U.S. President Donald Trump said he has demanded about seven countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open as Iranian strikes kept slamming Gulf Arab nations on Monday.
Trump said the U.S. is negotiating with countries heavily reliant on Middle East oil to join a coalition to police the waterway where about one-fifth the world’s traded oil normally flows, but declined to name them.
Dubai International Airport has gradually resumed some flights
after a drone struck a fuel tank, causing a fire. Authorities said it was quickly contained and no injuries were reported.
The war has killed at least 1,300 people in Iran, at least 880 in Lebanon and 12 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed, including six in a plane crash in Iraq last week. More than 800,000 people — nearly one out of every seven residents of Lebanon — have been displaced.
Here is the latest:
Israeli police also said shrapnel from the Iranian missile interception fell in the sprawling compound of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, and in the Old City’s Jewish quarter.
Israeli media reported that a large fragment fell near the country's parliament building.
Trump said, unprompted, that he’d rate the reception he got from French President Emmanuel Macron as an 8 on a scale out of 10.
“I think he’s going to help,” Trump said.
The president was asked by a reporter which countries will join the U.S. and he said, “I’d rather not say yet.” He suggested that later, the White House would release a list of the countries.
Speaking in Berlin, the German chancellor condemned Hezbollah for entering the conflict “on behalf of Iran” and called on the Lebanese militant group to stop attacking Israel and to disarm.
At the same time, he urged Israel to avoid attacking civilians in Lebanon and said a wider ground war “would further exacerbate the already highly tense humanitarian situation.”
“We therefore urge our Israeli friends: Do not take this path,” Merz said of a broader ground offensive. “It would be a mistake.”
“Bombing it into submission is, in all likelihood, not the right approach,” to creating a democratic government in Iran, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said. “There will be no military solution here.”
Responding to Trump’s calls to send warships to police the Strait of Hormuz, Merz said “NATO is a defensive alliance, not an interventionist one.” Mertz spoke Monday after meeting with the Dutch prime minister.
NATO troops deployed for 18 years to Afghanistan and its 2011 air campaign helped topple Libya’s late leader Moammar Gadhafi.
There were no reports of injuries after chunks of twisted metal smashed into areas of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, including the Old City.
Shrapnel hit the rooftop of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, according to the Patriarchate, just meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead.
Israel’s Fire and Rescue service said a large piece from an intercepted missile struck a home in east Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood, which is adjacent to the Old City walls.
Another large fragment landed in the yard of a home in Sheikh Jarrah, just north of the Old City, according to the Jerusalem Governate. Both are predominantly Palestinian neighborhoods.
Although wartime damage to the Old City is relatively rare, it contains sites that are sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians, meaning any hits or near-misses sharpen the conflict’s stakes.
The president said at an event at the White House on Monday that “numerous countries” have told him “they’re on the way” to help police the strait but he complained about their reluctance.
“The level of enthusiasm of enthusiasm matters to me,” he said.
He seemed to suggest their hesitancy showed a lack of reciprocity by countries that have defense agreements with the U.S.
“I know that we’ll protect them and if ever needed, if we ever needed help, they won’t be there for us,” he said.
To reiterate Cairo’s support for nations impacted by Iranian air attacks, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Monday concluded a round of visits to Oman, Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
His talks in Riyadh are expected to discuss de-escalation efforts and “creating a coordinated Arab move to protect sovereignty and resources of Arab countries,” according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said all those previously appointed to government positions by his father, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will remain in their posts.
Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was chosen to replace his father, who was killed in the initial wave of U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran. Mojtaba Khamenei’s statement Monday was carried on several semiofficial news sites.
That’s up from 850 killed as of Sunday, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
On Monday, the ministry said the death toll includes at least 111 children and 67 women. The number of wounded has climbed to 2,141 people, including 332 children and 362 women.
The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2. Israel says it is striking Hezbollah militants and infrastructure.
The Israeli strikes have mostly been in southern and eastern Lebanon as well as parts of Beirut, and have targeted buildings, vehicles and even tents for internally displaced people.
