U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he has demanded about seven countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open as fears of a global energy crisis persist. Iranian strikes on commercial ships in and around the strait, and even just the threat of attacks, have slowed shipping there to a trickle.
The U.S. and Israel have kept pummeling what they describe as military targets in Iran’s capital, and Israel stepped up its campaign against Iran-backed militants in Lebanon. More than 1 million people have been displaced in Lebanon — roughly 20% of the nation’s population — as U.N. peacekeepers say Israel is massing ground troops along the border.
Iran has retaliated with persistent drone and missile attacks on neighboring countries, including oil fields in Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, where a drone strike temporarily closed Dubai’s airport, a crucial travel hub.
The war has killed at least 1,300 people in Iran, at least 880 in Lebanon and 12 in Israel, according to officials in those countries. The U.S. military says 13 U.S. service members have been killed and about 200 wounded.
Here is the latest:
Family of American man held in Iran says he’s been designated as wrongfully detained
Kamran Hekmati, a jeweler from Long Island, traveled to Iran last year to visit family but was detained and has been held there since. He is currently imprisoned in the notorious Evin Prison and is believed to be among a half dozen Americans detained in Iran.
The family says the State Department notified them on Monday that Hekmati has been designated as wrongfully detained. Such a designation moves supervision of a detained American’s case to the Special Presidential Office of Hostage Affairs, which functions as the U.S. government’s chief hostage negotiator.
The State Department last week designated Iran as a state sponsor of wrongful detention, accusing the country of engaging in hostage diplomacy.
Trump asks to delay his upcoming meeting with China’s president because of the Mideast war
Trump said he’s asked to push off the meeting by a “month or so” because of the war.
“I want to be here,” Trump said at the White House. “I have to be here, I feel.”
A trip by Trump to China to meet with President Xi Jinping has been scheduled for the end of March and early April.
“I think it’s important that I be here. And so it could be that we delay it a little bit” Trump said.
US stocks climb to their best day since the Iran war began after oil prices ease
A drop in oil prices on Monday helped send the U.S. stock market to its best day since the war in Iran began. And for all its dramatic swings over the last couple weeks, including several that struck hour to hour, the S&P 500 is only 4% below its all-time high.
The S&P 500 climbed 1% on Monday for its biggest gain in five weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 387 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.2%.
The driver for markets once again was the price of oil.
A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude fell 5.3% to settle at $93.50, easing some pressure off the economy after topping $102 earlier in the morning. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 2.8% to $100.21 per barrel after earlier getting as high as $106.50.
It’s a reprieve, for now at least, after oil prices spiked from roughly $70 before the war.
No reports of Israeli casualties after latest salvo of missiles from Iran
This was the seventh time the Israeli public was warned about incoming Iranian missiles on Monday.
These alerts cause Israelis to head to shelters and disrupt daily life, even as most of the missiles are intercepted. And heavy pieces of debris from intercepted missiles can fall on populated areas.
Earlier Monday, shrapnel fell in and around Jerusalem’s Old City, home to some of the world’s most revered religious sites.
Sometimes fire by Hezbollah militants in nearby Lebanon, especially targeting northern Israel, comes without those warnings.
Vance is again pressed on past views of military intervention
U.S. Vice President JD Vance showed some irritation at a reporter who asked whether Vance was fully on board with Trump’s strategy in Iran, considering his past views on military intervention.
“I know what you’re trying to do Phil,” JD Vance told the reporter, Phil Wegmann of RealClearPolitics. “You’re trying to drive a wedge between members of the administration, between me and the president.”
Vance stressed that Trump has said for more than a decade that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and “I agree with him.”
“I think all of us, whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, should pray for success and pray for the safety of our troops,” Vance continued. “That’s the approach I’ve taken and make it as successful as possible.”
Trump also added: “JD’s been great.”
Schumer says Trump is ‘flailing’ over Iran strategy
The Senate Democratic leader criticized the president’s claim that he knew all along that Iran could weaponize the Strait of Hormuz in wartime.
“Well, if that’s true, he’s done a terrible job planning if advance for how to stop it from being used as a weapon,” Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York said in a Senate speech. He added that Trump “continues to do a terrible job containing the damage now occurring.”
A hotel in Baghdad’s Green Zone is struck by a drone
A prominent hotel in central Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone was struck by a drone Monday, officials said.
