Wars 2026 02/28 Israel-Iran War 3.0

[Saif]

Trump says ‘many countries’ will send warships to keep Strait of Hormuz open

US President Donald Trump ‌said on Saturday that many countries would send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, but did not provide details on which countries would do so. "Many ⁠Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, wi

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Trump says ‘many countries’ will send warships to keep Strait of Hormuz open

REUTERS
Published :
Mar 14, 2026 21:39
Updated :
Mar 14, 2026 21:39

US President Donald Trump ‌said on Saturday that many countries would send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, but did not provide details on which countries would do so.

"Many ⁠Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Trump said ‌he ⁠hoped that China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would send ships to the area.

"In the meantime, the United States will be bombing ⁠the hell out of the shoreline, and continually shooting Iranian Boats and Ships out of the ⁠water," he wrote.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment ⁠on whether any countries had agreed to send ships.​

 

[Saif]

US bombed military sites on Kharg Island vital to Iran's oil network

The island serves as the export terminal for 90 per cent of Iran's oil shipments. In a social media post, Trump wrote the U.S. military "totally obliterated every MILITARY target" on Kharg while leaving oil infrastructure intact.

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US bombed military sites on Kharg Island vital to Iran's oil network

Reuters
Washington/Dubai/Beirut/Jerusalem
Updated: 14 Mar 2026, 08: 50

A satellite image shows an oil terminal at Kharg Island, Iran, 25 February 2026. Reuters file photo

The United States on Friday destroyed military targets on Iran's main oil hub of Kharg Island, President Donald Trump said, threatening to strike its oil infrastructure if Iran continues attacks that have halted most ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

The island serves as the export terminal for 90 per cent of Iran's oil shipments. In a social media post, Trump wrote the U.S. military "totally obliterated every MILITARY target" on Kharg while leaving oil infrastructure intact.

"However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision," Trump wrote, a warning that could further roil markets already dealing with what the International Energy Agency has called the biggest oil supply disruption in history.

Iran had no ability to defend against U.S. attacks, the president added. "Iran’s Military, and all others involved with this Terrorist Regime, would be wise to lay down their arms, and save what’s left of their country, which isn’t much!" he said.

Oil prices have been whipsawing on Trump's changing comments on the likely duration of the Iran war, which has prompted Iran to attack vessels in the strait, the conduit for a fifth of the world's oil. Although he has previously said the war would last only weeks, the president on Friday declined to publicly project an end date for the conflict.

"I can't tell you that," Trump said to reporters. "I mean, I have my own idea, but what good ⁠does it do? It'll be as long as it's necessary."

Kharg is 16 miles (26 km) from Iran's coast, about 300 miles (483 km) northwest of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran continued to export crude oil while other producers in the Gulf halted their shipments due to fear of Iranian attacks.

Multiple very large crude oil tankers were loading at Kharg Island on Wednesday, according to satellite imagery reviewed by TankerTrackers.com. Iran exported between 1.1 million barrels per day and 1.5 million bpd from February 28 when the war began to Wednesday.

Markets will watch closely for any sign the U.S. strikes damaged the island's intricate network of pipelines, terminals and oil storage tanks. Even minor disruptions could further tighten global supply, adding pressure to an already volatile market.

Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group, said Trump's comments on Friday "will focus the market's mind on pathways that this energy disruption, already history's largest, could expand and last longer."

Some energy industry observers expressed doubts that Kharg's oil facilities would stay intact.

“Bombing Kharg Island but not the oil infrastructure is like going to McDonald's and getting a hamburger with no meat,” said Josh Young, chief investment officer at Bison Interests. "What's the point?"

Iran's new leader vows to keep strait shut

Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, in his first public comments on Thursday, vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz shut and urged neighbouring countries to close U.S. bases on their territory or risk being attacked themselves.

Trump said on Friday the U.S. Navy will "soon" start escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.

European powers are trying to work out how to defend their interests, and France has been consulting with European, Asian ⁠and Gulf Arab states over the past week with a view to putting together a plan for warships eventually to escort tankers through the strait, French officials said.

With gasoline and diesel prices rising at pumps in the United States and around the world, the U.S. on Thursday issued a 30-day licence for countries to buy sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products already at sea.

