LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) - Britain said on Tuesday it would contribute autonomous mine-hunting equipment, Typhoon fighter jets and the warship HMS Dragon to a multinational defensive mission aimed at securing shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Defence minister John Healey announced the commitment during a virtual summit with more than 40 of his counterparts from other nations involved in the mission, which he said would become operational when conditions allowed.

By Shariq Khan and Scott DiSavino

NEW YORK, May 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy's statistical arm on Tuesday said it assumes that the Strait of Hormuz will be effectively shut through late May and traffic will resume gradually from next month, prompting the agency to hike its forecasts for U.S. motor fuel prices.

Hollywood should be ashamed of the way it has treated stars like Susan Sarandon, Javier Bardem and Mark Ruffalo for opposing Israel's war in Gaza, a member of the Cannes Film Festival jury said Tuesday, with big studios conspicuously absent this year.

Paul Laverty, who wrote two films that won Cannes' top prize, was cheered as he lambasted the studios and praised the French festival for using an image of Sarandon in "Thelma and Louise" for its poster this year.

By Feras Dalatey

DUBAI, May 12 (Reuters) - Trade between the United Arab Emirates and Syria more than doubled in 2025 and has further to grow, a UAE minister said on Tuesday, addressing a Damascus investment forum that signalled rapidly warming ties between the states.

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani Al Zeyoudi told the first Syrian-Emirati Investment Forum that non-oil trade between the United Arab Emirates and Syria reached a record $1.4 billion in 2025, up 132% from the previous year. He said the increase opens prospects for expanding bilateral trade.

The Pentagon said Tuesday the cost of the war with Iran had climbed to nearly $29 billion, as President Donald Trump faced mounting scrutiny over the conflict and its impact on US military readiness.

The figure, revealed during a budget hearing on Capitol Hill, is about $4 billion higher than the department's previous estimate given two weeks ago.

Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine and Pentagon finance chief Jules Hurst III were asked about the war's price tag during testimony on the administration's $1.5 trillion 2027 defense budget request.

Iran's leadership is betting it can outlast an under-pressure Donald Trump in its peace negotiations with Washington, but its defiance risks renewed military confrontation and further stoking domestic tensions, analysts say.

With a shaky ceasefire holding almost two-and-a-half months after the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic began, the US president has angrily dismissed Iran's responses to a US proposal for a settlement, warning the truce is on its last legs.

WASHINGTON, May 12 (Reuters) - The United States' war in Iran has ​cost $29 billion so far, a senior Pentagon official said on Tuesday, an increase of $4 billion from an estimate provided late last month.

Jules Hurst, who is performing the duties of the ​comptroller, told lawmakers that the cost included updated repair and replacement of equipment and operational costs.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali, Phil Stewart and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

GENEVA, May 12 (Reuters) - Seventy children have been killed in the occupied Palestinian territories excluding Gaza since early 2025, amounting to around one a week, while over 800 have been injured, the U.N. children's agency said on Tuesday.

Most of those killed or injured in the West Bank and East Jerusalem were hit by live ammunition but others were stabbed, beaten or pepper-sprayed, UNICEF said.

By Francois Murphy

VIENNA, May 12 (Reuters) - The Eurovision Song Contest gets off to a tense start in Vienna on Tuesday with a protest due to be held hours before the first semi-final featuring Israel, whose attendance prompted five countries to boycott over the Gaza war.

The contest, traditionally a good-natured celebration of pop music and high camp now in its 70th year, has become mired in crisis over Israel's military offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023.

Iran's chief negotiator said Tuesday that Washington must accept Tehran's latest peace plan or face failure, after US President Donald Trump warned the truce in the Middle East war was on the brink of collapse.

The war, which erupted more than two months ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has spread throughout the Middle East and roiled the global economy despite the ceasefire, impacting hundreds of millions worldwide.

Both sides have refused to make concessions and repeatedly threatened to resume fighting, but neither appears willing to return to all-out war.