Live updates: ‘Most intense day’ of U.S. strikes on Iran, Hegseth says; Tehran warns it will block oil until attacks end – NBC News

Saudi Arabia has destroyed at least seven drones in recent hours, its Defense Ministry confirmed. 

They include five drones that were intercepted and destroyed in the Empty Quarter as they were heading to the Shaybah oil field, one of the kingdom’s largest oil production sites near the border with the United Arab Emirates. 

It added that two additional drones were destroyed in the eastern part of the kingdom.

Over 40,000 Americans have returned to the United States from the Middle East since Feb. 28, according to the State Department.

The State Department said it has assisted over 27,000 Americans abroad.

Four Iranian diplomats were killed in an Israeli attack in Beirut on Sunday, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Saeed Iravani, wrote a letter to Secretary-General António Guterres condemning the attack and calling it a serious violation of international law.

The four diplomats were killed in an attack on the Ramada Hotel in Beirut, Iravani wrote, according to IRNA.

Despite contrasting — and often contradictory — claims about the progress and goals of their war with Iran, American and Israeli officials’ clearly hold fundamentally different visions for its success, a former national security adviser to the Israeli prime minister who continues to receive security briefings told NBC News yesterday.

While Israel will remain preoccupied with destroying Iran’s military capabilities and defanging its proxy groups throughout the region, the U.S. has shown more determination to effect lasting regime change, according to Yaakov Amidror, a former head of Israel’s National Security Council.

Israel does not care about Iran’s future governance, Amidror said, adding that it was more concerned about Iran’s ability to cause damage. “The Trump administration has more specific plans: They want to be in more control of what will happen in Iran afterwards. But it is not something that is our goal,” he added.

That seminal difference in perspective has had little visible effect on how the allies have waged war so far, and Amidror said Israeli and American military leaders have told him the alliance — the first time that Israel has fought a war as part of a coalition in its history — has been an unmitigated success. 

Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry spokesperson said today on X that six ballistic missiles that were launched toward Prince Sultan Air Base were intercepted and destroyed.

U.S. Central Command said U.S. forces “eliminated” 16 minelayers, along with multiple naval vessels, near the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which 20% of the world’s oil passes.

The report, posted on X, included a short video appearing to show missiles striking boats and ships.

Australia granted asylum to two more members of the Iranian women’s soccer team, the country’s home affairs minister said today.

One is a player, and the other is a member of the support team, Tony Burke said on X.

After they asked to stay in Australia, Burke said, he signed the paperwork for their humanitarian visas, and they were processed overnight.

“Later in the evening, they were reunited with their five teammates who had made the same decision the night before,” Burke said. “They will be safe here. They will be at home here. They are welcome here in Australia.”

Britain is working with allies on a range of options to support commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz in the face of Iranian threats, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said today as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran roils oil prices.

Trump has said the war could end “soon” but also said the U.S. could escalate its attacks if Iran sought to block tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

After a meeting with the leaders of Germany and Italy late last night, Downing Street said in a readout that they agreed on the “vital importance of freedom of navigation” through the strait and “agreed to work closely together in the coming days in the face of Iranian threats.”

Read the full story here.

Israeli police showed journalists outside Tel Aviv a downed cluster bomb today that they say Iran fired at Israel.

The pointed bomblet, about the size of a mortar round or a small rocket, is capable of holding about 2.5 kilograms, or 5.5 pounds, of explosives, said Doron Lavi, chief superintendent with the National Police Bomb Disposal Division.

The warhead of a ballistic missile can carry 50 to 100 such submunitions, according to police, which are released at a high altitude and disperse as they fall freely, causing widespread damage. They can also be more difficult to intercept, police said.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement yesterday that “dozens of missiles of this type” have been seen being launched from Iran. 

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A submunition of a cluster bomb Israeli police recovered from a missile they said was fired by Iran. Ted Turner

Iran will respond with “an eye for an eye,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the country’s parliament speaker, said today on X.

