Connect with us

Regional

Trump demands other countries help secure vital Strait of Hormuz as Iran vows defiance

Asian markets were in a wary mood on Monday as the Gulf hostilities kept oil prices elevated. Brent rose 0.1% to $103.27 a barrel, while U.S. crude fell 0.7% to $97.99.

Published

on

President Donald Trump said on Sunday his administration is talking to seven countries about helping to secure the Strait of Hormuz amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, calling on them to help protect ships in the vital waterway that Tehran has mostly blocked to oil tanker traffic, Reuters reported.

With the conflict creating turmoil across the Middle East and shaking up global energy markets in its third week, Trump insisted that nations relying heavily on oil from the Gulf have a responsibility to protect the strait.

“I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory because it is their territory,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on the way from Florida to Washington. “It’s the place from which they get their energy.”

Though he declined to identify the seven governments that his administration has contacted, Trump said this weekend that he expected many countries would send warships to allow shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for 20% of the world’s oil.

He said in a social media post he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would participate.

In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, Trump ratcheted up pressure on European allies to help protect the strait, warning that NATO faces a “very bad” future if its members fail to come to Washington’s aid.

Trump also said ⁠Washington is in contact with Iran but expressed doubt that Tehran is prepared for serious negotiations to end the conflict.

U.S. officials responding to economic uncertainty over high oil prices predicted on Sunday that the war on Iran would end within weeks and that a drop in energy costs would follow, despite Iran’s assertion that it remains “stable and strong” and ready to defend itself, read the report.

Trump had threatened more strikes on Iran’s main oil export hub Kharg Island over the weekend and said he was not ready to reach a deal to end the war which has shut off the vital Strait of Hormuz.

The Trump administration plans to announce as early as this week that multiple countries have agreed to form a coalition to escort ships through the narrow waterway but they are still discussing whether those operations would begin before or after hostilities end, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed U.S. officials.

Trump offered few specifics about the kind of assistance he wanted from other countries to open up the strait, except to say some have minesweepers and “a certain type of boat that could help us.”

Asian markets were in a wary mood on Monday as the Gulf hostilities kept oil prices elevated. Brent rose 0.1% to $103.27 a barrel, while U.S. crude fell 0.7% to $97.99.

Trump, who on Friday said the U.S. Navy would “soon” start escorting oil tankers, has said previously that Iran wants to negotiate, but Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi earlier on Sunday disputed that claim.

“We have never asked for a ceasefire, and we have never asked even for negotiations,” Araqchi told CBS’ “Face the ⁠Nation” program. “We are ready to defend ourselves for as long as it takes.”

With crude oil prices hovering around $100 a barrel, Trump administration officials insisted that all signs point to a relatively quick end to the conflict.

“This conflict will certainly come to the end in the next few weeks — could be sooner than that,” U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told ABC’s “This Week” program.

Trump on Sunday did not put a timeframe on concluding the war but said oil prices “are going to come tumbling down as soon as it’s over, and it’s going to be over pretty quick.”

But the U.S. president said he saw no reason to declare victory yet.

“I think I just say they’re decimated.” Trump told reporters. “If we left right now, it would take them 10 years or more to rebuild, but I’m still not declaring it over.”

Meanwhile, Araqchi sought to project an image of strength ⁠and resilience despite waves of U.S. and Israeli air strikes that have killed a number of Iranian leaders, sunk much of the Islamic Republic’s navy and devastated its missile arsenal, Reuters reported.

“It’s not a war of survival. We are stable and strong enough,” Araqchi told CBS. “We don’t see any reason why we should talk with Americans, because we were talking with them when they decided to attack us, and that was for the second time.”

Trump said on Saturday that U.S. strikes had “totally demolished” much of Kharg Island and warned of more, telling NBC News on Saturday, “We may hit ⁠it a few more times just for fun.”

The comments marked a sharp escalation from Trump, who had previously said the U.S. was targeting only military sites on Kharg, and dealt a blow to diplomatic efforts to end a war that has spread across the Middle East and killed more than 2,000 people, most in Iran and Lebanon.

With global air transport heavily disrupted and no clear end in sight, Iran’s ability to choke off traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for a fifth of global oil and liquefied ⁠natural gas, has emerged as a decisive threat to the global economy.

Although some Iranian vessels have continued to pass and a few ships from other countries have successfully made the crossing, the passage has been effectively closed for most of the world’s tanker traffic since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28 at the start of an intensive bombing campaign that has hit thousands of targets across the country.

