Donald Trump revealed that he had asked China to delay his forthcoming visit to Beijing while the war with Iran was continuing, as he attempted to strike a united front on Monday with his vice-president JD Vance, who is believed to have been skeptical over attacking Tehran’s regime.

Appearing together with Vance for the first time in two weeks, Trump said he did not think the conflict – which started on 28 February after the US and Israel opened hostilities – would be over this week but predicted victory would be achieved soon.

However, that confident forecast was dampened somewhat when Trump was asked whether he still planned to visit Beijing on 31 March for a summit meeting with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping.

“We’re speaking to China. I’d love to [go], but because of the war, I want to be here,” Trump said at an Oval Office signing ceremony.

“I have to be here, I feel and so we’ve requested that we delay it a month or so. I’m looking forward to being with them. We have a very good relationship. But … we got a war going on.”

Trump has claimed several times that the war against the theocratic regime – which he has termed an “excursion” – is all but won, trumpeting the devastation the US military has wreaked on Iranian military capacity, the regime’s political leadership and its infrastructure.

But amid criticism that the US and Israel underestimated the vigor of Iran’s response, Trump has called on western allies and China to help reopen the strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which 20% of the world’s oil exports flow and which Tehran is now effectively blocking – causing oil prices to soar.

Trump renewed his previous criticisms of countries who have voiced reluctance to send ships into the zone – singling out Britain, which he called “the Rolls-Royce of allies”, and Keir Starmer, the prime minister.

“I say it would be really helpful if you’d send over a couple of ships, and if you have some minesweepers, which they do, it would be very helpful,” Trump said.

“And the prime minister is a nice man. I think he’s a very nice guy. He says, well, I’d like to ask my team. I said, you’re the prime minister, you can make a decision. So it’s very disappointing.”

In addition to closing off and mining the strait – a measure Iran has repeatedly threatened over many years in the event it came under attack – the Iranian military response has included missile attacks on Arab gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain, all of which host US military bases.

Trump hedged when asked if he was surprised that no one had briefed him that these countries might be targeted in the event of a military onslaught against Iran.

“No. Nobody thought they were going to hit,” he said, referring to some of the countries as “Iran’s bankers”.

“They were … I wouldn’t say friendly countries. They were, like, neutral, they were … they lived with them for years here.

“I heard they were sending missiles to UAE. I said, that’s strange. UAE is like the banker for Iran. There was no experts that would say that was going to happen. It’s not a question of, like, gee, should you have known? And if we did know – big deal. We have to do what we have to do.”

Vance – who was present to mark the signing of an initiative he is to lead investigating supposed fraud in Minnesota – accused a journalist of “trying to drive a wedge” between him and Trump after he was asked if he had rethought his previously proclaimed opposition to US military adventures.

The difference between the current campaign and military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan “is that we have a smart president”, said Vance, who served in the US Marine Corps in Iraq.

“In wars in the past, we’ve had dumb presidents, and I trust President Trump to get the job done, to do a good job for the American people, and to make sure that the mistakes [of] the past aren’t repeated.”

Reports have suggested that Vance is highly doubtful about the Iran war, having previously voiced opposition to the prospect of embarking on military action against the country.

Trump last week admitted that Vance was “philosophically … less enthusiastic” about the war.

On Monday, as Vance stood behind him, Trump said: “JD Has been great … [he] understands better than most. If you give Iran a nuclear weapon, at least a very substantial part of the world would be blown up, and it’ll be used almost immediately.”

Rail passengers will be able to claim compensation for delayed trains directly from the website where they bought their ticket, the government has said, as part of a shake-up to make rail travel simpler.

Passengers who use third-party retailers such as Trainline to buy tickets currently, have to submit applications for refunds to the relevant train operator for processing.

Compensation claim systems for individual train operators will be merged into a single consolidated service under Great British Railways (GBR), the new nationalised rail body.

The Department for Transport said the GBR site will also process refunds for customers using private ticketing websites, if the retailer and passenger opt in to share their purchase details.

The latest full-year figures from the rail regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, showed that train operators paid out £138m in 2023-24 for delayed journeys.

While some train operators and ticket types offer automated “delay repay”, particularly for advance e-tickets and season ticket holders, other claims can be more complicated.

