First set foot on the moon. The mayor of new york declares a local emergency, as two thirds of the United States prepares for a dangerous heatwave. Good morning. Our weather is set to get hotter next week. In fact, very hot for some of us, but were not there yet. Still a bit of rain to come this weekend. Ive got yourfull forecast coming up. In sport, rory mcilroy falls agonisingly short at the open as he misses the cut by one shot in front of home support at royal portrush in Northern Ireland. Its saturday the 20th ofjuly. Our top story uk ships have been warned by the government to stay away from the persian gulf, after Iranian Armed forces seized a british tanker yesterday. Late last night, the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, said therell be serious consequences if the vessel and its 23 crew arent quickly released, but added that military options are not being considered. It comes after weeks of escalating tensions in the region as simon jones reports. Seized in a major escalation of tensions, the stena impero, a british flagged tanker and its 23 crew members from india, russia, latvia and the philippines now in the hands of iran after it was surrounded by four boats and a helicopter. This is completely unacceptable. Freedom of navigation must be maintained. We will respond in a way that is considered but robust. And we are absolutely clear that if this situation is not resolved quickly, there will be serious consequences. The tanker was tracked leaving the united arab emirates, heading north, staying well inside the International Waters of the gulf. But just after three oclock yesterday afternoon, the 30,000 tonne vessel makes an abrupt change of course, its last known movement inside iranian waters. An announcement on iranian tv claimed the tanker had failed to respect International Maritime rules. Its british operator says thats not true. London is now urging uk ships to stay out of the area for the time being. There is no alternative route in and out of the gulf, so if this is to endure then clearly its going to impact on our trade routes, trading patterns and ultimately the price of those goods. The us president is rallying to britains support. We have a lot of ships there that are warships and well talk to the uk and we have no written agreement, but we have an agreement. Theyve been a very great ally of ours. A second british owned tanker, the mesdar, was boarded by armed guards but has now been allowed to continue on its journey. Irans actions are believed to be in response to this, the Royal Marines helping to seize an iranian supertanker off the coast of gibraltar earlier this month. Britain believed it was Smuggling Oil to syria in violation of eu sanctions. Iran accused london of piracy. A meeting of the governments emergency committee, cobra, went on late into the night. The big question now who will make the next move . Simonjones is outside the Foreign Office in Central London for us this morning. We had that cobra meeting as you mentioned late last night with comments from donald trump. There is no denying, this is a major diplomatic situation. Yes, and tensions are very much escalating. We had a statement from the foreign 0ffice we had a statement from the Foreign Office here in the early hours of this morning saying they remain deeply concerned about the situation, so much so that they are advising british ships not to sail in that area for the moment and that could cause a real headache for oil firms. Also a warning of serious consequences if this issue is not resolved quickly. Now, the foreign 0ffice havent spelt out exacting what they mean by that, butjeremy hunt said they are not talking about a military options but about diplomacy. He has tried to contact his iranian counterpart but was unable him yesterday. I understand there will be an effort to have a conversation today, but ultimately, the tensions are growing. We have had a very different story about the situation from tehran this morning. It claims this british tanker was involved in an accident with an iranian fishing boat and it claims that the tanker then failed to respond to an emergency call and thatis respond to an emergency call and that is why it was impounded. We are told the tanker has been taken back told the tanker has been taken back toa told the tanker has been taken back to a port in iran, all 23 crew members remain on board and that will be the case while an investigation continues, but no timescale for that. Ultimately, investigation continues, but no timescale forthat. Ultimately, it seems this may not be resolved quickly and saw the new Prime Minister coming in next week may find that he has a supertanker sized problem to resolve. Find that he has a supertanker sized problem to resolve. For the moment, thank you. The cost of the new £56 billion high speed rail project hs2 could increase by another 30 billion. The Financial Times says that allan cook, who took over as chair of the High Speed Railway last december, has warned that the scheme cant be delivered within budget. The phrase poor doors is used to describe different entrances for social housing tenants, with the intention of separating them from private residents who live in new build housing developments. The communities secretary, james brokenshire, said he was appalled by some examples of segregation he has seen. Ministers have promised to put an end to the practice in england, by introducing new planning measures to create more inclusive housing. This sense of separation, the sense of segregation, that, for me, is completely unacceptable and why i think it is right that we take action to ensure that cannot continue, that cannot happen and therefore everyone has the same form of access regardless of the type of home that they live in. Authorities in new york city are urging people to stay cool and safe as record breaking temperatures grip the area. Temperatures are set to hit 100 degrees fahrenheit thats 38 celsius over the weekend. The heatwave could affect about 200 Million People in major cities like new york and