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U.S. Navy could soon be escorting commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, where maritime traffic has effectively stopped due to the current conflict with Iran, according to President Donald Trump. Doing so would demand that American naval vessels transit through the Strait, shifting them away from other duties. More importantly, it would also mean putting them right in a super weapons engagement zone full of Iranian threats that could include cruise and ballistic missiles, one-way-attack drones, explosive-laden kamikaze boats, and naval mines.

“If necessary, the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, as soon as possible,” President Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social social media network.

“Effective IMMEDIATELY, I have ordered the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to provide, at a very reasonable price, political risk insurance and guarantees for the Financial Security of ALL Maritime Trade, especially Energy, traveling through the Gulf,” he also wrote. “This will be available to all Shipping Lines.”

“No matter what, the United States will ensure the FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD. The United States’ ECONOMIC and MILITARY MIGHT is the GREATEST ON EARTH,” he added. “More actions to come.”

U.S. Central Command declined to comment when reached for more details. TWZ has also reached out to the White House.

The Strait of Hormuz, which links the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, is just 20 nautical miles across at its narrowest point. A significant portion of the waterway falls within Iran’s national waters, which also overlap with those of Oman to the south. Under normal conditions, maritime traffic flows in and out through a pair of established two-mile-wide shipping lanes. Each year, roughly one-fifth of all global oil shipments, and an even higher percentage of seaborne shipments, pass through this one waterway. It is also a major conduit for liquid natural gas exports. Some 3,000 ships, including tankers and container ships, pass through each month.

Politico had earlier reported that President Trump’s administration was considering both of these courses of action, citing unnamed sources.

“It’s becoming a growing concern that the energy markets could face pressures in the coming days as the military campaign intensifies and expands in geographic scope,” one individual said to be familiar with the discussions told that outlet. “Access to the Straits [sic] of Hormuz is obviously vital for both natural gas and crude oil shipments, especially from Qatar and Saudi [Arabia].”

Lloyd’s List has also reported that Trump’s announcement came “less than 24 hours after Navy officials told shipping industry representatives that there was ‘no chance’ of escorts happening any time soon.”

Several civilian vessels have already suffered attacks in and around the Strait since the United States and Israel launched their joint operation against Iran this past weekend. Though American officials insist that Iranian forces have been unable to seal off the highly strategic waterway, maritime traffic through it has now come to a near halt amid the ongoing fighting. Some ships appear to be making the transit with the transporters turned off to reduce the chance of being targeted. The real danger of attack has been compounded by insurers cancelling war risk policies ahead of what are expected to be major rate hikes.

Iranian retaliatory attacks have also been hitting port facilities, as well as energy infrastructure, in multiple Gulf Arab states. As noted, if this situation persists, the potential knock-on effects on global oil and natural gas markets could quickly become severe. Since Iranian authorities have repeatedly threatened to blockade the Strait of Hormuz in the event of a major crisis that threatens the regime, TWZ has explored all of this in detail in the past.

Iranian attack drones struck oil storage infrastructure in Fujairah, UAE, this morning, causing a large fire.

Notably, Fujairah is the only major oil export terminal in the UAE that avoids the now-closed Strait of Hormuz. pic.twitter.com/DdAbVOyRoc

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 3, 2026

This is not the first time that the United States has been faced with this predicament or decided to start escorting commercial vessels through the region as a result. The U.S. Navy did just this in the late 1980s during the Tanker War sideshow to the Iran-Iraq War. At the same time, that experience underscores the immense amount of resources such a campaign could require, as well as the risks.

At the peak of those operations, there were some 30 American warships escorting commercial vessels to and from the Persian Gulf. Aircraft, special operations forces, and other assets were also deployed in support. The risks to American service members, as well as the ships they were tasked to safeguard, were very real.

Shortly before the escort mission began in 1987, the Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate USS Stark was struck by two French-made Exocet anti-ship cruise missiles fired from an Iraqi aircraft as it sailed in the Persian Gulf. The government of Iraq, then led by Saddam Hussein, apologized, claiming they had mistaken the Americans for an Iranian tanker. In the end, 37 U.S. Navy personnel died, and 21 more were wounded.

In 1988, the USS Samuel B. Roberts, another Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate, was severely damaged after hitting an Iranian naval mine in the Persian Gulf while supporting the escort mission. 10 sailors were injured, but there were thankfully no fatalities.

In the course of the Tanker War, 450 commercial ships also came under attack, and many were damaged or even sunk by missiles, mines, and other threats.