“No act of aggression will go unanswered,” Ghalibaf wrote. “Today we declare the rule of ‘an eye for an eye’ without hesitation and without exception. If they begin a war against infrastructure, we will certainly target infrastructure.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said this afternoon that he would oppose U.S. nation-building in Iran, arguing that it’s not America’s responsibility.

In a fireside chat with NBC News at the House GOP retreat in Doral, Florida, Johnson was asked whether he would support such an effort in Iran.

“I don’t. I don’t think it’s our role,” he said, adding: “We don’t have the resources or the appetite to do that. That’s not our responsibility. Our responsibility, in my view, is to project peace through strength.”

NBC News also asked Johnson how the U.S. should respond to Russia‘s providing intelligence to Iran about the locations of American forces.

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A displaced girl hangs her laundry to dry on the stands at the Camille Chamoun Sports City stadium in Beirut today. Anwar Amro / AFP – Getty Images

The latest escalation in Lebanon has displaced thousands of people, who are sleeping in churches, makeshift camps and Lebanon’s largest stadium.

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A displaced woman walks between tents inside the stadium today.  Anwar Amro / AFP – Getty Images

Israel has continued its aerial and ground assault in Lebanon after Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon, launched missiles at Israel in what it said was retaliation for the joint U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

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People at the stadium watch smoke rise after an Israeli bombardment of Beirut’s suburbs today. Adri Salido / Getty Images

The initial timeline U.S. officials gave for the war with Iran was four to six weeks, but ultimately, the war will end when Trump “determines the military objectives have been met,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing today.

The goal of the war is to destroy Iran’s navy, its missiles and its ability to manufacture missiles, “permanently deny them nuclear weapons forever,” and weaken its partners in the region, Leavitt said.

Although the U.S. military is “ahead of schedule” in executing the goals, Trump gets the final word, she said.

“Ultimately the operations will end when the commander in chief determines the military objectives have been met, fully realized, and that Iran is in a position of complete and unconditional surrender, whether they say it or not,” she said.

Top Senate Democrats have asked Trump in a letter for public hearings about the war.

The letter was signed by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Armed Services Committee ranking member Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

“We request that your key cabinet secretaries — including Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth — immediately appear under oath in public hearings to answer the questions the American people have about the goals, scope, and end game for this war,” the senators wrote. “Public hearings would be a small but important first step to uphold your oath, to inform Congress, and to explain your actions to the American people whose sons and daughters are on the front lines of this war.”

Asked why Trump said yesterday that Iran may have Tomahawk missiles, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president “has a right to share his opinions with the American public” and reiterated that he’ll accept the results of the ongoing U.S. investigation into the strike on an Iranian elementary school.

Trump said yesterday that he is “willing to live with” the results of the probe into the strike that killed scores of children. He also claimed that many countries, including Iran, have access to Tomahawk missiles, though there is no evidence that Iran is among them.

Asked at the time why he was the only person to implicate Iran, Trump responded: “Because I just don’t know enough about it.” 

Newly surfaced video appears to show an American missile hitting the area of a school where more than 170 people were killed, experts told NBC News.

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Screenshots from video showing the strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school and an adjacent Revolutionary Guard compound in Minab, Iran.

About 140 U.S. service members have been wounded since Operation Epic Fury started, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said.

“The vast majority of these injuries have been minor, and 108 service members have already returned to duty,” Parnell said. “Eight service members remain listed as severely injured and are receiving the highest level of medical care.”

A billboard was installed in Valiasr Square in central Tehran today depicting Iran’s past supreme leaders — Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, left, and the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center — alongside the country’s new leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.

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AFP via Getty Images

Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates should “step forward” and help the U.S. and Israel in their war against Iran, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Graham, R-S.C., implored them to join the fight, while threatening to pull treaty negotiations with the two nations if they don’t, when he appeared on Fox News’ “Hannity” earlier.

“This is so disappointing,” Graham said. “We need partners that will step forward in a fight that we can’t afford to lose.” He added that “Arab countries are as much at threat as we are.”

In an earlier interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, Graham said he wanted Saudi Arabia and the UAE “to get in the fight.”