The move was welcomed in Moscow but left Kyiv and its allies angry that the proceeds could help the Kremlin fund its war effort in Ukraine.

"Six members of the G7 expressed a very clear opinion that this was not the right signal," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told a press conference in Norway. "We then learned this morning that the American government has apparently decided otherwise."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the move could provide Russia with $10 billion, adding: "It certainly does not help peace."

War on Iran extends across Middle East

After nearly ⁠two weeks of war, 2,000 people have been killed, most in Iran, but many in Lebanon and a growing number in the Gulf, which has for the first time in decades of Middle East conflicts found itself on the front line.

Several million people have been displaced from their homes. As Israeli warplanes pounded Beirut's suburbs with air strikes, Lebanon's interior minister said authorities were unable to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of people who have sought refuge in the capital.

Israel also dropped leaflets threatening Gaza-scale devastation as it deployed more troops to fight Iran-backed Hezbollah and warned of more attacks on ⁠Lebanon's infrastructure.

U.S. forces have also suffered casualties. The U.S. military confirmed that all six crew members aboard a refuelling aircraft that crashed in western Iraq were dead.

Iran fired more missiles and drones at Israel, and Iranian drones were reported flying into Kuwait, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman.

The Israeli military launched strikes across Tehran. It said its air force had struck more than 200 targets in western and central Iran over the past day, including ballistic missile launchers, air-defence systems and weapons production sites.

The U.S. was sending additional forces to ⁠the region, including the USS Tripoli along with its Marine expeditionary unit, two U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said. The amphibious assault ship, currently in Asia, is capable of carrying fighter jets. In total, 2,500 additional Marines will be sent to the Middle East, along with additional sailors.​

 

[Saif]

Trump says US not ready to agree deal to end Iran war

Donald Trump warned that he is not ready to seek a deal to end the war with Iran, as US ally Israel launched a new wave of strikes Sunday and Tehran's Revolutionary Guards threatened to hunt down and kill the Israeli leader. The US president, in an interview with NBC News, said he thought...

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Trump says US not ready to agree deal to end Iran war

AFP
Washington, United States
Published: 15 Mar 2026, 16: 24

US President Donald Trump AFP file photo

Donald Trump warned that he is not ready to seek a deal to end the war with Iran, as US ally Israel launched a new wave of strikes Sunday and Tehran's Revolutionary Guards threatened to hunt down and kill the Israeli leader.

The US president, in an interview with NBC News, said he thought Tehran was keen to come to the table but that Washington would fight on for better terms and might bomb targets on Iran's oil hub Kharg Island once, again, "just for fun".

More than two weeks into the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic, neither side is moderating its rhetoric despite a mounting death toll and economic damage from soaring oil prices caused by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz sea lane.

"Iran wants to make a deal, and I don't want to make it because the terms aren't good enough yet," Trump told NBC News, warning that US forces would step up strikes on the Iranian coast north of the strait to clear a path for oil shipments to resume.

Iran's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has -- in a written statement -- vowed to keep Hormuz closed. But Trump dismissed this and suggested his foe might not even be in control, saying: "I don't know if he's even alive. So far, nobody has been able to show him."

Iran said on Saturday that "there is no problem with the new supreme leader", even though he has yet to appear in public.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, announced a wave of strikes against targets in Western Iran, after Iran's Revolutionary Guards branded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a criminal and vowed that they would pursue and kill him.

Tehran cafes reopen

The United States has urged its citizens to leave Iraq, where pro-Iranian groups have launched attacks on the US embassy and bases hosting western military units,

Despite the hardline talk from all sides, the citizens of Tehran were able to go about their work week in the most normal atmosphere since the start of the war on February 28, when US-Israeli strikes killed the previous supreme leader, Mojtaba's father Ali Khamenei.

Traffic was busier than last week and some cafes and restaurants had reopened.

One resident whizzed down the street on an electric hoverboard, and more than a third of stalls in the Tajrish bazaar, a popular shopping hub in the north of the capital, had reopened, five days before Nowruz, the Persian New Year.

Some shoppers queued at ATMs to withdraw cash. Online operations at Bank Melli, one of the country's largest, had been paralysed in recent days.