Two Iraqi security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said the strike hit the top floor of the Rasheed Hotel, which houses diplomatic delegations and international organizations, causing damage but no casualties. Security forces cordoned off the area. No group immediately claimed responsibility.
Earlier Monday, the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia announced that Abu Ali Al-Askari, a prominent security official with the group, had been killed without giving details on the circumstances. In recent days, a number of airstrikes have targeted facilities of the Iraqi militias.
Also Monday, six fighters with the Popular Mobilization Forces, a paramilitary group, were killed in a strike on a checkpoint in western Iraq’s Anbar province and two others were killed in a separate strike on a headquarters on a PMF brigade in the same area.
Qatar urges Iran to take a ‘clear decision’ to stop attacks on Gulf countries
At a news conference in Doha, Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said Qatar has distanced itself from the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
“The matter is very simple,” he said, “what is required is to stop the attacks on countries that have not targeted Iran.”
Qatar hosts Al Udeid Air Base, a sprawling desert facility that serves as a major regional military hub for American forces.
He said Iranian strikes have targeted civilian residential areas and key facilities like Hamad International Airport. He said the Gulf region speaks “one voice” that rejects “Iranian aggression” and calls for de-escalation.
Israel brings journalists to the Old City holy site damaged by shrapnel
Near the roof of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem’s Old City, where shrapnel from an intercepted Iranian missile fell Monday, Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein accused Tehran of targeting holy sites and trying to “escalate” the conflict.
Shrapnel also fell near the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, and within the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, the third-holiest site in Islam.
Missile strikes on Jerusalem in the past have been rare, apparently because of the presence of the mosque and the nearby golden Dome of the Rock.
Qatar reports missile and drone attacks without casualties
Qatar’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted all of the drones — without saying how many — and 13 missiles, while one missile landed in an uninhabited area.
No casualties were reported, it said.
No casualties were reported after the drone hit the Shah oil field Monday evening in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, according to the sheikhdom’s media office.
It’s the second attack on an oil facility in the UAE on Monday, after a fire broke out in the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone following a drone attack.
Moments later, sirens sounded in parts of central Israel and the West Bank
Kuwait’s Defense Ministry says air defense systems were responding to missile and drone attacks Monday evening. It said explosions could be heard amid the interception operations.
The military’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said the Isareli army is “determined to deepen the operation until all of our objectives are achieved.”
Speaking on a visit to the northern border, Zamir said “We are preparing for what comes next and reinforcing the Northern Command with additional troops in order to strengthen the forward defensive posture, deepen the damage to Hezbollah, and push the threat away from the communities in the north.”
The army said in a statement that Zamir approved plans for “continued limited, targeted operations.”
A military spokesman said earlier on Monday that the army had deployed additional ground troops into Lebanon for what it calls a “limited and targeted operation.”
A Tehran resident said workers paid by the day were struggling especially hard because of the war. The internet blackout also has hammered businesses that normally rely on online sales.
“Money has become scarce, people cannot buy things, and businesses are being damaged,” the resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the government.
The streets were busier than at the beginning of the war, he said, because people were growing desperate and needed to earn money.
Stores still had food. Fuel was not in short supply. Utilities were still functioning. And people could still withdraw money from banks, he said. But he said people were deeply anxious as the attacks persisted.
Even before the war, Iran’s economy had been crippled by international sanctions.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric raised speculation about an eventual U.N.-led initiative after saying the global impact of restrictions or closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz “cannot be underestimated.”
He referred to behind-the-scenes negotiations that led to the July 2022 deal that allowed Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea after Russia’s invasion, saying “silence was the better half of valor.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “remains very much engaged and in frequent contact with senior officials in the region and beyond,” he said, “but we’re not going to be feeding the speculation.”
Dujarric said Guterres will head to Brussels on Tuesday for meetings with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other EU officials.
As the Iran war sends energy costs higher across the 27-nation European Union, Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen said EU energy ministers met Monday in Brussels to discuss targeted, temporary steps to lower bills for businesses and vulnerable households.
Over the longer term, he said the EU will double down on clean energy and domestic production to reduce reliance on volatile global markets, referencing the EU’s push to cut dependence on Russian energy after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“Now Europe faces again an existential choice: Stay dependent on volatile global energy markets, or finally take control of our own energy future,” he said.