Explosions have been heard in several cities across Iran, including the capital, Tehran, according to reports from inside the country.

State media also reported blasts in the city of Karaj, which sits to the north of Tehran, and the northwestern city of Tabriz.

Explosions were also heard on Kish Island, which sits off Iran’s southern coast, state media reported.

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Displaced people fleeing Israeli airstrikes sleep at Martyrs’ Square in Beirut, Lebanon, on March 7. Bilal Hussein / AP

France has called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the situation in Lebanon, the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Condemning Hezbollah for joining the war to attack Israel, France offered the Lebanese authorities its full support, the statement said. It also called on Israel “to refrain from any land-based or long-term interventions in Lebanon.”

“France is deeply concerned by the current displacement of civilians and is doing its utmost to meet their humanitarian needs in cooperation with the Lebanese authorities and humanitarian actors, including the High Commissioner for Refugees,” the statement said.

It added that all parties should “exercise restraint” and return to a ceasefire.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has called for an independent probe into the strike on the Iranian elementary school.

“I will be demanding a full, independent and transparent investigation to get to the bottom of what happened at this school and why so many innocent civilians were tragically killed. There needs to be accountability,” he said in remarks on the Senate floor.

Schumer said the president claimed that Iranian Tomahawk missiles were responsible for the bombing of the school. “Iran doesn’t have Tomahawk missiles, Donald Trump! The claim is beyond asinine,” he said, adding, “We all know it’s lies, but on something as formidable as this, it’s appalling.”

Trump, however, did not definitively say that Iranian Tomahawk missiles were used. During his news conference yesterday, Trump addressed whether the U.S. was responsible for the strike on the school.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has launched an emergency appeal to support the Iranian Red Crescent Society with “sharply growing humanitarian needs” in the Islamic Republic.

Setting a 40 million Swiss franc ($52 million) target, the IFRC said the funds are intended to support 5 million people in 30 affected Iranian provinces over the next year and four months and will prioritize those most affected by the war.

“With humanitarian needs growing sharply with every passing day, this Emergency Appeal will help scale up lifesaving assistance and get support to those most affected,” Maria Martinez, the IFRC’s head of delegation in Iran, said in an update.

She added that the Iranian Red Crescent Society had mobilized “its network of staff and volunteers to respond to communities affected by the hostilities,” adding it was “vital to saving lives.”

The Iranian women’s national soccer team should return “calmly and confidently” home from Australia, the Islamic Republic’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, was quoted as saying by the state-run IRNA news agency today.

His comments came after Australia granted asylum to five members of the team who were set to fly back after they were knocked out of the Women’s Asian Cup.

President Donald Trump and rights groups in Australia had urged the country’s government to help the women, who had not spoken publicly about a wish to claim asylum.

The team was thrust into the spotlight when players didn’t sing the Iranian anthem before their first match in the tournament.

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Supporters of the Iranian women’s soccer team react at Sydney Airport today. Jeremy Piper / Reuters

Missiles launched from Iran toward Israel have been identified, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement a short while ago.

The IDF was “working to intercept them,” it said, adding that residents who received warnings to their phones should follow instructions.

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Israelis take shelter today in an underground metro station as air raid sirens warn of an incoming Iranian missile strike in Ramat Gan. Oded Balilty / AP

The Israeli military illegally used white phosphorus munitions over homes in the southern Lebanese town Yohmor on March 3, posing a threat to civilians, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Monday.

“The incendiary effects of white phosphorus can cause death or cruel injuries that result in lifelong suffering,” Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in the statement.

The rights group said it had verified eight images showing white phosphorus used over a residential part of Yohmor, and civil defense workers responding to fires in the area.

Reuters could not independently verify the group’s findings.

The Department of Defense, rebranded by the Trump administration as the Department of War, has posted a graphic on X detailing the strikes on Iran during the first 10 days of Operation Epic Fury.

The death toll in the United Arab Emirates since the start of the war on Iran has risen to six people, according to the country’s Ministry of Defense.

The attacks on the UAE have also resulted in 122 minor to moderate injuries, the ministry said.

The ministry said 262 missiles from Iran have been detected since the start of the war and 241 were destroyed. Another 19 fell into the sea and two landed in UAE territory. Almost 1,400 drones have been intercepted and eight cruise missiles were destroyed, it added.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the hard-line successor to his slain father, will not extend the ongoing conflict in the Middle East if he wants the regime to survive, according to Eric Lob, a politics and international relations professor at Florida International University.

“They are fighting against two conventionally superior adversaries in the U.S. and Israel,” Lob told NBC News via email.

The appointment of the new leader “signals not only continuity but greater entrenchment of the clerical-security nexus that has increasingly dominated Iranian politics,” he said.

“Ideologically, he is antagonistic toward the Islamic Republic’s foreign adversaries and domestic activists,” Lob added.

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Rescue teams from the Iranian Red Crescent Society work today at the site of a building damaged by an airstrike in Tehran’s Resalat Square.  IRCS / Zuma via Reuters

Senior Iranian security official Ali Larijani has issued a new warning on the Strait of Hormuz after President Donald Trump threatened “death, fire and fury” if Iran blockades the crucial waterway.

“Strait of Hormuz will either be a Strait of peace and prosperity for all or will be a Strait of defeat and suffering for warmongers,” he wrote on X.

The defense secretary also used the news conference that wrapped up a little while ago to reiterate Trump’s warning to Iran over the Strait of Hormuz.

“If Iran does anything to stop the flow of oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America 20 times harder than they have been hit thus far,” Hegseth said, quoting Trump’s Truth Social post from yesterday.

Hegseth and  Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were also asked whether the U.S. would consider escorting ships through the crucial waterway. Both Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have suggested this could happen.

“We’ll look at the range of options to set the military conditions to be able to do that,” Caine said. Any decision would be brought before the president, and would depend on: “what are the resources required? What is the command and control required? And what are the risks?” he added.

The world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Aramco, has warned of “catastrophic consequences” if the war continues to disrupt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

“The longer the disruption ​goes on,” the “more drastic the consequences for the global economy,” CEO Amin Nasser told reporters ⁠on an earnings call, according to Reuters. “While we have faced disruptions in the past, this one by far is the biggest crisis the region’s ​oil and gas industry has faced.”

Before the war, around one fifth of the world’s oil supply traveled through the strait, a narrow waterway.

The conflict has effectively closed this neck of ocean, however, disrupting around 20% of the world’s oil supply.

Hegseth said the U.S. investigates incidents thoroughly, appearing to refer to growing evidence that the U.S. likely struck an Iranian school and killed scores of children.

“Where things happen that need to be investigated, we will investigate,” he said.

Hegseth added that “open source” was “not the place to determine what did or did not happen.” NBC News and other outlets reported that newly emerged video appears to show an American Tomahawk missile hitting the area next to the school.

“We take things very, very seriously and investigate them thoroughly, which takes time,” he said.

Hegeseth declined to comment on reports that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been wounded in the war.

Rumors about Khamenei’s health were sparked after Iran’s state TV referred to him as “janbaz” — meaning “wounded by the enemy” — during the “Ramadan war,” Iran’s name for the war being waged by the U.S. and Israel.

Asked about these reports during today’s news conference, Hegseth told reporters, “that’s not something I can comment on right now.”

He would only say, “The new leader of Iran, he would be wise to heed the words of our president, which is to not pursue nuclear weapons and come out and state as such as far as his status.”

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A poster depicts the new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei in a bazaar today in Tehran. Majid Saeedi / Getty Images

Amid mixed messages from Trump and his administration, Hegseth noted that he has not said how long the war will take, adding, “our will is endless.”

“Ultimately, the president gets to determine the end state of those objectives, right?” he continued. “But what he’s said continually, and I want the American people to understand, is this is not endless. It’s not protracted. We’re not allowing mission creep.”

He argued that Trump set forward “a very specific mission to accomplish.”

“It’s not for me to posit whether it’s the beginning, the middle or the end,” Hegseth said. “That’s his, and he’ll continue to communicate that.”