Further on, passengers were waiting at bus stops, which had been largely deserted since the beginning of the war.

Trump has suggested an international naval operation could escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, lessening pressure on the oil price and securing supplies for countries whose economies are most exposed to the conflict.

"Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area," Trump said in a social media post on Saturday.

Asked about this, the UK ministry of defence was non-committal. "As we've said previously, we are currently discussing with our allies and partners a range of options to ensure the security of shipping in the region," it said.

South Korea said it was "closely monitoring President Trump's remarks on social media".

Missile barrage

The policy chief of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's ruling party, Takayuki Kobayashi, said the bar for sending Japanese navy ships to the region under existing laws was "extremely high".

Bahrain and Saudi Arabia said separately on Sunday they had intercepted renewed barrages of projectiles after an AFP journalist heard warning sirens in Manama.

Late Saturday, authorities in Dubai also said air defences had made further interceptions after Iran's military warned UAE civilians to avoid port areas.

US forces struck Iran's Kharg Island on Friday -- from which nearly all of Iran's oil exports flow -- but both sides confirmed that the strikes only took out military defences and left the oil export terminals intact.

More than 1,200 people have been killed by US and Israeli strikes, according to Iranian health ministry figures that could not be independently verified.

The UN refugee agency says up to 3.2 million people have been displaced in Iran, most of them fleeing the capital and other cities to seek safety.

The Pentagon says more than 15,000 targets in Iran have been hit by US and Israeli forces.

US media reported that the Pentagon has dispatched the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli and around 2,500 Marines to the region.​

 

[Lulldapull]

Irans already won this war guys......Just worthless propaganda all around. Don't fall for junk news.

 

[Saif]

Irans already won this war guys......Just worthless propaganda all around. Don't fall for junk news.

I post news from Western media to generate healthy and constructive discussion. I myself don't believe whatever the Western say about Iran war. Iran has proved that it is the lion of Middle East and cannot be vanquished by Zionists so easily.

 

[Saif]

UK, allies working on 'viable' plan for Hormuz but no NATO mission: Keir Starmer

UK PM Keir Starmer said Monday Britain was working with allies to come up with a "viable" plan to reopen the key Strait of Hormuz, but ruled out a NATO mission.

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UK, allies working on 'viable' plan for Hormuz but no NATO mission: Keir Starmer

AFP
London
Published: 16 Mar 2026, 20: 15

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks to the media on the situation in the Middle East, at Downing Street in central London on 16 March 2026. AFP

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday Britain was working with allies to come up with a "viable" plan to reopen the key Strait of Hormuz, but ruled out a NATO mission.

During a press conference in Downing Street, Starmer told reporters he had discussed the situation in the vital oil transport route, effectively closed by Iran during the Middle East war, with US President Donald Trump.

"We're working with all of our allies, including our European partners, to bring together a viable collective plan that can restore freedom of navigation in the region as quickly as possible and ease the economic impacts," said the UK leader.

He added the intention was to make the plan "credible" and ruled out NATO involvement.

"Let me be clear, that won't be and it's never been envisioned to be a NATO mission," Starmer said.

"That'll have to be an alliance of partners, which is why we're working with partners, both in Europe, in the Gulf, and with the US," he added.

His comments came after Trump said NATO faces a "very bad" future if US allies fail to help re-open the key oil transport route.

"It's only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the Strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there," Trump said.

Starmer also insisted that while Britain was "taking the necessary action to defend ourselves and our allies, we will not be drawn into the wider war".​

 

[Saif]

Israel says it has plans for at least three weeks of war as airstrikes pound Iran

The US-Israeli war ‌on Iran is now entering its third week with no clear end in sight

www.thedailystar.net

Israel says it has plans for at least three weeks of war as airstrikes pound Iran

The US-Israeli war ‌on Iran is now entering its third week with no clear end in sight

US-ISRAEL WAR ON IRAN

Emergency personnel work at the site of a strike on a residential building, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 16, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Israel said on Monday it had detailed plans for at least three more weeks of war as it pounded sites across Iran overnight, while Iranian drone attacks temporarily shut Dubai airport and hit a key oil facility in the United Arab Emirates.