The most recent Department for Transport (DfT) research, from 2023, showed that an increasing proportion, 47%, of passengers whose journeys were sufficiently delayed now received compensation, with some train companies also now alerting customers when they become eligible for partial refunds.

However, more than half of customers do not bother to apply. Passengers who have bought paper tickets at the station can post tickets or more usually scan them and complete the process online, but can be passed on from one company to another for longer journeys. The DfT said that passengers currently “have to contend with a complex system across 14 different train companies, which creates confusion and frustration”.

The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said: “Using the railway will be simpler and more reliable under Great British Railways. When services are delayed, passengers should be able to easily claim the compensation they’re owed.

“These necessary changes will ensure people can claim delay repay compensation more quickly and the industry can invest taxpayers’ money in the things that really matter for passengers; freezing fares and delivering train and station upgrades, rather than losing out to fare dodgers and fraud.”

The DfT will also bring in changes to railcard and ticketing terms and conditions to cut the revenue lost to fraud.

Passengers buying discounted tickets using railcards will need to pass additional checks. A “simple validation” process, designed to save about £20m a year in lost revenue, will be trialled later this year, where passengers will be asked to scan their railcard or enter details when buying discounted tickets at a ticket machine or online.

It follows a recent decision to tighten refund rules for flexible tickets, which will from April only be refundable before travel is due. The DfT said that the move will tackle fraudulent claims for refunds for tickets that have been used but not scanned or stamped, losing the railway £40m annually.

A New Jersey woman who had been arrested at a pro-Palestine protest and booked into a US immigration detention center in Texas last March has been released on bond, after a year in custody.

Leqaa Kordia, 33, originally from the West Bank, was arrested in April 2024 at a protest against Israel’s war on Gaza outside of Columbia University. Nearly a year later, she was taken into custody after reporting for a check-in at a Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in New Jersey.

“This past year has taken an unimaginable toll on Leqaa and our entire family,” said Hamzah Abushaban, Kordia’s cousin. “We are grateful to our community that stood beside us every step of the way, and for the countless prayers offered during this past Ramadan – those moments of sincerity and hope carried us through some of our darkest days.”

Kordia was released Monday from the Prairieland detention center in Alvarado, Texas, on $100,000 bond. She had remained detained despite a judge thrice ruling she poses no threat and could be released on bond.

“Since her detention over one year ago, the government has taken every effort to deny her basic rights and freedom, blocking her release not once but twice,” said Travis Fife, staff attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, and one of Kordia’s attorneys. “Leqaa going home today is the bare minimum. We must continue to assert the fundamental first amendment principle that the government cannot abuse power to punish people for using their voice.”

She and her lawyers had repeatedly raised alarm about filthy and dangerous conditions inside the detention center. In February, she was hospitalized after suffering a seizure, and said in a statement through her attorney she had been shackled at the hands and legs throughout her 72 hour hospital stay.

“ICE detention facilities are built to break people and destroy their health and hope,” she said. “I want everyone to know what happened to me because the same things are happening to other women who are locked up here.”

Kordia was the last person still in immigration detention after the Trump administration’s 2025 crackdown on pro-Palestine protesters on college campuses. She was detained around the same time as fellow protesters Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi.

Kristi Noem, the former Department of Homeland Security secretary, accused Kordia of being a terrorist sympathizer and said the government was investigating funds she sent overseas. Her lawyers said Kordia, who had been working as a server, had sent about $1,000 to help her family in Gaza.

According to her lawyers, Kordia had a pending asylum application at the time of her detention and is currently in the process of obtaining permanent residency via her mother, who is a US citizen.

“This is an important step in restoring Leqaa’s rights as she continues to be unlawfully targeted by the government for her advocacy for Palestinian rights,” said Sarah Sherman-Stokes, supervising attorney with the Boston University School of Law Immigrants Rights Clinic.

Kordia’s case galvanized support from lawmakers including Zohran Mamdani, the New York mayor, who personally appealed to Trump for Kordia’s release.

On the anniversary of her detention on 3 March – after a judge ordered for the first time that Kordia be released on bond – she said she hoped to be reunited with her family soon. “All I want is for the government to finally release me now so I can go home to my family. Until then, I’ll continue speaking up for the basic rights and freedom of all people, from Texas to Palestine,” she said.