Hegseth also said in his opening remarks that “Iran stands alone, and they are badly losing” as the conflict enters day 11.

The country’s “neighbors, and in some cases, former allies in the Gulf, have abandoned them,” Hegseth said. “And their proxies, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas, are either broken, ineffective or on the sidelines,” he added, referring to the militant groups in Lebanon, Yemen and Gaza respectively.

The U.S., meanwhile, is “winning with an overwhelming and unrelenting focus on our objectives,” he said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in his opening remarks that “today will be, yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran.”

“The most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes. Intelligence more refined and better than ever. So that’s on one hand,” Hegseth said. “On the other hand, the last 24 hours have seen Iran fire the lowest number of missiles they’ve been capable of firing yet.”

He emphasized that “this is not 2003,” referring to the Iraq War.

“Our generation of soldier will not let that happen again, and nor will this president, who very clearly ran against those kinds of never ending, nebulously scoped missions,” he said. “Those days are dead.”

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Smoke plumes billow from the site of airstrikes near Azadi Tower in western Tehran today. Atta Kenare / AFP – Getty Images

Stay tuned for a briefing at 8 a.m. ET from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

It’s their first such update since Thursday.

As attacks escalate across the Middle East, Iran is striking oil-rich Gulf states to drive up gas prices and create economic pressure to stop the war.

It comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again urged Iranians to rise up and “cast off the yoke of tyranny.” 

Trump and his advisers are sending conflicting messages about how long the war in Iran will last. “This is only the beginning,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an interview with “60 Minutes,” while around the same time, Trump told CBS News, “I think the war is very much complete.” 

A top Iranian security official has issued a thinly veiled threat against Trump.

Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was responding to Trump’s social media threat that Iran would be “hit TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far” if they keep blocking oil through the Strait of Hormuz.

Larijani reposted Trump’s message on X, adding his own comment in Farsi.

“The Iranian people do not fear your hollow threats,” he said, adding that more powerful forces than Trump’s White House had failed “to wipe them out.” And he warned the American government to “beware, lest you are the ones who are eliminated.”

Shaken markets in Europe have bounced back this morning following Trump’s comments that the war might be over soon.

Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 1.67% as of 7 a.m. ET. France’s CAC 40 was up 1.86% and Germany’s DAX rose 2.32%.

That followed gains in Asia, where the Shanghai Stock Exchange ticked up 0.65% before closing earlier in the day. Yesterday in the U.S., the S&P 500 rose 0.83% and while Dow Jones Industrial Average added 239.25 points.

Trump has said he is not happy with Iran’s appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as its new supreme leader, telling Fox News in an interview that “I don’t believe he can live in peace.”

Trump also said that the early results from the war have been “way beyond expectation.” 

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A demonstrator holds a picture of Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in central Tehran yesterday. Arezoo / Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Russia is the only winner of the ongoing war in the Middle East, European Union President Antonio Costa said today. 

“So far, there is only one winner in this war — Russia,” Costa said during a speech to E.U. ambassadors in Brussels.

“It gains new resources to finance its war against Ukraine as energy prices increase. It profits from the diversion of military capabilities that could otherwise have been sent to support Ukraine. And it benefits from reduced attention to the Ukrainian front as the conflict in the Middle East takes center stage,” he said.

Iran has spent “a third of 2026 offline” amid an internet blackout that has now reached 240 hours, according to cybersecurity watchdog NetBlocks. 

“At 240 hours, Iran’s internet blackout is now among the most severe government-imposed nationwide internet shutdowns on record globally,” it said in an X post this morning. 

An American woman in Beirut has told NBC News she’s refusing to leave, despite urging from the U.S. as Israel attacks Lebanon.

“In 2006, we had an Israeli invasion and we had Canadian, French and American ships for evacuees. I didn’t leave then. And I’m not leaving now,” said 72-year-old Virginia Sadler Chatila from Washington, D.C.