More recently, the U.S. military, as well as the European Union, have established naval task forces to help ensure the free flow of maritime commerce through the Strait of Hormuz, as well as elsewhere in the Middle East. When it comes to Iran, those forces have primarily been called on to respond to attempts to seize ships or otherwise harass them. In the past decade or so, outright Iranian attacks on ships in and around the Persian Gulf have generally been covert and sporadic.

U.S. fires warning shots at Iranian fast boats.

The U.S. Navy released the video below in 2019 in relation to an Iranian covert limpet mine attack on a commercial ship in the Gulf of Oman.

Limpet Mine Attack in the Gulf of Oman: JUNE 13, 2019

Escorting commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz now would involve U.S. Navy warships sailing right into an extremely high-threat zone in the midst of a conflict that has already taken on a regional character.

In general, the U.S. Navy, as well as commercial shipping companies, have loathed convoy operations despite the benefits they offer. As already noted, these missions can be very resource-intensive, as well as risky. Ships tasked with these missions are then also not available for other duties, including striking targets ashore or helping defend other assets. It can also be very time-consuming to assemble maritime convoys and then escort them to their destination. You can read more about all this in a past TWZ feature here.

For all the lessons the U.S. military learned during the Tanker War, Iran has also significantly expanded the scale and scope of anti-ship capabilities since then, as we regularly highlight. Iran’s missile, drone, and naval forces have been degraded just in the past few days of intensive U.S.-Israeli strikes. How much Iran was able to reconstitute missile and other capabilities in the aftermath of losses during the 12 Day War with Israel last year is also unclear.

Two days ago, the Iranian regime had 11 ships in the Gulf of Oman, today they have ZERO. The Iranian regime has harassed and attacked international shipping in the Gulf of Oman for decades. Those days are over. Freedom of maritime navigation has underpinned American and global… pic.twitter.com/nzdkMVMqZC

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 2, 2026

The Iranian regime’s killer drones have been a menace in the Middle East for years. These drones are no longer a tolerable risk. pic.twitter.com/76yhDKI6OW

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 3, 2026

At the same time, much of Iran’s shorter-range missile and drone arsenal is understood to be untouched, as well as dispersed, making interdiction now more challenging. Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of State and acting National Security Advisor Marco Rubio highlighted these threats and the dangers they pose.

SECRETARY RUBIO: The United States is conducting an operation to eliminate the threat of Iran’s short range ballistic missiles and the threat posed by their navy, particularly to naval assets.

That is what the U.S. is focused on right now and is doing quite successfully. pic.twitter.com/zWKBOLVstH

— Department of State (@StateDept) March 2, 2026

Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen were able to cause massive disruptions in maritime traffic in and around the Red Sea between late 2023 and early 2025 using just a portion of what Iran itself could still potentially bring to bear. The U.S. response to Houthi attacks, which included naval deployments to help safeguard commercial shipping, did provide additional valuable lessons learned. It also underscored very real risks to naval assets in environments full of missile and drone threats, as well as to aircraft, including stealth types, flying overhead.

The narrowness of the Strait of Hormuz, as well as the insular nature of the Persian Gulf, creates additional challenges and risks compared to operations in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden because there is simply less space to maneuver. Iranian anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles, as well as one-way-attack drones, can be fired from road-mobile launchers, including ones disguised as civilian trucks, making it even more difficult to find and fix threats in advance. Proximity in the littoral zone to these threats only further reduces the time available to react.

The Iranian regime is using mobile launchers to indiscriminately fire missiles in an attempt to inflict maximum harm across the region. U.S. forces are hunting these threats down and without apology or hesitation, we are taking them out. pic.twitter.com/gv1SfKCrk4

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 3, 2026

Escort operations mean that American warships would need to transit through the highest threat areas repeatedly, as well, which would only give Iranian forces more engagement opportunities. There is a reason why U.S. naval vessels are currently operating well away from the Persian Gulf in the Arabian Sea, as well as the Eastern Mediterranean.

U.S. naval facilities, as well as civilian ports, on the opposite side of the Persian Gulf have also come under Iranian attack in the past few days, and would not be guaranteed sanctuaries to shelter in. Iranian retaliatory attacks across the Middle East are already showing the limits of some of the most modern air defense capabilities on Earth, especially when faced with large volumes and/or complex mixtures of disparate incoming threats.

