Trump Seeks Warships To Open Hormuz Strait
14 March 2026 6:25 AM IST14 March 2026 6:25 AM IST
US Prez says Iran military is 100% destroyed
Smoke rises from the U.S. embassy building in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, March 14, 2026. AP/PTI
Washington, March 14: US President Donald Trump stepped up calls to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz, saying war ships will “hopefully” be sent to the area near Iran’s coast to help commercial vessels sail through safely. His comments on Truth Social — which didn’t provide a timeline — came hours after he ordered a strike on military sites on Kharg Island, from which Iran exports almost all its oil, upping the ante in a Middle East war that’s raged for more than two weeks. As he urged nations to send ships to the strait, he added that “the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shore line, and continually shooting Iranian Boats and Ships out of the water. One way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE!” The president said military facilities on the Persian Gulf island had been “obliterated,” adding that he chose not to hit oil infrastructure “for reasons of decency.”
He threatened to do just that should Iran “do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” “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,” he wrote in his latest post. He gave little detail beyond saying he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea and the UK would also send war ships. He stated that even though Iran’s military was “already destroyed 100%,” it was “easy” for Tehran to continue threatening ships with drones, mines and shortrange missiles.
Baghdad: Israel said the war against Iran was entering its "decisive phase" on Saturday, as explosions rocked cities across the Middle East, with strikes on the US embassy in Baghdad and a major Emirati energy facility.
Black smoke rose above Washington's embassy in Iraq, AFP journalists saw, the second time it has been targeted since February 28, when the United States and Israel attacked Iran and plunged the Gulf into a conflict that has sent shockwaves through the global economy.
Millions have been displaced by waves of drone, missile and aerial bombing, while more than 1,200 people have reportedly been killed in Iran, with little sign of the conflict slowing down as it entered its third week.
Clouds of dark black smoke were also rising Saturday from Fujairah, home to a major Emirati oil storage and export terminal, shortly after Iran's military warned UAE civilians to avoid port areas.
Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said the war was entering a "decisive phase", even if he cautioned that it would "continue as long as necessary".
Yet, despite facing superior US and Israeli firepower, Iran appears determined to fight on. It has launched missile and drone attacks against at least 10 of is neighbours and has choked off traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Israel's army warned people in an industrial zone of Tabriz in northern Iran to evacuate, signalling an imminent attack.
The hit on the US embassy in Baghdad followed strikes against the powerful Iran-backed group Kataeb Hezbollah, killing two members including a "key figure", security sources said.
President Donald Trump said Friday that US forces had struck Iran's Kharg Island, its biggest oil export hub, and "obliterated every MILITARY target" while sparing its energy facilities.
Iranian media confirmed the island's oil facilities were unaffected. Iran had threatened US-linked oil and energy firms would be "turned into a pile of ashes" if they were hit.
Hormuz escorts 'soon'
Iran's threats to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz have brought traffic to a virtual halt on a route that normally carries one fifth of global oil supplies.
Trump said the US Navy would start escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz "very soon", but governments around the world fear a prolonged blow to their economies with crude oil prices up more than 40 percent since the war began.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas called on Saturday for Iran to refrain from targeting neighbouring countries, in a rare breach between the allies, though it affirmed Tehran's right to defend itself.
Qatar said it intercepted two missiles over the capital's downtown area on Saturday and evacuated key areas after blasts were heard by AFP journalists in Doha.
Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said its forces had intercepted dozens of drones on Friday.
'Defeated'
Strikes have continued in Iran, with heavy blasts shaking Tehran late Friday.
Iran's health ministry says more than 1,200 people have been killed by US and Israeli attacks, numbers that could not be independently verified.
The UN refugee agency has estimated that up to 3.2 million people have been displaced inside Iran since the war started.
Trump described Iran as "totally defeated" and in search of a deal he was unwilling to consider.
The Pentagon says more than 15,000 targets in Iran have been hit by the US and Israel in two weeks.
A report on Thursday said the first six days alone cost the US $11.3 billion and it has lost 13 military personnel.
Israel's military said it conducted 7,600 strikes on Iran, mostly against its missile programme.
US media raised the possibility of a ground invasion, with the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reporting the Pentagon had dispatched the Japan-based amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli to the region with some 2,500 Marines.
Iran's rulers appear intent on showing they will survive the war and maintain control, despite their supreme leader Ali Khamenei being killed on day one.
Khamenei's son Mojtaba Khamenei was named the new supreme leader, but has been absent from public view and is reportedly wounded.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have threatened a heavy crackdown on any anti-government protests.
Thousands were killed in mass demonstrations in January, and a near-total internet blackout has been imposed since since the war began.
'Existential battle'
Beyond the Gulf, Turkey said NATO forces shot down a ballistic missile launched from Iran -- the third such interception in the war.
