Amid its escalating conflict with Israel, in which the US has also now taken part by bombing three key nuclear installations, Iran has warned that it may take the unprecedented step of closing the Strait of Hormuz.

The US on Sunday used the air force’s B-2 Spirit Stealth bombers to unleash “bunker buster” bombs on the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant – Iran’s most secretive and heavily protected nuclear facility buried beneath a mountain.

Seventy-two years ago, in August 1953, the US and the United Kingdom orchestrated a covert operation to depose Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh.