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March 16, 2026
US President Donald Trump has stepped up calls to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz, saying warships would ''hopefully'' be sent to the area near Iran's coast to help commercial vessels sail through safely.
His comments on Truth Social which didn't provide a timeline came hours after he ordered a strike on military sites on Kharg Island, from which Iran exports almost all its oil, upping the ante in a Middle East war that's raged for more than two weeks and shows little sign of easing.
Overnight and on Saturday (Sunday AEDT), Israel and the US continued striking Iran, which in turn carried on attacking Arab Gulf states. The US told Americans to leave Iraq immediatelyciting the ''significant threat posed by Iran-aligned terrorist militia groups''a day after the Associated Press reported that a missile hit a helipad in the US embassy compound in Baghdad.
In announcing the strike on Kharg Island, Trump said military facilities there had been ''obliterated'', adding that he chose not to hit oil infrastructure ''for reasons of decency''. He threatened to do just that should Iran ''do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz''.
''Many Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran's attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe,'' he wrote in his latest post. He gave little detail beyond saying he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea and the UK would also send warships.
He stated that even though Iran's military was ''already destroyed 100%,'' it was ''easy'' for Tehran to continue threatening ships with drones, mines and short-range missiles. The US, he said, ''will be bombing the hell out of'' Iran's shoreline to try to counter that.
Iran, meanwhile, singled out the United Arab Emirates for reprisals, accusing it of helping facilitate the US strikes. It is also reportedly considering allowing the oil tankers to transit the strait if they pay for their cargo in the Chinese yuan, a move that would strike at the power of the US dollar in financial markets and the trading system.
Roughly 3750 people have been killed across the region since the war began on February 28 with a US and Israeli bombing of Iran, according to governments and non-governmental organisations. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said more than 3000 people were killed in the past two weeks in Iran.
Dozens have died across the Gulf and in Israel, while the US has lost 11 service members.
Lebanon's government says about 700 people have died in Israeli attacks on the country in a parallel war the Jewish state is waging against Iranbacked Hezbollah.
France has drafted a plan to end the war in Lebanon that would require the government there to recognise Israel, Axios reported, citing three sources. It said Lebanon had accepted the proposal as a starting point, and Israel and the US were reviewing it.
Trump's administration rebuffed efforts by allies in the Middle East to start diplomatic talks to end the conflict, Reuters reported, citing three sources. Iran has also rejected the idea of a ceasefire so far, the report noted.
Global oil prices have pushed past $US100 a barrel and fuel shortages are becoming commonplace at service stations after Iran began attacking shipping and oil facilities in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea, and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz.
About 20 per cent of the world's oil each day normally passes through the strait, a narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea between Iran and Oman.
Amid mounting criticism that the White House and Pentagon failed to properly plan a response to Iran's stranglehold on oil supplies, Trump and other senior administration officials flagged deploying US warships to escort tankers through the strait, a massive undertaking given that almost 140 ships usually transit through the waterway daily.
Trump's call for help in escorting ships through the besieged strait comes despite built-up tension between the US and its allies. The UK and France have also had deep misgivings about the war, questioning whether it was legal under international law.
Trump did not mention Australia by name. In the past, Australia has deployed naval vessels to contribute to Middle East security and sanctions enforcement.
The government declined to comment. However, Coalition defence spokesman James Paterson said he'd noted there had been ''no public request from the US for Australian naval support for operations in the Strait of Hormuz''.
''It would not be appropriate to publicly preempt any such request,'' he said. ''We strongly support freedom of navigation and security of global trade routes, and hope to see the Persian Gulf reopened for international shipping as soon as possible. The Iranian regime should immediately cease its attacks on civilian vessels.
''If a formal request is made by the United States, it would need to be assessed against our national interest and the availability of naval assets, including their ability to safely operate in a highly contested strategic environment.'' While supporting US attempts to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's only significant military contribution to date has been the deployment of an RAAF Wedgetail reconnaissance aircraft, announced last week, to help protect the United Arab Emirates against drone and missile strikes.
At the weekend, Trump escalated the campaign by ordering the bombing of military defences on the strategically important Kharg Island in the Gulf.
The island is crucial to Iran's financial wellbeing, as 90 per cent of the country's oil flows through the terminal for export, delivering billions in profits to the regime. But this dependency on the one terminal also makes it Iran's Achilles heel.
In strikes on Friday night, US forces deliberately avoided hitting oil facilities on the island to avoid stoking market panic on global supplies.
Trump has also ordered up to 5000 Marines and several warships to the Middle East, triggering speculation that the reinforcements may be used to seize the island.
Iran responded on Saturday by threatening to target the infrastructure of a third country for the first time, warning residents living near UAE ports to flee for safety.
''We declare to the leaders of the UAE that Iran considers it a legitimate right to defend its national sovereignty and territory by targeting the origin of American enemy missile launches in the shipping ports, docks, and military shelters of the US hidden in some cities of the UAE,'' an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman said.
A fire broke out at one of the threatened ports, Fujairah, after an attempted drone strike. Oil handling was suspended as a result. The port handles about one million barrels of oil a day.
US news channel CNN reported that Iran was considering allowing ships through the strait if they paid in Chinese yuan. The source was identified just as a ''senior official'' and did not name which country they were from.
With the exception of sanctioned Russian oil, most oil contracts are priced in US dollars, a status that helps enshrine the greenback's dominance in the world trading system and financial markets. Iran has allowed some Chinese and Russian ships through the strait.