washington. Ramzan karmali reports. The race to stay cool in new york city. Extreme hot weather is already starting to be felt here and though it may look like fun at the pool, the citys mayor declared a local emergency. The message i want to keep getting across to all new yorkers is take this weather seriously. Weve not seen temperatures like this in at least seven years. We havent seen this many concentrated hot days in a long, long time. Take this very seriously. People are being advised to stay indoors as much as possible over the weekend and avoid exposure to the heat. New yorks triathlon was due to take place on sunday but was cancelled due to the extreme weather conditions athletes would have likely faced. But the heat is on, notjust in the big apple. Were going to see dew points, which is a way to measure the amount of moisture in the air, well into the 70s. The highest its ever been in boston is 78 dew point and were going to approach that here over the next couple of days, so you combine that with a temperature between 95 and 100 degrees, it will feel between 102 and 110 degrees. And its notjust the us where the heat will be felt. In montreal, the humidity could make it feel like 45 degrees. The world experienced its hottest june on record last month and weve experienced more frequent heat waves. This, experts say, is down to climate change. This latest heatwave is likely to last the whole weekend, but there will be some quick relief as temperatures are set to fall rapidly early next week. Local Authority Services such as bin collections would be brought back under the control of councils, as part of new plans being announced by labour this morning. The party says it wants councils in england to stop the practice of outsourcing services to private firms within five years, if it wins the next election. Visitors to chester zoo got an extra special surprise when a critically endangered chimpanzee was born right in front of them. Imagine witnessing this. The baby primate was born to mother alice, a west african chimpanzee, as zoo guests watched. Bosses say the newborn, which is yet to be named, is in good health and shes spending time bonding with the rest of the chimps. Those are the main stories this morning. Its nine minutes past eight. The weather for the weekend coming up later along with all the sports news but for now, lets go back to one of our main stories this morning. The foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, has warned of serious consequences if iran does not release the british tanker seized in the gulf. It comes after weeks of escalating tensions in the region. We can speak now to the author and journalist tim marshall whos written extensively on Foreign Relations with iran and joins us from our london newsroom. Good morning to you. What is your insta nt good morning to you. What is your instant reaction to whats happening now, these escalating tensions . That its part of a continuum and the trajectory is very negative. You have to ask yourself the question, is freedom of navigation in International Waters a fighting matter . And the answer to that question is yes. When you see the trajectory is very negative, what do you think the implications of this are . This in the short term can be resolved. The Iranian Foreign minister was on a plane yesterday which is why the foreign secretary couldnt get hold of him. Lets assume they talk today. They can hopefully resolve it, although i doubt it in the short term. I mean, there is even a scenario where the british say, well, the grace one tanker which was seized by the british off the gibraltar coast, yes, that will now be able to go on its way back to iran and you will 110w its way back to iran and you will now release this tanker. I do not think that will happen because that looks like blackmail by the iranians, but that is one of the ways forward. In the medium term, though, when i see the trajectory, this is going to continue because the wider issue is that iran is hurting so badly because of sanctions, the americans have pulled out of the nuclear deal, the europeans are not investing in iran as they were supposed to in the nuclear deal and consequently iran thinks, what have we got to lose . They have warned, if we cannot sell oui they have warned, if we cannot sell our oil around the world, we will stop people getting the oil in and out of the strait of hormuz. That is what i mean by the trajectory, it is entirely negative. If we take it one step further, looking at the european and us relations, there must be collaboration here to resolve the situation. That is what i meant about freedom of navigation being a fighting matter. It is an attack on all shipping to take a ship from International Waters which is clearly what has happened. With iranians, its a bit threadbare, this idea that they were in the wrong shipping lane in International Waters, that they had turned off their transponder, they need to have something that makes them not look like pirates. But a lot of countries, japan, china, get most of their Energy Sources from that route. They will also want an end to this sort of piracy. The americans have got something called operation sentinel. The brits and the americans are now putting extra ships into patrol to protect the shipping. It is in other peoples interests possibly to join that. That is where we might be heading, but then you have an awful lot of warships ina but then you have an awful lot of warships in a very, very narrow amount of water. It is extremely dangerous times and, as i said, the iranians that might want to compromise are not necessarily in charge of iran. The revolutionary guards in the Supreme Leader is. How does that play out, then . This is the trajectory. It is heading towards a possible conflict. You will notice that when the foreign secretary was asked, he was asked do you rule out military intervention at this point . He did not actually rule it out. Yes, he said we are not considering military measures, which i believe, but he did not rule it out down the line. What happened in the 