Regional

RGC navy commander claims attacks on three US military bases

Published

on

Ali Reza Tangsiri, commander of the naval forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said Saturday Iranian naval forces have carried out several waves of attacks against US forces at American military bases in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Tangsiri said the strikes targeted the Al Dhafra base in Abu Dhabi, Al Udeiri in Kuwait and Sheikh Isa base in Bahrain.

According to him, Patriot radar systems, aircraft and aircraft fuel storage facilities were among the targets of the attacks.

US officials have not yet commented on the claims.

Continue Reading

Regional

Trump threatens to strike Iran’s Kharg Island oil network if shipping lanes remain blocked

Trump told reporters on Friday the U.S. Navy will “soon” start escorting tankers through the waterway.

Published

on

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to order strikes on the petroleum infrastructure of Iran’s Kharg Island oil hub unless Tehran stopped attacking vessels in the vital Strait of Hormuz, a warning that could further roil markets already coping with a historic disruption in ​supply, Reuters reported.

Trump paired his ultimatum with a social media post saying the United States had “totally obliterated” military targets on the island, the export terminal for 90% of Iran’s oil shipments, which lies about 300 miles (483 km) ‌northwest of the strait.

U.S. strikes did not target Kharg’s oil infrastructure, but “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.

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 posted on Truth Social.

Iran’s armed forces responded on Saturday by saying ​any strike on their country’s oil and energy infrastructure would lead to strikes on facilities owned by oil companies cooperating with the United States in the region, Iranian media reported.

Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency ​reported, citing sources, that more than 15 explosions were heard on Kharg Island during the U.S. attacks. The sources said the attacks targeted air defenses, a naval base, and ⁠airport facilities, but caused no damage to oil infrastructure.

Markets were watching for any sign that U.S. strikes had damaged the island’s intricate network of pipelines, terminals and storage tanks. Even minor disruptions could further tighten global supply, adding ​pressure to an already volatile market.

In other strikes across the region, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said early Saturday that it had carried out additional attacks on Israel with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported.

On Friday, the Israeli military 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.

U.S. forces have suffered casualties. The U.S. military on Friday confirmed that all six crew members aboard a refuelling aircraft that crashed in western Iraq were dead, read the report.

Five U.S. Air Force tankers at a base in Saudi Arabia had been damaged by an Iranian missile strike and were being repaired, reported The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. officials.

Oil prices have swung sharply on ​Trump’s changing comments about the likely duration of the war, which began on February 28 with massive U.S. and Israeli bombardments of Iran and quickly spread into a regional conflict with broad consequences for worldwide energy and stock markets.

Lebanon became ​an escalating flashpoint in the war with Israel’s military and Hezbollah forces exchanging strikes in and around Beirut.

In addition to Iran’s missile and aerial drone attacks on Israel and Gulf state allies of the U.S., Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has sought to ‌disrupt shipping ⁠through the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for 20% of the world’s fossil energy supplies.

Trump told reporters on Friday the U.S. Navy will “soon” start escorting tankers through the waterway.

Although he has previously said the war would last only weeks, Trump on Friday declined to publicly project an end date for the conflict.

“I can’t tell you that,” he 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.”

Iran continued to export crude oil while other producers in the Gulf halted their shipments for fear of Iranian attacks.

Multiple very large crude oil tankers were loading at Kharg 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 ​to Wednesday.

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 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.

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.

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.

Continue Reading

Regional

Seven police personnel killed in IED blast in northwest Pakistan

Published

on

At least seven police personnel were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) targeted a police vehicle in northwest Pakistan on Friday (March 13, 2026), according to local authorities.

The blast occurred in the Shadi Khel Bettani area of Lakki Marwat District when a police mobile van on routine patrol near the Rasool Khel check post was struck by a roadside IED.

Police said the explosive device detonated with a powerful blast as the vehicle passed through the area, directly hitting the patrol unit.

Station House Officer (SHO) Azam, police driver Shah Bahram, and four other police personnel were killed instantly in the explosion. Another policeman, identified as Insafuddin, was critically injured and later died in hospital while receiving treatment.

Following the attack, police and other security forces sealed off the area and launched a search operation. Authorities are collecting forensic evidence from the blast site as part of the investigation.

Security officials said efforts are underway to identify and trace those responsible for the attack, while security measures in the area have been tightened.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sohail Afridi, took notice of the incident and strongly condemned the blast.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending

Copyright © 2025 Ariana News. All rights reserved!