The US-Israeli war ‌on Iran is now entering its third week with no clear end in sight, largely shutting the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas flow, pushing up energy prices and raising fears of a spike in global inflation.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday called for a coalition of nations to help reopen the strait and said the US-led NATO defence alliance faced a "very bad" future if its members failed to help.

But while allies voiced support for diplomatic efforts to reopen the route, they were cautious about joining any military action.

ISRAEL STILL HAS 'THOUSANDS' OF TARGETS IN IRAN

Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters there were detailed operational plans for the war with Iran for the next three weeks, and other plans extending further ahead.

Israel has said it wants to weaken Iran's capacity to threaten it, striking ballistic missile infrastructure, nuclear facilities and the security apparatus, and that it still has thousands of ⁠targets to hit.

"We want to make sure that they are as weak as possible, this regime, and that we degrade all their capabilities, all parts and all wings of their security establishment," Shoshani said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi for his part said Tehran had not asked for a ceasefire or exchanged messages with the US, according to Iran's semi-official Student News Network.

In a post on X, Araqchi also said that some "neighbouring states" that host US forces and permit attacks on Iran were also actively encouraging the killing of Iranians.

"Stances should be promptly clarified," he said.

He said 200 children were among the hundreds of Iranian civilians killed in US or Israeli bombings.

Iran’s Mehr news agency said five people had been killed and seven wounded in overnight strikes on Markazi province in central Iran. It said that in Khomein city, in the same province, a boys' school had been targeted, causing some damage to the surrounding area. No casualties were reported.

Fars News Agency reported that several civilians had been killed in a strike near Tehran's Martyrs' Square, without giving figures.

Rescue workers in Tehran worked to pull people from the wreckage of a building in what an Iranian Red Crescent aid worker said was an entirely residential alleyway.

"Rescue teams are currently pulling people out from under the rubble," he said without giving his name.

ISRAEL CLAIMS STRIKES ON IRAN'S SPACE PROGRAMME

The Israeli military said on Monday it was carrying out air strikes on Tehran, Shiraz and Tabriz.

It said its Air Force had also struck sites linked ‌to Iran’s space ⁠programme, including destroying a research facility in Tehran involved in developing a satellite launched in 2024.

One Tehran resident told Reuters that there had been no internet overnight and Iranians felt isolated from the world.

"People are being killed," Shahnaz, 62, said via WhatsApp. "Just days before Nowruz (Iranian New Year, on March 20), but people are not in the mood to celebrate. When will this end?”

Asked if she supported the Islamic Republic, Shahnaz said: “No, I don’t. How can I? They killed my granddaughter in (January's) protests. We want this regime to go. We want this misery to end.”

In Israel, air raid sirens warned of Iranian missiles. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Tehran had launched attacks on areas In Tel Aviv, the US al-Dhafra air base in Abu Dhabi, the US naval base in Bahrain, and Bahrain's Sheikh Issa air base.

Furthermore, oil loading operations at ⁠the UAE port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman were suspended following an Iranian drone strike.

Fujairah is a key exit point for the UAE's Murban crude - a volume equivalent to roughly 1% of global demand.

Flights at Dubai International Airport, one of the world's busiest, were suspended for several hours after a drone strike on a nearby fuel storage facility sent plumes of black smoke into the sky. Saudi Arabia intercepted 34 drones in its eastern region in one hour, state media said. No injuries were reported in either incident.

Later on, Reuters reporters also heard ⁠booms in the Qatari capital, Doha.

OIL SLIPS ON BESSENT SHIPPING COMMENTS

Despite the turbulence, oil prices, which had been above $100 a barrel, fell sharply and stocks rallied after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC the US was "fine" to let some Iranian fuel vessels sail through the strait, and believed Indian and Chinese tankers had also passed through.

Ship-tracking data showed a Pakistan-bound oil tanker had passed through the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, indicating that some countries are able to negotiate safe passage for their ⁠vessels.

On Sunday, Trump had demanded that countries relying heavily on oil from the Gulf should help protect the strait, and said he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would participate.

However, many - including Germany, Italy, Greece, Japan and Australia - said they would not send warships.

Israel continued to strike Lebanon and Gaza, attacking Iran-backed Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas. The Israeli military said its troops had begun limited ground operations against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon.​