Donald Trump angrily points at a reporter aboard Air Force One, March 15, 2026 (Sky)

EA-Times Radio VideoCast: War on Iran — Trump’s Lies, Betrayal, and Choice of Putin Over US Troops

EA on International Media: US-Israel War on Iran — Trump and Co. Ramble On with No Plan B

UPDATES: US-Israel War, Day 16 — Iran Steps Up Attacks on Gulf’s Shipping, Oil, and Port Infrastructure

UPDATE 2119 GMT:

The Iranian regime has confirmed Israel’s assassinations of Ali Larijani, the Secretary of the National Security Council, and Gholamreza Soleimani, the commander of the Basij paramilitary force.

UPDATE 2115 GMT:

The UN’s human rights office says Israeli attacks on residential buildings and civilian infrastructure in Lebanon may amount to war crimes.

Israel’s attacks since March 2 killed at least 912 people, including 111 children, and wounded 2,221. More than a million people, nearly 20% of the population, have been displaced.

Spokesperson Thameen al-Kheetan said:

In many instances, Israeli airstrikes have destroyed entire residential buildings in dense urban environments, with multiple members of the same family, including women and children, often killed together….

Such attacks raise serious concerns under international humanitarian law.

UPDATE 1628 GMT:

The Iranian regime’s de facto English-language spokesman Seyed Mohammad Marandi has implicitly acknowledged Israel’s targeted assassination of Ali Larijani, the Secretary of the National Security Council.

UPDATE 1623 GMT:

Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has assailed Israel over its claimed assassination of leading Iranian politician Ali Larijani.

“Israel’s political assassinations, especially those targeting Iranian statesmen and politicians, are truly illegal activities outside the normal laws of war,” Fiden told a press conference.

UPDATE 1511 GMT:

President Emmanuel Macron has reiterated that France will not participate in military operations to unblock the Strait of Hormuz, rebuffing Donald Trump’s declaration that Paris was close to joining.

“We are not party to the conflict and therefore France will never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz in the current context,” Macron said.

Trump told reporters on Monday that, after a call with Macron the previous day, “I think he’s going to help.”

UPDATE 1426 GMT:

The UN’s World Food Programme projects that an extra 45 million people will face acute hunger because of the US-Israel War on Iran.

WFP’s Deputy Executive Director, Carl Skau, said food, oil and shipping costs will pushing the global level far above its current record of 319 million.

This would ‌take ⁠global hunger levels to an all-time record and it’s a terrible, terrible prospect. Already, before this war, we were in a perfect storm where hunger ​has never been ​as severe ⁠as now, in terms of numbers and how deep that hunger is.

UPDATE 1402 GMT:

The head of the US National Counterterrorism Center, Joseph Kent, has resigned over the US-Israel War on Iran.

UPDATE 1343 GMT:

The UK’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, attended talks between the Trump camp and Iran on February 26 and judged that Tehran’s offer over its nuclear program was significant enough to avoid war, launched two days later by the US and Israel.

Officials said Powell thought progress was made in Geneva with the “surprising” deal proposed by Iran.

One official said Powell was at Oman’s ambassadorial residence acting as an advisor amid concern about the expertise of Trump’s envoys, son-in-law Jared Kushner and real estate developer Steve Witkoff.

UPDATE 1250 GMT:

US intelligence services assess that Iran’s regime likely will remain in place for now, weakened but hardline with the Revolutionary Guards exerting greater control.

“Two people familiar with the assessments” say they predict Iran’s regime will remain intact and possibly be emboldened, believing it stood up to Donald Trump and survived. Meanwhile, Gulf States are angered and alarmed at being the targets of Iran’s missile and drone retaliation.

The assessments were made before today’s reported assassination of Ali Larijani, one of Iran’s political leaders, by an Israeli airstrike.

A European official said the likeliest postwar scenario is a “rump IRGC [Guards] regime” in Iran that will retain some nuclear and missile capability and regional allies, though the regime will be “degraded enough that we’re in a better place than we were”.

One US officials said Trump has been receiving “very sobering briefings”. The source added that Trump was told of the likelihood of a more entrenched Revolutionary Guards before he gave the go-ahead to launch the war with Israel.

“It wasn’t just predictable,” the official said. “It was predicted. He was told in advance.”

A Gulf official complained about the US, “They started this war for Israel and then left us to face the attacks by ourselves.” He said Trump Administration officialshad told allies.

“We don’t have a plan for a long war. We need to finish it as soon as possible,” the official said.

A “person close to the White House” expressed concern:

We clearly just kicked [Iran’s] ass in the field, but, to a large extent, they hold the cards now. They decide how long we’re involved — and they decide if we put boots on the ground.

And it doesn’t seem to me that there’s a way around that, if we want to save face.

A second source said, “The terms have changed. The off-ramps don’t work anymore because Iran is driving the asymmetric action….For the White House, now the only easy day was yesterday. They need to worry about an unraveling.”

A third said of the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei:

You’ve killed one guy, the next guy up is even more radical. You killed his dad and his wife.

Do you think he’s gonna be more — or less — reasonable?

UPDATE 1237 GMT:

Donald Trump’s attempt to blame Iran for the mass killing of at least 168 people at a primary school — covering up US responsibility — stemmed from an early, faulty US intelligence assessment that was almost immediately dismissed, according to “two people familiar with the matter”.

The school in Minab in southern Iran was struck by an American Tomahawk missile on February 28 in the initial phase of the US-Israel War.

The CIA told the President that they did not believe the missile was a US munition because the fins appeared to be positioned too low for a Tomahawk.

Within 24 hours, the CIA realized the assessment was wrong. Additional videos, taken at other angles, confirmed the missile was a Tomahawk.

But Trump had fixed on the declaration of Iranian responsibility. He repeated it last Saturday and was caught out by journalists.

UPDATE 1158 GMT:

Donald Trump was warned that attacking Iran could trigger retaliation against Gulf States, “a US official and two sources familiar with US intelligence” have confirmed.

One official said pre-war ‌intelligence assessments did not say that Iran’s response was “a guarantee, but it certainly was on the list of potential outcomes”.

Trump insisted on Monday, “They weren’t supposed to go after all ​these other countries in the Middle East. Nobody expected that. We were shocked.”

Two other sources said Trump was also briefed before the US-Israel War that Iran would likely seek ​to close the Strait of Hormuz.

The chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, reportedly warned Trump of the possibility, but the reality TV star believed Iran’s regime would collapse before the step could be taken.

UPDATE 1103 GMT:

An Israeli official says the targeted assassination of Ali Larijani, a pragmatic Iranian leader, was planned for Sunday but wpostponed at the last minute.

The airstrike was carried out on Monday when intelligence indicated that Larijani was due to arrive at one of several apartments he used as a hideout. He was reportedly there with his son.

A “senior Israeli official” says, “There was no chance he survived this attack.”

UPDATE 1034 GMT:

A handwritten note has been published on the Twitter account of top Iranian official Ali Larijani, whom Israel’s military says it targeted for assassination.

The note, also shared by Iranian state-linked media, commemorates 84 Iranian sailors killed in a US attack off southern Sri Lanka. Funerals are being held today.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz claimed Larijani and the head of the Basij paramilitary force, Gholamreza Soleimani, have been killed:

The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to continue hunting down the leadership of the regime of terror and oppression in Iran.

US President Trump spoke about the high rate of turnover of Iran’s leadership … we will update him that the high rate of turnover continues and is even increasing following the assassination of two of the most senior remaining leaders.

UPDATE 0823 GMT:

Israeli officials say they targeted Ali Larijani, one of Iran’s leading officials, in an overnight airstrike.

The officials said it is unclear if Larijani, the Secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, was killed or injured.

The Israel Defense Forces’ Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said, “Significant elimination achievements were also recorded overnight, with the potential to impact the campaign’s achievements and the IDF’s missions.”

Larijani is from one of Iran’s leading political families, with brothers who headed the judiciary and in senior positions in Government. He is a former Parliament Speaker and Presidential candidate.

Since the assassination of the Supreme Leader and dozens of officials and commanders by US-Israel strikes on February 28, Larijani has been one of the most prominent Iranian leaders defying US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s declaration that they are “hiding like rats”.

The IDF said it killed the head of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force, Gholamreza Soleimani, his deputy, and other senior officials. The strike was on a tent camp, recently established after strikes on Basiji headquarters, said the Israeli military.

The Israelis also targeted Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Akram al-Ajouri and other top officials several days ago. The military said it believes al-Ajouri was likely killed in the strike, but is working on confirmation.