Lebanon has also been drawn into the war.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel from Lebanon after Khamenei's death and its leader, Naim Qassem, has called the current conflict an "existential battle".
Israel has responded with air and ground assaults, killing at least 773 people according to the Lebanese authorities, and issuing evacuation orders that have displaced hundreds of thousands.
An overnight strike in southern Lebanon killed a dozen doctors, paramedics and nurses at a healthcare clinic, health authorities said Saturday.
Live Updates
- 14 March 2026 7:09 PM IST
Plane spotters stand at a perimeter fence to see and photograph US Air Force (USAF) B-1 Lancer bomber jets taking off at RAF Fairford in south-west England on March 14, 2026. Fairford is one of two bases, along with the Diego Garcia facility in the Indian Ocean, that the UK has given the US permission to use for "specific defensive operations into Iran" to destroy Iranian missiles at source, the British defence minister said in a statement. (Photo by Henry Nicholls / AFP) - 14 March 2026 7:02 PM IST
Blasts heard over Jerusalem after army detects missiles from Iran
Blasts heard over Jerusalem after army detects missiles from Iran
JERUSALEM, March 14, 2026 (AFP) - Explosions rang out over Jerusalem on Saturday, AFP reporters heard, shortly after the Israeli military warned that it had detected incoming missiles from Iran.As the Middle East war triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Tehran entered its third week, the military said its "defence system is operating to intercept the threat". - 14 March 2026 6:24 PM IST
Iran hits back after the US bombs a key island as the war enters its third week
Iran hits back after the US bombs a key island as the war enters its third week
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A missile struck a helipad inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad and debris from an intercepted Iranian drone hit an oil facility in the United Arab Emirates as the U.S.-Israel war with Iran entered its third week Saturday.Associated Press images showed a column of smoke rising over the embassy compound in the Iraqi capital and a fire in the Fujairah port in the UAE that broke out after what authorities said was a drone interception.A day earlier, President Donald Trump said the U.S. destroyed military sites on an island vital to Iran’s oil network and warned that its oil infrastructure could be next if Iran continues to interfere with the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz .Trump said U.S. forces on Friday “obliterated” targets on Iran’s Kharg Island, which is home to the primary terminal that handles the country’s oil exports. The speaker of the Iranian parliament had warned that such strikes would provoke a new level of retaliation.Meanwhile, an American official said 2,500 more Marines and an amphibious assault ship are being sent to the Middle East.Iran has continued to launch widespread missile and drone attacks on Israel and neighboring Gulf Arab states, and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz , through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes, even as U.S. and Israeli warplanes pummel military and other targets across Iran .The humanitarian crisis in Lebanon deepened, with nearly 800 people killed and 850,000 displaced as Israel launched waves of strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants and warned there would be no let up.Marines and assault ship will add to US forces Elements from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli have been ordered to the Middle East, according to the U.S. official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans.Marine Expeditionary Units are able to conduct amphibious landings, but they also specialize in bolstering security at embassies, evacuating civilians, and providing disaster relief. The deployment does not necessarily indicate that a ground operation is imminent or will take place.The Wall Street Journal first reported the new Marine deployment.The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, as well as the Tripoli and other amphibious assault ships carrying the Marines, are based in Japan and have been in the Pacific Ocean for several days, according to images released by the military. The Tripoli was spotted by commercial satellites sailing alone near Taiwan, putting it more than a week away from the waters off Iran.Earlier in the week, the Navy had 12 ships, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and eight destroyers, operating in the Arabian Sea. Should the Tripoli join this flotilla, it would be the second-largest ship behind the Lincoln in the region.While the total number of U.S. service members on the ground in the Middle East is not clear, Al-Udeid Air Base alone, one of the largest in the region, typically houses some 8,000 U.S. troops in Qatar.US strikes a key Iranian island after Tehran warning The U.S. strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf targeted military sites but left its oil infrastructure alone for now, Trump said in a social media post. But he warned that if Iran or anyone else interferes with the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz , he will reconsider his decision not to “wipe out the Oil Infrastructure.”Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf warned on social media Thursday that attacks on the islands on Iran’s southern maritime frontier would cause Iran to “abandon all restraint,” underscoring how central they are to the country’s economy and security.On Saturday, Iran’s joint military command reiterated its threat that it will attack the U.S.-linked oil and energy facilities in the region if the Islamic Republic's oil infrastructure is hit.Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warned they will target “all oil, economic, and energy infrastructures belonging to oil companies across the region that have American shares or cooperate with America.”The Iranian joint military command also threatened to attack cities in the UAE, saying the U.S. used “ports, docks and hideouts” there to launch strikes on the islands, without providing evidence. It called on people to evacuate those areas where it said U.S. forces were shelteringIran’s semiofficial Fars news agency said Saturday the U.S. strikes caused no damage to the island's oil infrastructure. The agency said at least 15 explosions followed the strikes, which it said targeted an air defense facility, a naval base, the airport control tower and an offshore oil company’s helicopter hangar.On Saturday, the U.S. Central Command released a video on X showing the strike and said it destroyed naval mine storage facilities, missile storage bunkers and multiple other military sites.Another attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad No one immediately claimed responsibility for the strike on the embassy's helipad on Saturday. The sprawling embassy complex, one of the largest U.S. diplomatic facilities in the world, has been repeatedly targeted by rockets and drones fired by Iran-aligned militias.There was no immediate comment from the embassy. On Friday, the embassy renewed its Level 4 security alert for Iraq, warning that Iran and Iran-aligned militia groups have previously carried out attacks against U.S. citizens, interests and infrastructure, and “may continue to target them.”US says 15,000 targets struck in Iran since the start of the war Israel earlier announced another wave of strikes in Iran targeting infrastructure, and said its air force had hit more than 200 targets in the last 24 hours, including missile launchers, defense systems and weapons production sites.In Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that over 15,000 enemy targets have been struck — more than 1,000 a day since the war began.He also sought to address concerns about the bottling of the Strait of Hormuz , telling reporters: “We have been dealing with it and don’t need to worry about it.”___Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel; Magdy from Cairo and Toropin from Washington. Associated Press writers Sally Abou AlJoud, Kareem Chehayeb and Bassem Mroue in Beirut; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; Will Weissert at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland and Tia Goldenberg in Washington contributed to this report. - 14 March 2026 6:20 PM IST
The coffin of Gen. Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Defense Council and a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader who was killed in a strike, is carried for burial at the courtyard of the Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) - 14 March 2026 5:46 PM IST
Iranian lawmaker says Ukraine’s drone support makes it a legitimate war target
In a post on X Saturday, Ebrahim Azizi, the head of Iran’s parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, said that by providing drone support to Israel, Ukraine has “effectively become involved in the war.” He said the entire country became a target for Iran. - AP - 14 March 2026 5:37 PM IST
Nine ballistic missiles, 33 drones fired towards UAE
Nine ballistic missiles and 33 drones were fired Saturday toward the United Arab Emirates, the Defense Ministry said.It said the total number of projectiles fired at the country since Feb. 28 included 1,600 drones, 294 ballistic missiles and 15 cruise missiles. The attacks have killed six people and wounded 141 others, it said. - 14 March 2026 5:35 PM IST
Iran says US and Israeli strikes damaged about 43,000 residential and commercial units
Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said the damaged structures included 36,469 residential units and 6,179 commercial facilities, according to state-run IRNA news agency.
Iran hasn’t provided any information about military losses and damage.
Mohajerani, meanwhile, said the war has taken a heavy toll on women, with 223 women and girls killed and 2,129 others wounded since Feb. 28. She didn’t provide an overall death toll, but previously authorities have said that 1,230 people have been killed.
- 14 March 2026 5:11 PM IST
'Unjust' war imposed on Iran should end: Omar Abdullah
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday said the "unjust" war imposed on the people of Iran should end and peace should prevail, asserting that the US and Israel do not get to decide the leadership of the country.He said it is for the people of Iran to decide about their leadership."At the end of the day, what we want is peace. We want this unjust war that has been imposed on the people of Iran to stop. As I have said time and again, America and Israel don't get to decide who the leader of Iran is. Israel and the US don't get to decide who the Supreme Leader is," Abdullah told reporters.The chief minister said Iran's assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was not just the leader of Iran, "he was an acknowledged religious leader for the entire Muslim Ummah"."So, this should not be seen as a conflict with Iran; it has far wider implications," he added. - 14 March 2026 4:37 PM IST
Fire breaks out at UAE port after drone interception
The fire in Fujairah port in the United Arab Emirates broke out Saturday following the drone interception, authorities said.
No casualties were reported from the attack, the Fujairah media office said, adding that firefighters were battling the blaze.
Associated Press footage showed smoke rising Saturday morning over the facility. - AP
- 14 March 2026 4:12 PM IST
Iranian official says oil operations are normal on Kharg Island after US strikes
“Export and import operations, as well as the activities of companies based on the island, are currently ongoing,” Ehsan Jahaniyan, deputy governor of Bushehr province, was quoted as saying by NourNews, an outlet close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
Kharg Island is home to the primary terminal that handles the country’s oil exports.
Jahaniyan also said that daily life activities were normal, adding that the strikes left no casualties.
Early Saturday, semi-official Fars News Agency reported that the U.S. strikes were limited to military facilities.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle with agency inputs )
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