An Iranian one-way attack drone, likely a Shahed-136, filmed scoring a direct hit earlier Saturday on the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet Headquarters at Naval Support Activity Bahrain in Juffair, located in Manama, the capital of Bahrain. pic.twitter.com/O9AVD7DmzC

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 28, 2026

It is possible that U.S. allies and partners could help bolster an operation to protect regional shipping that is sufficiently separate from U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. The United Kingdom and France are already conducting defense missions to intercept incoming Iranian threats around the Persian Gulf, as well as in the Eastern Mediterranean. Both of those countries, among others, are also sending more forces to bolster defenses around the region. As already made clear, a protracted upending of oil and natural gas exports from the Arabian Peninsula, as well as Iran itself, will reverberate globally.

TWZ has pointed to this reality in the past as raising key questions about whether the Iranian regime would have the political will, let alone the materiel capacity, to blockade the Strait of Hormuz. For now, though, as we wrote just this morning:

“Increased targeting of Gulf Arab States’ oil and natural gas production is part of a clear Iranian strategy to put pressure on those countries to, in turn, create complications for the United States. As the economic pressure builds, the idea is that these countries will seek to end the conflict, and/or that relations with the U.S. will sour. The prospect of major, long-term disruptions in energy exports from the region has global ramifications, as well, which could bring immense external pressure to end the conflict. There is also the aspect of drawing Arab countries into the conflict, which would complicate it politically and militarily. In addition, some energy targets are not as well defended as U.S. bases in the region, for instance, and scoring hits with the now finite weapons Iran has on hand becomes easier.”

How this will continue to play out, especially if more countries begin to take ostensibly defensive action against Iranian threats, is unknown. There is a very real potential for Iran’s strategy to backfire if the crisis begins to take a toll economically well beyond the Middle East.

U.S. Navy warships escorting commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz could help soften those impacts, but not without major risks, as well as the expenditure of significant resources. Risks would remain for shipping companies too, who could still be reluctant to make the transit, especially with uncertain insurance guarantees.

Overall, it remains to be seen how a U.S. mission to get oil and gas flowing again through the Strait of Hormuz might materialize.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

A Los Angeles firefighter said in sworn testimony that he sounded the alarm about the inadequate mop-up of the Lachman fire — and was blown off by a captain — days before the embers reignited into the deadly Palisades fire.

The firefighter, Scott Pike, testified last month in a lawsuit brought by Palisades fire victims against the city and the state.

Pike, a 23-year LAFD veteran normally assigned to a station in Sunland, was working an overtime shift on Jan. 2 when he was assigned to pick up the hoses from the Lachman fire. But he said he saw about five areas that were still smoking.

At one ash pit, he said, “I didn’t even want to use my gloved hand because it was hot. So I just kicked it with my boot to kind of expose it, and there was, like red hot, like, coals … that was still smoldering. And I even heard crackling.”

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Pike’s dramatic retelling, which city attorneys initially blocked from release along with transcripts of deposition testimony from 11 other firefighters, corroborates previous reporting by The Times that a battalion chief ordered crews to pack up their hoses and leave, despite signs that the earlier fire was not completely extinguished.

Pike testified that when he reported his observations to other firefighters at the scene, “I felt like I kind of got blown off a little bit.”

Then he tried the captain.

“That’s how I approached him, is like, ‘Hey, Cap … We have hot spots in general. We have some ash pits,’” Pike said of the captain on the scene, whose name he did not know. “That’s an alert to double-check the whole area and maybe we need to switch our tactics.”

Pike testified that it was not his job “to overstep and tell him what to do. He earned that rank.”

The other firefighters, too, seemed eager to “just get this hose picked up,” Pike said, adding that he was working overtime the day after a holiday “because nobody else wanted to work it.”

“It kind of sits heavy with me that nobody listened to me,” he said.

LAFD commanders have insisted that the flames were completely out and barely mentioned the earlier fire in an after-action review report designed to examine mistakes and prevent them from happening again.

Pike said in his testimony that he was never interviewed for the after-action report.

After the firefighters testified over the course of three weeks, city attorneys invoked a general protective order that any party in the litigation can designate testimony as confidential for up to 30 days. A city attorney previously told The Times that this allowed them to review the testimony and determine which parts, if any, should stay confidential.

Days after the firefighters left the scene, high winds reignited the embers into the inferno that destroyed much of Pacific Palisades and killed 12 people.

Alex Robertson, an attorney representing the Palisades fire victims in the lawsuit, said the 11 other firefighters who were deposed testified that the fire was out and that they did not see hot spots or smoldering.