UPDATE 0712 GMT:

“Three Gulf sources” said that while Gulf States did not ask the US to go to war with Iran, some are urging the Trump camp to ensure that Tehran cannot threaten the Gulf’s oil lifeline and the economies that depend on it.

The sources and “five Western and Arab diplomats” say the Trump Administration is pressing Gulf States to join the US-Israel war. Three of them said Donald Trump wants to show regional backing for the attacks, to bolster international legitimacy as well as support at home.

On Sunday the New York Times reported, citing “several officials”, that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is telling Trump to “keep hitting the Iranians hard”.

Saudi officials denied the report on Monday.

UPDATE 0655 GMT:

European governments have firmly rejected Donald Trump’s demand that they join an international military force to control the Strait of Hormuz.

After a Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Monday, European Union foreign policy head Kaja Kallas said the remit of the EU’s naval mission in the Red Sea, established in 2024 amid attacks on shipping by Yemen’s Houthi faction, will not be extended to the Strait.

“There was in our discussions a clear wish to strengthen this operation, but for the time being there was no appetite in changing the mandate,” she said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz explained:

There was never a joint decision on whether to intervene. That is why the question of how Germany might contribute militarily does not arise. We will not do so.

While “this Iranian regime must come to an end”, Merz said, “Based on all the experience we have gained in previous years and decades, bombing it into submission is, in all likelihood, not the right approach.”

Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius added:

This is not our war, we have not started it.

What does Donald Trump expect from a handful of European frigates in the strait of Hormuz that the mighty US navy cannot manage alone? This is the question I find myself asking.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said, “Diplomacy needs to prevail.”

UPDATE 0642 GMT:

Operations at the Shah oil and gas field in Abu Dhabi were halted on Monday night following a drone attack that set a fire.

Officials said the fire has been contained: “Operations at the facility have been suspended while damage is assessed, and no injuries have been reported.”

Falling shrapnel from a missile fired on the Emirates killed a Pakistani national.

An Iraqi security official said three drones and four rockets targeted the US Embassy compound in Baghdad, with at least one drone crashing inside it.

A witness said black smoke was rising after an explosion in the complex.

Security officials said the drone and rocket attacks are the most intense during the US-Israel War, with at least five drones involved.

The assault followed confirmation by Iran-backed Kata’eb Hezbollah militia that its senior security commander Abu Ali al-Askari had been killed.

An “unknown projectile” struck a tanker 23 nautical miles east of Fujairah in the UAE. No injuries were reported among the ship’s crew.

UPDATE 0634 GMT:

Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi says his last contact with Donald Trump’s envoy, real estate developer Steve Witkoff, was before the US-Israel War on Iran.

A “US official and a source with knowledge” claimed Witkoff and Araqchi have been in direct communication.

A US official insisted Araqchi is lying and the Foreign Minister initiated the text messages with Witkoff seeking to end the war.

Iranian officials say Witkoff texted Araqchi asking to start talks, but Tehran is insisting on a ceasefire and long-term deterrence of any more attacks.

UPDATE, MARCH 17:

Donald Trump has suggested that his trip to China at the end of March, meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping, could be delayed:

We’re speaking to China. I would love to, but because of the war, I want to be here.

We have requested that we delay it a month or so, and I’m looking forward to meeting with him. We’ve got a war going on. I think it’s important that I be here. So it could be that we delay it a little bit, not much.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent insisted the threatened postponement is not to press Beijing into helping the Administration unblock the Strait of Hormuz.

UPDATE 1810 GMT:

Prime Minister Rob Jetten says the Netherlands has “an open mind” about contribution to a mission to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz; however, the current level of attacks make it impossible to help now.

But European Union foreign ministers have rejected the expansion of an EU naval mission in the Middle East to the Strait of Hormuz for now.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas spoke after today’s meeting in Brussels about the Aspides mission, established in 2024 to protect ships from attacks by Yemen’s Houthi faction in the Red Sea.

“There was in our discussions a clear wish to strengthen this operation, but for the time being, there was no appetite in changing the mandate of the operation,” she told reporters.

UPDATE 1804 GMT:

More than one million people in Lebanon have been displaced during the US-Israel War.

Lebanese authorities said the number of people registered as displaced has reached 1,049,328, with 132,742 in 600 collective shelters.

The Israeli army said earlier today that it began “limited ground operations” against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, following airstrikes against numerous targets.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said more than 850 people have been killed, including seven people in an Israeli airstrike on Monday.