About 200 U.S. troups have been wounded since the start of the Iran war though more than 180 service members have returned to duty, Capt. Tim Hawkins, the spokesman for U.S. Central Command, told The Associated Press.
Hawkins said 10 service members are considered seriously wounded.
The previous update released last week by the Pentagon put the number of wounded personnel at around 140 and eight as “severely injured.”
CENTCOM has not said when or where those troops were wounded, or given details on the type of injuries.
Since the war in Iran began, 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
A resident of Tehran was driving Monday when an airstrike destroyed a police station in the Iranian capital and heavily damaged neighborhood shops nearby. It appeared the police station had been abandoned days ago.
“The blast was so strong it shook our eardrums. The cars in front of me were almost completely destroyed," the resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the government.
He quickly drove in reverse to get away. Others abandoned their cars, he said.
The government sealed off the area and detained anyone trying to photograph it.
“The situation felt like the end of the world,” he said.
Two Iraqi security officials said that the Majnoon oil field in Iraq's southern Basra province was targeted by two drones Monday.
No casualties were reported, and it was not immediately clear if there was damage to the facilities.
Iraq’s oil industry has been severely impacted by the American-Israeli war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil trading corridor.
Another security official said that air defenses shot down a drone that attempted to target a U.S. logistics support center near the Baghdad airport. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi militias have launched dozens of attacks against U.S. facilities in Iraq since the beginning of the war.
There’s an “evident” buildup of Israeli troops inside Lebanese territory in at least six locations near the Blue Line, the border with Israel, said the U.N. peacekeeping force spokesperson Kandice Ardiel.
UNIFIL peacekeepers have also seen clashes around the villages of Odaisseh and Khiam in the region. In some cases, she said, Israeli ground incursions reached at least 5 kilometers (3 miles) into Lebanese territory, although forces have not established permanent positions that deep.
The Israeli military has said it is moving more troops into Lebanon as it attempts to push Hezbollah away from the border but has not given numbers.
U.N. peacekeepers have not been able to move around or monitor the situation fully because of the current fighting, Ardiel noted.
Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces said Monday that one of its checkpoints in Anbar province was hit and another four fighters were also wounded in addition to the six killed.
The PMF is a network of mostly Shiite, Iran-backed militias formed to fight the Islamic State group after extremists seized large parts of Iraq in 2014. Baghdad incorporated the PMF into its armed forces in 2016.
In practice, some factions have continued to operate outside state control and have attacked U.S. troops during the current American-Israeli war with Iran.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. or Israel on the strike.
Speaking in Berlin, the German chancellor condemned Hezbollah for entering the conflict “on behalf of Iran” and called on the Lebanese militant group to stop attacking Israel and to disarm.
At the same time, he urged Israel to avoid attacking civilians in Lebanon and said a wider ground war “would further exacerbate the already highly tense humanitarian situation.”
“We therefore urge our Israeli friends: Do not take this path,” Merz said of a broader ground offensive. “It would be a mistake.”
“Bombing it into submission is, in all likelihood, not the right approach,” to creating a democratic government in Iran, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said. “There will be no military solution here.”
Responding to Trump’s calls to send warships to police the Strait of Hormuz, Merz said “NATO is a defensive alliance, not an interventionist one.” Mertz spoke Monday after meeting with the Dutch prime minister.
NATO troops deployed for 18 years to Afghanistan and its 2011 air campaign helped topple Libya’s late leader Moammar Gadhafi.
There were no reports of injuries after chunks of twisted metal smashed into areas of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, including the Old City.
Shrapnel hit the rooftop of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, according to the Patriarchate, just meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead.
Israel’s Fire and Rescue service said a large piece from an intercepted missile struck a home in east Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood, which is adjacent to the Old City walls.
Another large fragment landed in the yard of a home in Sheikh Jarrah, just north of the Old City, according to the Jerusalem Governate. Both are predominantly Palestinian neighborhoods.
Although wartime damage to the Old City is relatively rare, it contains sites that are sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians, meaning any hits or near-misses sharpen the conflict’s stakes.
The president said at an event at the White House on Monday that “numerous countries” have told him “they’re on the way” to help police the strait but he complained about their reluctance.
“The level of enthusiasm of enthusiasm matters to me,” he said.
He seemed to suggest their hesitancy showed a lack of reciprocity by countries that have defense agreements with the U.S.