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Virginia Sadler Chatila. Marc Smith / NBC News

It comes as the United Nations refugee agency said this morning that lives in Lebanon were being upended on a massive scale by the renewed conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

More than 667,000 people are now registered as displaced within the country, the UNHCR said, an increase of 100,000 in just one day. The Lebanese government put the figure at 700,000.

Iran’s military says its drones have targeted fuel storage tanks in the Israeli city of Haifa, in retaliation for Israel’s bombing of oil facilities in Tehran.

“Destructive drones” attacked “the oil and gas refinery and fuel storage tanks” in the northern Israeli city, according to a statement by the Iranian army published by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

That was “in response to the attack on Iran’s oil storage facilities,” that shrouded the country’s capital in black smoke and toxic rain this weekend, it said.

“The battle against the criminal United States and the child-killing Zionist regime,” it added — referring to Israel — “will continue until the final victory of the front of truth over falsehood.”

The group of leading industrial nations yesterday held off releasing oil stocks to bring down prices but is picking up the issue again with more discussions between its energy ministers today, according to France.

France, which currently holds the G7’s rotating presidency, wants “to advance on that question, with one objective, which is to bring down prices,” government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon told broadcaster France Televisions.

“France is working on that for a very simple reason: If you put volume back into the market, you can have an impact on the lowering of prices,” Bregeon said.

French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said the G7 ministers will meet this afternoon by video call.

“It’s a process, we are working on it,” Lescure said. “All options are on the table.”

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  AFP via Getty Images

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  AFP via Getty Images

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  AFP via Getty Images

Billboards have been installed in public spaces and above highways across Tehran celebrating Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment as Iran’s new supreme leader.

Americans living in Beirut have been advised to leave the country or “shelter in place,” according to a security alert issued by the U.S. Embassy in the Lebanese capital. 

“Commercial flights are currently offered by Middle East Airlines, operating out of Beirut Rafic Hariri airport,” it said. 

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Destruction in Beirut yesterday, following Israeli airstrikes.  AFP via Getty Images

“Americans should strongly consider departing on one of these flights if they believe it is safe to do so.”

A U.S. cardinal has criticized as “sickening” a social media post by the White House that mixes footage of the war in Iran with clips from movies and TV shows.

The post on the White House’s official X account intersperses videos of U.S. strikes with scenes from movies such as “Iron Man 2,” “Gladiator” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” and is captioned “JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY.”

“A real war with real death and real suffering being treated like it’s a video game — it’s sickening,” Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, said in a statement over the weekend.

“Hundreds of people are dead, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, including scores of children who made the fatal mistake of going to school that day. Six U.S. soldiers have been killed. They are also dishonored by that social media post,” he said.

A group of protesters blocked a bus carrying the Iranian women’s soccer team as it left its hotel in Australia’s Gold Coast. 

Supporters of the team fear that the players will be punished upon returning home after they refused to sing the national anthem during a match against South Korea last week. Australia had granted humanitarian visas to five members of the team who requested asylum.

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Patrick Hamilton / AFP via Getty Images

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Patrick Hamilton / AFP via Getty Images

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Patrick Hamilton / AFP via Getty Images

Trump praised Australia for taking in the women, adding that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese did a “very good job.”

Thailand is the latest country in Asia to announce contingency measures as oil prices fluctuate amid the war in the Middle East.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has ordered civil servants to conserve energy and work from home among a raft of measures that also include a suspension of overseas trips and using stairs instead of escalators. 

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Dusit Central Park shopping mall in Bangkok in 2025. Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP via Getty Images

Other measures across Asia include Vietnam urging people to work from home and limit vehicle use to save fuel, while Bangladesh shut universities earlier this week to save electricity and fuel, bringing forward the Eid al-Fitr holidays.

Turkey says that a U.S. Patriot system is being deployed for the protection of its airspace.

While referencing the ongoing war in the Middle East, it said that “necessary measures are being taken” to protect its borders and airspace, according to a Turkish Defense Ministry statement posted on X. 

It added that it will assess developments in “cooperation and consultation with NATO” and its allies, while striving for “regional peace and stability.”

