The US-Israel war with Iran entered its third week on Saturday as a missile struck a helipad inside the US Embassy compound in Baghdad and debris from an intercepted Iranian drone hit an oil facility in the United Arab Emirates, further increasing global anxiety about oil supplies.
Iran has targeted countries across the region and said it would choke off the Strait of Hormuz, a major artery for the world’s oil supply.
In response, US President Donald Trump claimed that “many countries” would send warships to the strait to defend shipping. In a post on Truth Social, Trump then said that “hopefully” China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would send vessels. It was unclear whether other nations were already confirmed to be sending ships beyond those. He also claimed that “we have already destroyed 100 percent of Iran’s military capability.”
Meanwhile, he warned, the US “will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline” and “one way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait open, safe and free.”
Later on Saturday Trump said that “countries of the world that receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage, and we will help — a lot! The US will also coordinate with those countries so that everything goes quickly, smoothly, and well.
“This should have always been a team effort, and now it will be — It will bring the World together toward harmony, security, and everlasting peace!” he added.
Iran’s joint military command threatened to attack cities in the UAE, home to Dubai and one of the world’s busiest airports, saying the US used “ports, docks and hideouts” there to launch its overnight strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island, without providing evidence. It called on people to immediately evacuate areas where it said US forces were sheltering, naming Jebel Ali port in Dubai — the Mideast’s busiest — as well as Khalifa port in Abu Dhabi and Fujairah port.
It was the first time Iran has directly threatened non-US assets, in this case commercial ports, in a neighboring country since the war began with US-Israeli strikes on February 28.
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