More than 800,000 people — nearly one out of every seven residents of Lebanon — have been displaced after Israel ordered people to evacuate large swathes of the country.
A day after Trump demanded other countries to join a coalition to police the Strait of Hormuz, Israel’s envoy to the U.N. tried to make the case that the burden shouldn’t be just on America’s closest ally in the region.
“We understand the need to support the effort of the U.S. and it should be a global effort,” Danny Danon said. “You look at Israel, a tiny country and you know Iran is I think 80 times bigger than Israel and we take a lot of the burden for the world.”
Israel’s U.N. ambassador Danny Danon told reporters Monday that a few countries are trying to mediate and host talks between Israel and Lebanon but that his country is determined to “degrade” Hezbollah’s capabilities before any negotiations can take place.
“Our message to the Lebanese government is simple: step up. Step in,” Danon said. “Since the ceasefire in November 2024, the Lebanese government has not done what it needed to do to dismantle Hezbollah.”
He added, “Lebanon must restrain Hezbollah now, or we will.”
That came Monday in response to comments from Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson who accused the NATO country of becoming involved after agreeing to allow the United States to use Romanian air bases.
Romania’s foreign ministry said in a statement that a 2006 bilateral access agreement “provides the U.S. with the guaranteed legal framework to use military bases in Romania on an ongoing basis.”
“Romania is not a party to the conflict,” the ministry stated. “Our priority is the diplomatic effort for de-escalation, for which we have advocated since the first day of the conflict.”
The Romanian ministry’s statement came after Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, said on Iranian television that if Romania allows the U.S. to use its air bases, it would “certainly amount to Romania’s participation in the military aggression against Iran.”
“Such an action is completely unacceptable under international law and would entail international responsibility for the Romanian government,” Baghaei said, adding that Iran “will respond appropriately in legal and political terms.”
Sri Lanka has decided to close government offices, universities and schools on every Wednesday as a part of measures to save energy and manage a potential fuel crisis due to the war in the Middle East.
The move came a day after the government imposed a strict fuel rationing system which is aimed at preventing panic buying. But long lines of vehicles were seen for a second day Monday at fuel stations across the country.
On Monday, the government declared Wednesday as a government holiday, but said the holiday will not apply to health, port, water and customs employees.
Sri Lanka last week increased fuel prices by 8%.
The 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency could release more oil from emergency stockpiles if necessary, on top of 400 million barrels announced last week. That was the message Monday from IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.
Birol said last week’s release was a “buffer for now” that had helped restrain the increase in oil prices. But he added there are “a lot of stocks left despite this huge release.”
That means “we can do more later, as and if needed.”
Birol says members have a further 1.4 billion barrels in reserves or industry stocks that governments could access.
The IEA head says the single most important factor for a return to stable flows of oil and gas would be a resumption of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Before the Iran war, the global economy consumed about 101 million barrels of oil a day. Brent crude is trading at over $100 a barrel.
Shrapnel from an interception fell on the rooftop of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, according to the Patriarchate. That’s just meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the spot where Christian tradition holds that Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.
There were no immediate reports of injuries from the impact.
Jerusalem’s Old City, where there are holy sites sacred to Muslims, Christians, and Jews, has come under uncommon fire this war. In past missile exchanges with Iran — including the 12-day-war — the city had been spared the damage seen in nearby cities like Tel Aviv or Beersheba.
But since the start of the most recent war, shrapnel has struck multiple sites close to the Old City, including homes in east Jerusalem, a main highway into Jerusalem and a concert venue in West Jerusalem.
Oil prices are down, and stocks are up Monday, though such moves have been quick to change since the war in Iran began.
The S&P 500 rose 1% in early trading, coming off its third straight losing week, its longest such streak in a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 325 points, or 0.7%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% higher.
The driver for markets once again was the price of oil. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude fell 4.1% to $94.62, easing some pressure off the economy after topping $102 earlier in the morning. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 1.4% to $101.72 per barrel after earlier getting as high as $106.50.
Oil prices have been mostly ripping higher from roughly $70 per barrel since the United States and Israel began their attacks on Iran.
