John Phelan is leaving the Pentagon after months of tension with Pete Hegseth and other leaders. The tumult comes as the Navy has been engaged in war with Iran.
The Trump administration’s efforts to validate their incoherent war on Iran with some sort of Christian moral authority have led to a few, shall we say, interesting moments recently.
After bizarrely berating Pope Leo XIV as “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy”, Donald Trump posted (and later deleted) a meme of himself as a Christ-like figure healing the sick. The self-styled “secretary of war” Pete Hegseth then confused what he evidently thought was a biblical passage with a bastardised version of a speech from the Quentin Tarantino movie Pulp Fiction.
Perhaps most damagingly of all, the vice-president, JD Vance, took Leo’s carefully considered thoughts on the concept of the “just war” as an opportunity to lecture the pope on theology.
Spotlight | Starmer and the scandal of Mandelson’s vetting The British prime minister came under huge pressure to resign this week over what he knew about Peter Mandelson’s appointment as UK ambassador to the US, even though he had failed Foreign Office security vetting. Pippa Crerar, Jessica Elgot, Paul Lewis and Kiran Stacey spearhead our coverage
Science | The magic of mushrooms Fungi play a key role in ecosystems and storing carbon, so African scientists are championing the preservation of “funga” as much as flora and fauna, writes Whitney Bauck
Feature | When older relatives lurch to the far right It starts with a “back in my day” nostalgic meme – then suddenly your elders are sharing AI-generated “boomerslop” and repeating conspiracy theories … Simon Usborne speaks to families dealing with rightwing political rifts
Opinion | Our governments are woefully underprepared for the AI revolution Every wave of new tech has come with a doomsday scenario. But governments just aren’t planning a human response on the scale required, warns Larry Elliott
Culture | How the female gaze caught the attention of film, TV and fiction From passionate romantasy novels to premium television dramas, culture is bringing the agency, desires and interior lives of women to the fore. It’s proving good for business, but is this a permanent revolution, asks Deborah Linton
Iran said it had attacked and seized two cargo ships near the Strait of Hormuz, state media reported. Both sides were seeking to exert control in the waterway.
After months of impasse because of objections from Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, E.U. ambassadors took a critical step toward disbursing the money.
Vice President JD Vance was set to return to Pakistan for peace talks, U.S. officials said, though Iran has not confirmed that its negotiators will attend.
The Navy destroyers enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports carry weapons fielded after a U.S. warship was attacked and nearly sunk more than 25 years ago.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reversed limits on arms exports as Japan faces rising threats from China and unpredictability from its main ally, the United States.
An Iranian official vowed retaliation for the U.S. attack on a vessel near the Strait of Hormuz. But Iran’s president said the war “benefits no one,” as an American delegation prepared for more talks.
The government will debut a system to repay importers two months after the Supreme Court struck down tariffs at the heart of President Trump’s trade policy.
President Trump said the officials would arrive Monday evening in Pakistan, which has been mediating negotiations. The Strait of Hormuz remained largely closed on Sunday.
As Democrats try to find a way back to power in Washington, some see tax cuts as a quick and easy way to address affordability. The wonks are freaking out.
The military said it would tighten its grip on the waterway until the U.S. ended its blockade of Iranian ports, adding to the uncertainty over the strait.
Separate from the regular Iranian Navy, with boats that often go more than 115 miles per hour, it’s what a retired U.S. official calls a “disruptive force.”
President Trump is confronting a crisis that is not bending to his narrative of a “pretty reasonable” new regime in Iran and all-but-assured U.S. victory.
At the end of 2025, Patrick Wintour wrote a compelling essay for Guardian Weekly in which he described an interregnum in global history, where the rules-based order had been eroded and great powers once again jostled for control and influence.
This week’s edition sees Patrick return to a key aspect of that theme, the deteriorating global standing of the United States after a period of high-stakes brinkmanship with Iran. Donald Trump’s aborted threat that Iranian civilisation would “die … never to be brought back” unless it ceded to his demands exposed the limits of his apocalyptic foreign policy. It also pointed to the wider decline of American influence in a world where the US appears untrustworthy and strategically isolated.
Spotlight | Hungary’s new dawn After 16 years, Viktor Orbán’s populist grip on the country’s politics is over. But will his successor Péter Magyar be much different? Ashifa Kassam and Flora Garamvolgyi report amid jubilant scenes in Budapest
Science | The man who was bitten by snakes 200 times – on purpose Tim Friede put his “ass on the line” to help stop snakebite deaths – whose numbers appear to be rising amid the climate crisis. Oliver Milman met him
Feature | The brutal reality of life as a foreign student in the UK Universities in Britain rely on overseas applicants paying full fees, which has given rise to some unscrupulous recruiters and left many hopefuls and their families deep in debt. Samira Shackle investigates
Opinion | Netanyahu-ism has achieved nothing for Israelis It is the voting public in Israel that will settle their PM’s fate later this year. But, argues Jonathan Freedland, all they have heard are promises of “total victory” that prove to be hollow
Culture | Jim Jarmusch, the darling of indie cinema The 73-year-old has been at the cutting edge of US independent movies since the 1980s. As Father Mother Sister Brother opens in the UK, he tells Amy Raphael about grief, greed and “doing crazy shit” with Steve Coogan
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