“Only one of the firefighters we deposed had the courage to tell the truth — that his fellow firefighters and captain ignored his warnings that the fire had not been fully extinguished,” Robertson said.

The fire victims allege that the state government, which owns Topanga State Park, failed in the week between the two fires to inspect the burn scar after firefighters left and make sure a “dangerous condition” did not exist on its property.

The LAFD was responsible for putting out the fire, but plaintiffs’ attorneys argue that the state should have done more to monitor the burn scar and ensure the area was safe.

Several California State Parks representatives also testified in the case. Their testimony and text messages show that their initial concern was whether the fire was on parkland and whether firefighting efforts and equipment would harm federally endangered plants and artifacts.

The Times report about crews being ordered to leave the earlier fire, published Oct. 30, described text messages from firefighters indicating that at the scene of the Lachman fire on Jan. 2, 2025, the ground was still smoldering and rocks were hot to the touch.

In one text message, a firefighter who was at the scene wrote that the battalion chief had been told it was a “bad idea” to leave because of the visible signs of smoking terrain, which crews feared could start a new fire if left unprotected.

“And the rest is history,” the firefighter wrote.

A second firefighter was told that tree stumps were still hot when the crew packed up and left, according to the texts. And a third firefighter said last month that crew members were upset when told to pack up and leave but that they could not ignore orders, according to the texts. The third firefighter also wrote that he and his colleagues knew immediately that the Palisades fire was a rekindle of the Jan. 1 blaze.

LAFD officials were emphatic early on that the Lachman fire, which federal prosecutors believe was deliberately set, was fully extinguished.

“We won’t leave a fire that has any hot spots,” Kristin Crowley, the fire chief at the time, said at a community meeting Jan. 16, 2025.

“That fire was dead out,” Chief Deputy Joe Everett said at the same meeting, adding that he was out of town but communicating with the incident commander. “If it is determined that was the cause, it would be a phenomenon.”

The Lachman fire broke out shortly after midnight on New Years Day. A few hours later, at 4:46 a.m., the LAFD announced that the blaze was fully contained at eight acres.

Top fire commanders soon made plans to finish mopping up the scene and to leave with their equipment, according to another set of text messages obtained by The Times through a state Public Records Act request.

“I imagine it might take all day to get that hose off the hill,” LAFD Chief Deputy Phillip Fligiel said in a group chat early the morning of Jan. 1. “Make sure that plan is coordinated.”

At 1:35 p.m. on Jan. 2, Battalion Chief Mario Garcia — whom firefighters said had received the observations about the smoldering ground and hot rocks, according to the private text messages The Times reviewed — texted Fligiel and Everett: “All hose and equipment has been picked up.”

Five days after that, on the morning of Jan. 7, an LAFD captain called Fire Station 23 to say that the Lachman fire had started up again.

In June, LAFD Battalion Chief Nick Ferrari had told a high-ranking fire official who works for a different agency in the L.A. region that LAFD officials knew about the firefighters’ complaints at the Lachman fire scene, The Times also reported.

After the Oct. 30 Times report, Bass directed Fire Chief Jaime Moore, who started the job in November, to commission an independent investigation into the LAFD’s handling of the Lachman fire.

In an interview last month, Moore said he opened an internal investigation into the Lachman fire through the LAFD’s Professional Standards Division, which probes complaints against department members. He said he requested the Fire Safety Research Institute, which is reviewing last January’s wildfires at the request of Gov. Gavin Newsom, to include the Lachman fire as part of its analysis, and the institute agreed. Moore also pointed to the L.A. City Council’s move to hire an outside firm to examine the Lachman and Palisades fires.

Even with the internal investigation underway, Moore said he spoke with the battalion chief who was on duty during the Lachman fire mop-up.

“He swears to me that nobody ever told him verbally or through a text message that there was any hot spots,” Moore said.

SheGulls, representing fans of WSL club Brighton & Hove Albion, had suggested seeding “elite level teams” would only widen the gulf in quality across the game.

“The sporting merit in our game is slowly being eroded in favour of ‘super matches’ between elite level teams,” the fan group wrote on X.

“The rich will only get richer and teams up and down the pyramid will fade into obscurity with the knowledge that without tens of millions of pounds, they won’t even sniff the big time.”

Fulham Women Supporters’ Club, whose side play in the fourth tier, labelled it a “ridiculous idea” and added: “[It] goes against all the principles of the FA Cup. I’d like to see WSL teams actually come in a round early.”

