US President Donald Trump calls on the UK and other nations to join the US in sending ships to help secure the Strait of Hormuz – here’s more on the key oil shipping channel.
In a post on Truth Social, the US president says despite “Iran’s attempted closure” of the passage, “one way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE!”
Six ships were attacked in the Gulf in less than 48 hours this week – on Thursday, Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to keep blocking the strait in his first public statement.
Meanwhile, strikes have continued across the Middle East. As the war enters its third week, we’ve looked at how the conflict has escalated.
Earlier, Trump said military targets on Iran’s key oil island, Kharg, have been “totally obliterated” – our security correspondent writes the move is like going for Iran’s economic jugular vein.
In response, Tehran warns oil and energy infrastructure belonging to firms that work with the US could be “turned into a pile of ashes”.
Trump says US will open Strait of Hormuz ‘one way or the other’
Donald Trump says that “one way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE!”
In a post on his platform Truth Social, he writes that he hopes China, France, Japan, South Korea and the UK will send war ships to the key shipping channel so it can “no longer be a threat” by Iran.
He adds that many countries will be sending war ships to keep the key shipping channel “open and safe”.
In the meantime, he says, the US will be “bombing the hell out of the shoreline and continually shooting Iranian boats and ships out of the water”.
He claims the US has “destroyed 100% of Iran’s military capability” but says it’s still “easy” for them use drones, mines and close-range missiles.
Iran’s representative in Geneva, Ali Bahrani, said Trump’s claims about eliminating Tehran’s capabilities are “based on fabricated lies”.
More than 200 students and teachers killed in Iran since start of war
Fatemeh Mohajerani, spokesperson for the Iranian government, says more than 200 students and teachers have been killed since the start of the war.
She adds that 120 schools have been “severely damaged”.
Tehran’s landmark Azadi Tower has sustained damage, she says on state TV.
Iran’s minister of education said on 11 March that 206 students and teachers had been killed and 161 injured in the attacks so far, according to a report by official IRNA news agency.
Iran’s Red Crescent Society says that, so far, 42,914 civilian properties have been damaged. Of these, 6,179 are commercial properties and 36,489 are residential, including 10,000 in Tehran.
“Since the start of the war, 160 medical, health, and emergency centres across the country have been seriously damaged by enemy attacks,” it adds.
