came hours after the two sides had traded fire, drawing neighbouring Gulf states back into an on-and-off war that has consumed the region since late February.“We hit them hard yesterday and we’re going to hit them hard again today,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.Trump, seemingly frustrated by the lack of progress in talks to turn a temporary ceasefire into a permanent truce, added: “We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along, they keep playing us for suckers.”US strikes Iran for second day, as ceasefire appears close to collapseDefense secretary Pete Hegseth warned US Central Command will “be busy tonight” in order to “advance our military interests and enhance our diplomatic position”.Hegseth said US bombs would be “dropping on key facilities in Iran”, adding: “That’s not because we want to restart anything we don’t have to restart. That’s because the war department is prepared to set the terms to ensure that we get the kind of terms that President Trump expects.”Read the full storyTrump says ‘I love the inflation’ as rate rises to 4.2%Donald Trump said “I love the inflation” after new data showed that inflation jumped to an annual rate of 4.2% in May, the third consecutive monthly increase since the start of the Iran war and a three-year high.Speaking from the White House on Wednesday, the US president said that he was not concerned about inflation because of recent developments in the conflict.Read the full storyTrump presses on with plan to install Bill Pulte as acting intelligence chiefDonald Trump is pushing ahead with his controversial plan to install political loyalist Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence, a move that has sparked bipartisan congressional backlash and imperiled the reauthorization of a powerful surveillance law set to expire at the end of this week.Read the full storyDemocrats rally round Platner in Maine as Trump reaffirms grip on GOP after primariesProgressives rallied round the controversial Graham Platner after his primary victory in Maine on Tuesday, while Donald Trump again exerted his grip on the Republican party, helping to defeat a politician who had pushed for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.Read the full storyOnly one in 10 Europeans now see US as an ally, survey suggestsEuropean confidence in an American “security guarantee” has hit a historic low, a survey suggests, with only one in 10 people across 15 countries seeing the US as an ally and majorities in all doubting it would come to their aid if they were attacked.Read the full storyUFC champion says he has been banned from White House fight for criticizing TrumpThe only current US men’s UFC champion says he has been barred from Sunday’s fight card on the south lawn of the White House because he dared to criticize Donald Trump, Israel and Jeffrey Epstein.On Tuesday night, middleweight champion Sean Strickland wrote on Twitter/X that he had been informed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that he had not been cleared to attend the event by the White House.Read the full storyHouse panel to seek testimony from Alan Dershowitz about Jeffrey EpsteinRepresentative James Comer, the Republican who chairs the House committee on oversight and government reform, announced that he would be asking Alan Dershowitz, Jeffrey Epstein’s former attorney, to appear before the panel as part of its investigation into the late sex offender.Read the full storyWhat else happened today: