Strait of Hormuz

March 18, 2026 1:01 PM

Top US security official quits, says Iran did not pose immediate threat

A top security official in U.S. President Donald Trump's administration resigned over the war in Iran on Tuesday, saying the country had posed no imminent threat to the United States. Joe Kent, who headed the National Counterterrorism Center, is the first senior official in Trump's administration to resign over the conflict, now in its third week. "I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war ...

March 18, 2026 9:38 AM

UAE could join any US-led effort to secure Strait of Hormuz, says senior official

The United Arab Emirates may join a U.S.-led effort to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz after Iran all but shut the vital waterway to ships as Tehran wages war with Israel and the United States, a senior Emirati official said on Tuesday. Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said talks were ongoing and no formal plan had been agreed, but that "big countries" in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe bore responsibility for ensuring the flow of trade and energy. "This i...

March 17, 2026 1:53 PM

Iraq in talks with Iran to safeguard oil tanker traffic through Hormuz

Iraq's oil minister said Baghdad is talking to Iran about allowing some of the country's oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the state news agency reported on Tuesday, as Iraq seeks to ease disruptions to crude exports following recent attacks on tankers in its own waters. Iraq is also working to restore a disused pipeline that would allow oil to be pumped directly to Turkey's Ceyhan port without passing through the Kurdistan region, Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani said in a video ...

March 17, 2026 9:37 AM

Gulf states press US to neutralise Iran for good as Hormuz crisis deepens

Gulf Arab states did not ask the U.S. to go to war with Iran, but many are now urging it not to stop short by leaving the Islamic Republic still able to threaten the Gulf’s oil lifeline and the economies that depend on it, three Gulf sources told Reuters. At the same time, these sources and five Western and Arab diplomats said Washington was pressing Gulf states to join the U.S.-Israeli war. According to three of them, President Donald Trump wants to show regional backing for the campaign, to...

March 16, 2026 12:56 PM

Trump demands other countries help secure vital Strait of Hormuz as Iran vows defiance

U.S. President Donald Trump's demands for a coalition to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz appeared to fall on deaf ears on Monday as allies Japan and Australia said they were not planning to send navy vessels to the Middle East to escort ships through the vital waterway. With the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran creating turmoil across the Middle East and shaking up global energy markets in its third week, Trumpon Sunday insisted that nations relying heavily on oil from the Gulf have a responsibility t...

March 14, 2026 9:35 AM

Iran operations ‘going very well’, US delivering ‘big hits’: Trump

US President Donald Trump said military operations against Iran were “going very well” and claimed American forces had delivered “very big hits” as the conflict intensified across the Middle East. Speaking briefly to reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Friday, Trump described the military campaign as successful and suggested Iran’s capabilities had been severely degraded. “The situation in Iran is going very well. A lot of big hits today. A lot of big wins today, as you probably hav...

March 13, 2026 11:03 PM

Explainer: Why is it so easy for Iran to shut the Strait of Hormuz?

Following through on an old threat, Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off a vital waterway that normally carries about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli strikes. As oil markets worry about a global energy crisis, the United States has said it may consider escorting vessels through the strait, which could prove very hard to secure - something Yemen's Houthis proved in disrupting Red Sea shipping last year. About a f...

March 13, 2026 9:40 PM

Trump tells Fox News US would escort ships in Strait of Hormuz ‘if needed’

President Donald Trump said the United States would escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz if needed, adding in a Fox News interview that aired on Friday that the U.S. would strike Iran "very hard over the next week." Asked about helping oil tankers pass through the key shipping strait, Trump said: "We would do it if we needed to. But, you know, hopefully things are going to go very well. We're going to see what happens." He gave no other details. "We're going to be hitting them very hard...

March 12, 2026 10:07 PM

West Asia crisis: Government takes coordinated measures to ensure energy security, maritime safety and welfare of Indian nationals

The Centre on Thursday said it is taking coordinated steps across multiple ministries to ensure energy security, maritime safety and the welfare of Indian nationals abroad amid the ongoing crisis in West Asia. Senior officials from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting briefed the media in New Delhi on measures being taken to maintain fuel supplies, ensure maritime safety an...

March 12, 2026 10:04 AM

West Asia conflict enters day 12 as Strait of Hormuz tensions escalate

The conflict in West Asia has entered its twelfth day, with the past several hours witnessing some of the most serious escalations so far, particularly around maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz. The United States Pentagon says American forces destroyed sixteen Iranian boats believed to be involved in laying naval mines in the strait after reports that Tehran had begun deploying explosive devices that could block one of the world’s most critical oil shipping routes. The development comes...