“And there goes the magic of the FA Cup! Subway Cup [League Cup] is a farce, now this?” added Everton Women’s Official Supporters Club.

“All about the money. Didn’t take long to ruin the women’s game too did it…”

The Women’s FA Cup currently follows the same format as the men’s competition, with a draw following each round.

There is a preliminary round and three qualifying rounds featuring teams from tiers four to seven of the pyramid, with Women’s National League teams entering in the first-round proper, WSL2 teams in the third round and sides from the top division a round later.

The proposals came to light less than a fortnight after a major revamp of the Women’s League Cup was announced, with the competition set to get a new name and follow the format of the Champions League from the group stage next season.

SHE had just turned 19 and was a single mum at college, working part-time in a fish and chip shop when she made her bid for fame on the X-Factor.

Now, 17 years later, Stacey Solomon is worth a staggering £10million, is married to TV star Joe Swash and has five beautiful children. But just when it looked like she had reached the top, insiders tell us that the 36-year-old has made a huge decision, with one wrong move toppling her empire for good.

The one-time X Factor star has hit the £10m mark in her business empire- up from £7.4m in the previous year, accounts revealed.

Despite her huge earnings, Stacey kicked off 2026 by walking away from her talent agency – leaving those close to her blindsided.

The dramatic move, which has also raised questions within the industry, means that Stacey has also pulled the plug on every one of her commercial partnerships this year.

She will no longer be working alongside YMU, the agency that looks after some of the biggest names in the industry, including Amanda Holden, Ant and Dec and Claudia Winkleman.

Insiders say her team at YMU were ordered to walk away from her long-running George at ASDA contract.

Stacey’s decided she wants to stop making everyone else rich.

Insider

We’re told: “It’s a huge change for Stacey – she will no longer be promoting other people’s brands. 

“Right now, she is focused on building her own empire instead and has new ventures on the horizon.

“She’s seeing it as a major business reinvention. She’s seen how well her hair brand REHAB has done and is now keen to replicate that.

“Stacey’s decided she wants to stop making everyone else rich. She might be worth a lot, but money is always a concern for her. She’s worried that one day everything she has worked for could disappear, and now she’s decided it’s time to take full control.”

The insider added: “Stepping back from all this could be a huge mistake. She does have her TV work, but the brand deals were bringing in a lot of cash for her.

“She could lose it all; that is a genuine fear for her. It’s no secret that Stacey sees herself as the one who has to manage the money both she and Joe make. And she makes a lot more than him.”

Former EastEnders star Joe was declared bankrupt twice over unpaid tax bills – once in 2009 and again in 2013.

Stacey – who shares Rex, six, Rose, three, and Belle, two, with Joe and is also mum to Zachary, 17, and Leighton, 12 – is said to always make sure he contributes 50/50 so she is protected financially as much as possible.

But what price has fame and fortune had on her high-profile relationship with Joe?

Stacey has been branded bossy and ruthless in the past, and the tension in their marriage was very evident during their BBC fly-on-the-wall series. 

We’re told that money is still a source of contention for the pair, who live in £1.2m Pickle Cottage,  and Stacey struggles to feel comfortable despite being set for life. 

During one episode of their BBC documentary, Stacey opened up about her money fears as they planned to take their children on a posh skiing trip.

The TV personality said: “I think I will always, one, feel like an imposter in this life, because this is not what I imagined my life would be when I was growing up.

“But two, I always have in the back of my mind tomorrow you could have nothing, so be careful today.”

Cashing in

Three years ago, Stacey invested some of her own cash into small haircare brand REHAB and now owns a third of the firm.

Today, it’s not such a small firm – it was hailed the fastest-growing beauty brand on the FEBE 100 list for 2025.

The award is only eligible for firms with annual revenues over £3million,  which gives you an idea of just how much the brand is pulling in. 

The insider added: “Stacey has loved working with REHAB, it’s all women, there are only seven staff on the books, and it’s become a real passion project.

“She’s making great money and now really believes in her business nous.”

The star presenter runs a firm called Keymap Entertainment that takes in cash from her media and lucrative ad deals.

New accounts show the tele favourite has £7.5m tied up in investments and £1.6m in cash.

A TV insider remarked: “Stacey is adored by fans old and young. She has worked so hard to get to the position she is in – and deserves every penny.”

It’s thought she will see out the remainder of her contracts with YMU before stepping back completely. 

Sources tell us that YMU have been really taken aback by her decision: “She has been the cash cow of the agency for many years. 