1980s, there was an operation by the 1980s, there was an operation by the americans under reagan, very similar, tanker guards to get the tankers through safely and it ended very badly with an american warship shooting and iranians passengerjet out of the sky with hundreds of people dying. It was a mistake. But we are heading back at the moment towards tanker was where any ship that goes to has to be escorted by a warship and tensions just keep rising. Unless you solve the issue that iran has about sanctions and that iran has about sanctions and that iran has about sanctions and that iran has about the nuclear deal, this is going to get worse and the europeans, sorry i know you mention them two questions ago, they are mention them two questions ago, they a re pretty close mention them two questions ago, they are pretty close to pulling out of the iran deal as well. Mr hunt or mr johnson, whichever one it is that ta kes johnson, whichever one it is that takes over on wednesday, this looks likely to be their first Foreign Affairs crisis. At the moment, i suspect that they would be thinking it may be time to pull out of the deal and looking at still remaining eu partners but possibly to do the same. What sort of timeframe are you putting on this, if this escalates . At the moment, this is where you say the trajectory seems to be going, what are we looking at over the next six months . Across the next six weeks, we are looking at one or two more incidents. This is not in isolation, is it . There have been two drones shot down now, one from each side, iran and the usa. There has been an attempt to get a british flagged tanker. We have had two extra warships going in from the uk. We have had incidents of tankers being mined and hold at the water line, so there are going to be some more over the next six weeks. 0nce we have got through the summer, my history of International Relations and crisis seems to be that some people go away in the summer but seriously things seem to escalate once you get the first day back at school which is september and i think, at that point, you will see concerted diplomatic action and if there is not freedom of navigation through the strait of hermes at that point, there will be, at the very minimum, a sort of tanker war which could lead to conflict. It does not have to be that way. You know, they are trying to find, as the americans say, off ramps, ways, as the british say, off ramps, ways, as the british say, finding a ladder to climb down and we must find those letters because if we do not find them, we have seen where the trajectory goes. What is the potential . It feels very doom and gloom, doesnt it, at the moment . Sorry. No, no, you are seeing it as it is. But what is the potential to find that climb down . When you see an off ramp, when you are thinking it through, you look a bit closer and you see a barrier on the off ramp. 0ne bit closer and you see a barrier on the off ramp. One of those is the idea of a tanker swap because people will be furious. They would say, hang ona will be furious. They would say, hang on a minute, will seized an iranian tanker allegedly in british waters. It was in the spanish see, not british waters, but that is because they do not recognise british control of gibraltar is, but it was in not International Waters and it was impounded. If then the iranians asa and it was impounded. If then the iranians as a bargain chip sees a british tanker and we do a swap, it is clearly seen to be black male, so thatis is clearly seen to be black male, so that is the problem with that off ramp. 0ne that is the problem with that off ramp. One of the ways is that the iranians somehow persuade mr trump to come back into the nuclear deal and to lift sanctions. I cant really see that happening. I am giving you the off ramps but also saying that they are very difficult to see going all the way through. There is another one, that mr trump has offered a sit down, a one on one with the iranians like you did in north korea, and that could resolve some of their differences. For the iranians, this is all about selling their oil on the International Market and getting investment because their economy is in a basket case. It has been fascinating talking to you. Thank you so much. You have really explained that really clearly and laid out all the scenarios. To marshal their speaking to us. Thank you very much, a writer and political expert. It is 17 minutes past eight. Heres nick with a look at this mornings weather. Good morning. Dodging the downpours again today, sunny skies in somerset, low pressure in control across the uk so there will be further showers today, but not a wash out everywhere because there will be sunshine occasionally, too, and as low pressure begins to move away eastwards, its western parts that will turn drier and in some spots sunnier as we go through the day as the shower really become confined to easternmost areas by the end of the day. Here is the recent rainfall radar picture, heavy, thundery rain towards the south east of the night. Still one or two thunderstorms out there to start the day. Showers around in scotland and Northern England. All of this is moving eastwards during the day, so already now becoming mainly dry in Northern Ireland. We will get there into western scotland and eventually that afternoon more of wales and west of england will be drying up. You can see the shower still bear on through the afternoon from east of scotla nd through the afternoon from east of scotland over the pennines, parts of the pennines into east anglia, some heavy and thundery. Southernmost counties of england mainly dry. Still breezy out there, between 18 and 22 degrees for most of us, 2a in the warmer parts of southern area. Royal portrush for the third day of the open looks good, but look at this for tomorrow, things will turn very interesting for the final round and the wind will start to pick up as well. Before we get to tomorrows forecast, lets finish off today. Still some evening showers across eastern areas, but they will quickly die away and the bulk