South Korea cannot stop the U.S. from removing some weapons that are deployed in the country, its president said, after reports that U.S. Patriot missile defense systems were being relocated for use in the war with Iran.

The reports have raised concern that U.S. allies in Asia could be left vulnerable to military aggression by China and North Korea if the U.S. moves weapons that are used to deter the two nuclear-armed countries.

“There appears to be some controversy recently regarding the partial withdrawal of certain batteries or air defense weapons by the United States Forces Korea to locations outside the country,” President Lee Jae Myung said at a Cabinet meeting today.

He said that while South Korea had expressed opposition to such actions, “it is undeniable that we cannot fully impose our position as we wish.” But he said the weapons’ removal would not “seriously hinder our deterrence strategy toward North Korea” and that there was “no cause for concern,” noting that South Korea has far greater defense spending and conventional capabilities than North Korea.

Australia is deploying a military surveillance aircraft to the Middle East and sending missiles to the United Arab Emirates, but it will not be sending troops, its prime minister said.

The Australian military support is intended to help Gulf nations defend themselves against Iranian attacks, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Canberra today.

“Our involvement is purely defensive,” he said. Albanese said there are about 115,000 Australians in the Middle East, including about 24,000 in the UAE.

Albanese also addressed the humanitarian visas that were issued to five members of the Iranian women’s soccer team who sought asylum after playing in the Asian Women’s Cup hosted by Australia.

“Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women. They’re safe here and they should feel at home here,” he said, adding that Australia is willing to provide help to other members of the team if they want it.

Trump described the war in Iran as “short term” yesterday — suggesting the 10-day conflict that has roiled the Middle East could be nearing its end while also warning of intensifying strikes if a key oil route is restricted.

“We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil. And I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion,” Trump said. “How good is our military, right? Amazing. How good? Short term. Short term.”

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Smoke and flames rise at the site of airstrikes on an oil depot in Tehran on Saturday. Sasan / Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

He appeared spoke a day after crude oil prices soared to above $100 a barrel for the first time since July 2022. AAA said a gallon of regular gas now costs $3.48, up from $2.90 a month ago.

Trump did not put a timeline on the end of the war, though, when he was pressed for details. Asked how he squared saying that the war would end “soon” with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s remarks that the attacks are “only just the beginning” during a “60 Minutes” interview taped Friday, Trump said, “I think you could say both.”

Read the full story here.

Asian markets are following U.S. stocks with modest recoveries after comments from Trump soothed rattled investors.

After having soared as much as 32% overnight to $119 per barrel, the price of U.S. crude oil plunged around 5%, to around $86 per barrel, after Trump told CBS News that the war in Iran was “very complete, pretty much.”

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi is up about 4.8% after losing almost 6% a day earlier. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up almost 2.5% shortly before close, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed up more than 1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index has gained 1.7%, and China’s CSI 300 is up more than 1%.

Earlier, U.S. markets all closed higher after starting the day sharply lower.

Iran will block the export of crude oil from the region if the U.S. and Israel continue their attacks, a spokesman for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has said.

“If aggression by the U.S. military and the Zionist regime against Iran and its infrastructure continues, the armed forces of the Islamic Republic will not allow the export of even one liter of oil from the region to the hostile side and its partners until further notice,” Gen. Ali-Mohammed Naeini said, according to the semiofficial news agency Tasnim.

It comes after Trump warned Iran not to inhibit shipping through the crucial Strait of Hormuz waterway or “death, fire and fury will reign upon them.” Iran will be hit “twenty times harder than they have been hit thus far,” if they do so, he posted on Truth Social.

Shipping through the strait abutting Iran dropped 95% in the first week of March, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. About one-fifth of the world’s oil comes through the strait.

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Cargo ships and tankers are seen off the coastal city of Fujairah, in the Strait of Hormuz in the northern Emirate on Feb. 25. Giuseppe Cacace / AFP via Getty Images

Threats from Iran to strike cargo ships in the strait have had a chilling effect, with the cost of safe passage spiking because insurers have canceled war-risk coverage.