“She out-earns their other high-profile clients.”

Some of her biggest deals have included projects with Asda, Jet2, In The Style and Primark, which have really boosted her earnings, and presumably also helped the bank balance of those working for her. 

One of her new business plans is her very own beauty company, Belle & Rose Ltd, named after her daughters, which she set up a couple of years ago with plans to sell beauty products and tools in “specialised stores”.

Interestingly, she’s yet to launch anything under that name yet but as her other deals come to an end, it’s becoming increasingly likely we will see it come to fruition this year. 

She has worked so hard to get to the position she is in – and deserves every penny.

TV insider

It’s certainly been an extraordinary journey – her life really changed forever when she won I’m A Celebrity in 2010, and it soon became clear a singing career would be put on the back burner. 

She became a national treasure, amassing an incredible six million Instagram followers, who watch her every move as she shares her home hacks and family life.

Her Tap To Tidy catchphrase went viral on the social media platform and led to her having her own book, paving the way for her job on Sort Your Life Out, which has become a BBC big hitter. 

It’s a far cry from the nervous teen who wowed Simon Cowell and Cheryl as she took to the stage in hotpants, saying she wanted to win for Zach so she could “get him into a good school and get him all the things he needs”. She’s done that and then some. 

Stacey Solomon’s career so far

Stacey Solomon has been a familiar face on viewers’ screens for over a decade. Let’s take a look back at her career.

The X Factor (2009): Stacey competed in series six of long-running ITV singing competition The X Factor. During her time in the show, she was mentored by Danni Minogue in the ‘Girls’ category. The star finished in third place, behind Joe McElderry and Olly Murs.

I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here (2010); In late 2010, Stacey headed to the infamous I’m A Celeb Aussie jungle. After 21 days, she triumphed to win the tenth series. It was through I’m A Celeb that she met future husband Joe Swash – who’d won two years earlier and was hosting the ITV2 spinoff.

Celebrity Juice (2011―2013, 2016―2019): The star appeared as a panellist on 21 episodes of the comedy panel game show hosted by Keith Lemon. Stacey was a regular in the 21st series, broadcast in 2019.

Loose Women (2016 – present): Stacey has been a permanent panel member of the daytime show since 2016. She previously made guest appearances in 2011 and 2012.

Sort Your Life Out (2022 -present): This BBC show sees Stacey, with the help of an expert team, transform participants’ living spaces after removing clutter.

THE Beckhams played happy families amid their feud with Brooklyn as their youngest son Cruz celebrated his 21st with a Beatles-themed party.

Victoria, 51, and David, 50, joined their other children Cruz, 21, Romeo, 23, and Harper, 14, on Sunday night for the event – which their estranged eldest son was not invited to.

They forget about their family drama as they posed for a photo, also featuring Cruz’s girlfriend Jackie Apostel, 30, and Romeo’s partner, DJ Kim Turnbull, 24.

Cruz, who will turn 21 on Friday, hired out the restaurant at The Maine Mayfair in London.

Alongside photos from the event, which included a lavish dinner and concert, mum Posh wrote on Instagram: “Celebrating Cruz early!! We love you so much!!!”

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David added: “We love celebrating you Cruzie. A lot of love in the room for you last night.”

The lavish event was dubbed The Grand Beatle Ball and included a performance from the world’s No1 tribute band to the music icons, The Bootleg Beatles.

In videos shared online, Cruz could be seen joining them on stage to perform a guitar solo during a rendition of the 1969 song Something.

The fledgling musician also performed with his band The Breakers.
Victoria’s Spice Girls bandmate Emma Bunton, 50, was among the guests at the party, where his sister Harper gave a speech.

They enjoyed themed cocktails, including one named after his latest single For Your Love, and another named after the 1996 Spice Girls song Wannabe.

Cruz has not spoken to Brooklyn, 26, for months, amid growing family tensions.

He claimed that his brother had blocked him, but in his six-page Instagram statement last month, Brooklyn claimed it was the other way around.

The chef claimed Romeo and Cruz “were sent to attack me on social media, before they ultimately blocked me out of nowhere this last Summer”.

As his family were celebrating in London, Brooklyn shared a belated Valentine’s Day message on Instagram vowing to always “protect” his wife Nicola Peltz, 31.

In the gushing post, alongside a photo of them kissing, he wrote: “Happy Valentine’s Day baby x

“I am the luckiest person in the world to be able to call you my Valentine’s every year x.

“I love you more than you know and I will forever protect and love you x.”