“I know that we’ll protect them and if ever needed, if we ever needed help, they won’t be there for us,” he said.
To reiterate Cairo’s support for nations impacted by Iranian air attacks, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Monday concluded a round of visits to Oman, Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
His talks in Riyadh are expected to discuss de-escalation efforts and “creating a coordinated Arab move to protect sovereignty and resources of Arab countries,” according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said all those previously appointed to government positions by his father, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will remain in their posts.
Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was chosen to replace his father, who was killed in the initial wave of U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran. Mojtaba Khamenei’s statement Monday was carried on several semiofficial news sites.
That’s up from 850 killed as of Sunday, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
On Monday, the ministry said the death toll includes at least 111 children and 67 women. The number of wounded has climbed to 2,141 people, including 332 children and 362 women.
The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2. Israel says it is striking Hezbollah militants and infrastructure.
The Israeli strikes have mostly been in southern and eastern Lebanon as well as parts of Beirut, and have targeted buildings, vehicles and even tents for internally displaced people.
More than 800,000 people — nearly one out of every seven residents of Lebanon — have been displaced after Israel ordered people to evacuate large swathes of the country.
A day after Trump demanded other countries to join a coalition to police the Strait of Hormuz, Israel’s envoy to the U.N. tried to make the case that the burden shouldn’t be just on America’s closest ally in the region.
“We understand the need to support the effort of the U.S. and it should be a global effort,” Danny Danon said. “You look at Israel, a tiny country and you know Iran is I think 80 times bigger than Israel and we take a lot of the burden for the world.”
Israel’s U.N. ambassador Danny Danon told reporters Monday that a few countries are trying to mediate and host talks between Israel and Lebanon but that his country is determined to “degrade” Hezbollah’s capabilities before any negotiations can take place.
“Our message to the Lebanese government is simple: step up. Step in,” Danon said. “Since the ceasefire in November 2024, the Lebanese government has not done what it needed to do to dismantle Hezbollah.”
He added, “Lebanon must restrain Hezbollah now, or we will.”
The 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency could release more oil from emergency stockpiles if necessary, on top of 400 million barrels announced last week. That was the message Monday from IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.
Birol said last week’s release was a “buffer for now” that had helped restrain the increase in oil prices. But he added there are “a lot of stocks left despite this huge release.”
That means “we can do more later, as and if needed.”
Birol says members have a further 1.4 billion barrels in reserves or industry stocks that governments could access.
The IEA head says the single most important factor for a return to stable flows of oil and gas would be a resumption of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Before the Iran war, the global economy consumed about 101 million barrels of oil a day. Brent crude is trading at over $100 a barrel.
Shrapnel from an interception fell on the rooftop of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, according to the Patriarchate. That’s just meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the spot where Christian tradition holds that Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.
There were no immediate reports of injuries from the impact.
Jerusalem’s Old City, where there are holy sites sacred to Muslims, Christians, and Jews, has come under uncommon fire this war. In past missile exchanges with Iran — including the 12-day-war — the city had been spared the damage seen in nearby cities like Tel Aviv or Beersheba.
But since the start of the most recent war, shrapnel has struck multiple sites close to the Old City, including homes in east Jerusalem, a main highway into Jerusalem and a concert venue in West Jerusalem.
Oil prices are down, and stocks are up Monday, though such moves have been quick to change since the war in Iran began.
The S&P 500 rose 1% in early trading, coming off its third straight losing week, its longest such streak in a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 325 points, or 0.7%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% higher.
The driver for markets once again was the price of oil. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude fell 4.1% to $94.62, easing some pressure off the economy after topping $102 earlier in the morning. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 1.4% to $101.72 per barrel after earlier getting as high as $106.50.
Oil prices have been mostly ripping higher from roughly $70 per barrel since the United States and Israel began their attacks on Iran.
In a Monday statement, the ministry recalled the government’s decision which prohibits “the military and security activities of Hezbollah.”
It added that the ministry’s position in the matter is clear in which “no armed group operating outside the authority of the state” will be permitted to draw Lebanon further into instability in service of agendas that run counter to Lebanon’s national interests.
The ministry was apparently referring to Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer.
The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL said Sunday that peacekeepers were fired upon, “likely by non-state armed groups” on three separate occasions while conducting patrols around their bases in three villages in southern Lebanon.
The U.N. peacekeeping force did not say Hezbollah was behind the attacks.