UPDATE 1234 GMT:

Signalling a retreat by the Trump Administration, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says it is “fine” with some Iranian, Indian, and Chinese ships going through the Strait of Hormuz.

We are seeing more and more of the fuel ships start to go through. The Iranian ships have been getting out already, and we’ve let that happen to supply the rest of the world. We’ve seen Indian ships go out now…we believe some Chinese ships have gone out.

That should start ramping up before there are any of the flotillas or protective armadas in the Gulf. So we think that there will be a natural opening that the Iranians are letting out. And for now, we’re fine with that. We want the world to be well supplied.

UPDATE 1221 GMT:

A Pakistan-flagged oil tanker has passed through the Strait of Hormuz.

“The Aframax tanker Karachi, carrying Abu Dhabi’s Das crude, has become the first non-Iranian cargo to transit the choke point while broadcasting its AIS signal, suggesting that select shipments may be receiving negotiated safe passage,” said the monitor Marine Traffic.

The Karachi, controlled by Pakistan’s National Shipping Corp., passed the Strait on Sunday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters on Monday that the Strait is cut off only for vessels of the US, Israel and their allies. On social media post this morning, he thanked the government and people of Pakistan for their solidarity and support for Iran amid US and Israeli attacks.

Iran has also granted passage to several tankers under the flags of Turkey and India, and is discussions with the latter over a wider agreement (see 0836 GMT).

UPDATE 1211 GMT:

Italy is the latest country to reject Donald Trump’s demand to join a military mission in the Strait of Hormuz.

Italian Foreign ⁠Minister Antonio ⁠Tajani told reporters, “As far as Hormuz is concerned, I believe diplomacy needs to prevail.”

While Italy ⁠is involved in defensive naval missions in the Red Sea, Tajani emphasized, “I ⁠don’t see any missions that ⁠can be extended ⁠to Hormuz.”

UPDATE 1118 GMT:

Greece will not join military operations in the Strait of Hormuz, a government spokesperson has confirmed.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul says Berlin does not see a role for NATO in the Strait, defying Donald Trump’s threat that it would be “very bad for the future” of the alliance if members did not come to the aid of the US.

I don’t see that Nato has made any decision in this direction or could assume responsibility for the Strait of Hormuz. If that were the case, then the Nato bodies would address it accordingly.

Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Copenhagen must consider, with an open mind, how it can contribute to enabling sailings in the Strait.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a press conference, “We’re working with all of our allies, including our European partners, to bring together a viable collective plan that can restore freedom of navigation in the region as quickly as possible and ease the economic impacts.”

Starmer said he has discussed the situation with Trump.

He aid that while Britain was “taking the necessary action to defend ourselves and our allies, we will not be drawn into the wider war”.

UPDATE 1044 GMT:

An EA correspondent reports that last week’s US attack on Kharg Island, which handles more than 90% of Iran’s oil exports, used HIMARS rockets from bases in the UAE.

This explains the intensity of Iran’s assault on the UAE over the weekend and into Monday, notes the correspondent.

UPDATE 1030 GMT:

The New York Times puts Donald Trump’s bluster — and now his growing desperation — about the Strait of Hormuz into focus:

At a meeting in the Oval Office last week, a frustrated Mr. Trump pressed Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about why the United States could not immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The answer was straightforward: Even one Iranian soldier or militia member zipping across the narrow neck of the strait in a speedboat could fire a mobile missile right into a slow-moving supertanker, or plant a limpet mine on its hull.

But “several officials” — the Times does not say from which country — claim Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is telling Trump to “keep hitting the Iranians hard”.

UPDATE 0902 GMT:

Iran’s police chief Ahmadreza Radan says 500 people have been arrested on charges of aiding the enemy.

Radan said half of the cases involved serious incidents “including people who provided information for hitting targets and individuals who took footage of strike locations and sent them”.

The regime has warned that it will respond with force to any protests other than rallies which it has authorized.

UPDATE 0836 GMT:

India has hailed direct talks with Iran as the most effective way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said the negotiations, which allowed for Indian-flagged gas tankers to pass through the Strait on Saturday, are an example of the possibilities of diplomacy.

He told the Financial Times:

I am at the moment engaged in talking to them and my talking has yielded some results. This is ongoing. If it is yielding results for me, I would naturally continue to look at it.