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In a Monday statement, the ministry recalled the government’s decision which prohibits “the military and security activities of Hezbollah.”
It added that the ministry’s position in the matter is clear in which “no armed group operating outside the authority of the state” will be permitted to draw Lebanon further into instability in service of agendas that run counter to Lebanon’s national interests.
The ministry was apparently referring to Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer.
The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL said Sunday that peacekeepers were fired upon, “likely by non-state armed groups” on three separate occasions while conducting patrols around their bases in three villages in southern Lebanon.
The U.N. peacekeeping force did not say Hezbollah was behind the attacks.
The White House sent out a note clarifying the president’s earlier comments announcing a news conference earlier Monday morning.
He is referring to inviting the press in at the start of the Kennedy Center luncheon, which is scheduled for the East Room at 11:45 a.m.
It adds to an already full slate of meetings and other activities on the president’s schedule for Monday morning.
He’s hosting a lunch with members of the Kennedy Center board, as well as signing an executive order on fraud with Vice President JD Vance later Monday afternoon.
The president says the news conference will be before the Kennedy Center lunch.
Israel’s Genesis Prize says it’s doubling the prize it’s awarded to Israeli actor Gal Gadot to $2 million to promote healing and resilience in Israel.
The “Wonder Woman” star was named this year’s laureate in November for her support of Israel. She dedicated the $1 million prize to organizations that “help Israel heal” after more than two years of war.
The Genesis Prize, along with the Jewish Funders Network, a group of philanthropic leaders, said Monday they were doubling that gift with matching funds.
“At a time when Israel’s caregivers are stretched beyond capacity, we must ensure that those who are helping others heal receive the support they need,” Andres Spokoiny, president and chief executive of the network, said in a statement.
The prize is granted each year to a person for their professional achievements, contributions to humanity and commitment to Jewish values.
The Interior Ministry urged people to remain indoors.
Sirens were also sounding in Bahrain Monday afternoon ahead of a potential attack, the country's Interior Ministry said. The ministry urge people to head to the nearest safe place.
Leavitt says “leader-to-leader” talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are happening and that “at this point,” Trump looks forward to visiting China.
But those dates “may be moved,” she said.
“As commander-in-chief, it’s his number one priority right now to ensure the continued success of this Operation Epic Fury,” Leavitt told reporters at the White House on Monday morning.
The treasury secretary followed Trump’s lead Monday and dismissed concerns about rising oil prices since the start of the Iran war.
Bessent accused the media of “trying to make it into some crisis that it’s not,” and he insisted prices would come down after the conflict ends.
“I don’t know how many weeks it will be, but on the other side of this, the world will be safer, and we will be better supplied,” Bessent said on CNBC.
He said the Treasury Department hasn’t traded oil futures to try to cap prices. Asked whether it would going forward, the secretary said: “I’m not sure under what authority or what auspices” that would happen.
Trump’s Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Bloomberg Television over the weekend that the administration has talked about that strategy.
The United Arab Emirates was attacked Monday with six ballistic missiles and 21 drones coming from Iran. That’s according to the Emirati Defence Ministry.
The ministry tallied 304 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles and 1,627 drones since the start of the war.
The attacks killed seven people including two troops, it said.
Starmer has defended resisting Trump’s pressure for the U.K. to join the war against Iran, saying he has “stood by my principles.”
Trump has berated the British leader for limiting the use of U.K. bases by American warplanes and declining to send an aircraft carrier to the Middle East. Trump complained to the Financial Times that “when I asked for them to come, they didn’t want to come.”
Starmer said at a news conference Monday that British troops should only be sent into action that is legal and has “a proper thought-through plan.”
He said U.K. opposition politicians who’ve criticized his stance “would have rushed the U.K. headlong into this war without the full picture of what they’re sending our forces into, and without a plan to get us out. That is not leading. It’s following.”
Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul-Ghani said Monday in a video statement that a pipeline from the northern city of Kirkuk to Turkey will be operational within a week, allowing the country to resume oil exports interrupted by the ongoing regional war.
Iraq previously exported around 3.4 million barrels of oil a day through its southern port of Basra, he said, but “in light of the military operations and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Iraqi oil exports stopped two or three days after the beginning of the war in the region.”
Abdul-Ghani said the pipeline from Kirkuk to Turkey, with a capacity of 200,000 to 250,000 barrels a day, is currently undergoing hydrostatic testing. The route will bypass the semiautonomous Kurdish area in northern Iraq after Baghdad could not reach an agreement with local authorities over conditions for exporting via another pipeline in the Kurdish region.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said those that fled southern Lebanon in the face of Israeli fighting against Hezbollah militants won’t be able to return home until northern Israel, which has been hit by barrages of rockets, is safe.
“Hezbollah will pay a heavy price for its aggression and activity in the Iranian axis to destroy Israel,” he said.
“We have promised security to the residents of the north, and that is exactly what we will do,” he said.
The top U.S. military commander in the Middle East says American forces are zeroing in on Iran’s threats to freighters carrying oil and natural gas through a vital chokepoint in the Persian Gulf.
“We will continue to rapidly deplete Iran’s ability to threaten freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz,” Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, said in a video posted to X on Monday.
Iranian strikes on commercial vessels have effectively stopped shipping traffic in the waterway, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported. That has dramatically increased the price of oil and put pressure on Washington to do something to ease the pain for consumers.
Trump may delay his China trip due to the Iran war, but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday it’s not to pressure Beijing on the Strait of Hormuz.
Bessent said any delay to Trump’s trip to Beijing wouldn’t be because of disagreements over the Iran war or efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“If the meeting for some reason was rescheduled, it would be rescheduled because of logistics,” he said. “The president wants to remain in D.C. to coordinate the war and traveling abroad at a time like this may not be optimal.”
Trump has suggested he may delay the much-anticipated visit to China at the end of the month as he seeks to ramp up the pressure on Beijing to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and calm oil prices that have soared during the Iran war.
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Italy is the latest country to react cautiously to Trump’s demand that allies help open the Strait of Hormuz.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told reporters in Brussels on Monday that Italy backs reinforcing EU naval missions in the Red Sea.
But he added: “However, I don’t think these missions can be expanded to include the Strait of Hormuz, especially since they are anti-piracy and defensive missions.”
U.S. President Donald Trump said he has demanded about seven countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, as Iranian strikes continued to rain down on Gulf countries.
A vessel tracker says a first tanker carrying non-Iranian oil has transited through the Strait of Hormuz.
The Pakistani-controlled tanker Karachi, which carries crude oil from Abu Dhabi, passed the strait on Sunday, according to data from MarineTraffic.
The tanker is now sailing in the Gulf of Oman, it said.
India’s shipping ministry said Monday that an Indian-flagged vessel carrying liquefied petroleum gas is expected to arrive at a port later in the day with more than 40,000 metric tons of fuel.
Local media reported that the vessel sailed from Qatar’s Ras Laffan anchorage. The AP was not able to independently verify that.
A second ship is scheduled to dock on Tuesday, the ministry said. Both vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday.
Officials said 22 Indian-flagged vessels remain west of the strait.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer says Britain is working with allies on a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but “will not be drawn into the wider war.”
He spoke after U.S. President Donald Trump said he’d demanded U.S. allies send warships to open the key oil shipment route.
Starmer said Britain is discussing with the U.S. and allies in Europe and the Gulf the possibility of using mine-hunting drones that the U.K. has in the region. But he signaled the U.K. is unlikely to dispatch a warship.
Trump has berated Starmer for a perceived lack of support for the war, after the prime minister initially refused to allow the U.S. to use British bases to strike Iran.
Starmer said at a news conference Monday that Britain is seeking “a viable collective plan” to reopen the strait, adding that it is, “to say the least, not easy.”
Iran’s top diplomat says the key Strait of Hormuz is only cut off for vessels of the United States, Israel and their allies.
“From our perspective it is open,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said of the strait. “It is only closed to our enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Araghchi spoke at a news conference in Tehran on Monday.