Certainly, from India’s perspective, it is better that we reason and we co-ordinate and we get a solution than we don’t. So if that sort of allows other people to engage, I think the world is better off for it.”

UPDATE 0818 GMT:

China is maintaining a cautious position over Donald Trump’s demand for help in opening the Strait of Hormuz.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said China is “in communication with all parties” while calling for an immediate de-escalation of the US-Israel war and Iranian retaliation.

Lin said Beijing is working to help ease tensions and prevent wider economic fallout.

Trump said he “may delay” his trip to Beijing at the end of the month if China does not obey his command.

Lin replied, “Head-of-state diplomacy plays an irreplaceable, strategic guiding role in China-US relations.”

UPDATE 0731 GMT:

A Palestinian civilian has been killed in Abu Dhabi by a missile strike on their car.

“Authorities in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi responded to an incident in the Al Bahia area involving a missile strike on a civilian vehicle, which resulted in the death of one Palestinian national,” said the Abu Dhabi Media Office.

UPDATE 0647 GMT:

Flights were temporarily suspended at Dubai’s international airport early Monday after a “drone incident” caused a fire in the area.

The drone struck a fuel tank near the airport. Authorities said the blaze has been contained.

The UAE’s air defenses responded later in the morning to more Iranian missile and drone attacks.

A drone set a fire in the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, a day after loading operations was suspended by another attack.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The Trump Administration, still seeking the Iranian regime’s surrender in the US-Israel War, is struggling over Iran’s closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz.

Around 25% of the world’s maritime oil and around of maritime gas pass through the narrow Strait between Iran and the Gulf States of Oman and the UAE. Tehran’s threats to shipping effectively shut the passage last week. Since then, only a few Greek-owned tankers have dared run the gauntlet, and Iran granted permission to a few Turkish- and Indian-flagged vessels.

Last week Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth proclaimed that the US had destroyed the Iranian Navy and controlled the Strait. That narrative collapsed over the weekend as Trump and officials like US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz begged and demanded that former allies and other countries contribute to an international force to escort shipping.

Trump had expressed hope that China, France, Japan, South Korea, and the UK would participate. On Sunday, he said the Administration had contacted seven countries for support, but declined to identify them. Then he lashed out, telling reporters:

Waltz echoed:

Japan, Australia, and France Rebuff Trump

No country has yet committed to involvement. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told Parliament that, while the US has not made a formal request, “we have not made any decisions whatsoever about dispatching escort ships. We are continuing to examine what Japan can do independently and what can be done within the legal framework.”

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi added, “What we can technically do and whether we should do it under the current circumstances is a different story.”

Japan imports 90% of its oil from the Middle East, 70% of which is shipped via the Strait of Hormuz. Takaichi meets Trump in Washington later this week.

Australia’s Transport minister Catherine King told the national broadcaster:

We won’t be sending a ship to the Strait of Hormuz. We know how incredibly important that is but that’s not something we’ve been asked or we’re contributing to.

France rejected despatch of a warship or deployment of any additional military forces. Foreign Ministry officials said the military posture aims at ensuring regional stability rather than escalating the conflict.

The UK said it is considering the deployment of aerial minesweepers. But officials said the despatch of warships could worsen the situation.

South Korea’s Presidential Office said, “We will communicate closely with the US regarding this matter and make a decision after careful review.”

Trump Snaps

Trump’s problems were compounded on Sunday by his angry declarations and confused statements from his officials as the price for Brent crude oil reached $104, a rise of around 40% since the start of the war.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright lamely said, when pressed about why the Trump camp had not prepared for the Strait’s closure:

Trump — who threatened earlier this year to seize Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark and who has completely cut US aid to Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion — compained:

We’re always there for NATO. We’re helping them with Ukraine. It’s got an ocean in between us. It doesn’t affect us, but we’ve helped them. It would be interesting to see what country wouldn’t help us with a very small endeavor, which is just keeping the Strait open.

He snapped at reporters who asked about his comment that he deploy US ground troops:

Then he refused to pay tribute to the six US crew who perished in the crash of a KC-135 military tanker on Thursday:

Rattled by the Iranian regime’s display of defiance with mass rallies in Tehran and across the country on Friday — exposing Defense Secretary Hegseth’s propaganda that leaders were “hiding like rats” — Trump insisted that videos of the gatherings were fake: