Iran-US war latest: Trump lashes out after Nato rejects Strait of Hormuz demand while US embassy in Iraq attacked

At least six people were killed and four others injured in an airstrike in central Baghdad this morning, a home ministry source told Xinhua.

Two senior members of Iraq’s paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) were among those killed in the attack, according to the report.

The strike took place at dawn in Baghdad’s Jadriyah neighbourhood, where unidentified aircraft bombed and destroyed a house, the source told Xinhua.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio said in a phone call with his South Korean counterpart that cooperation among countries to secure the Strait of Hormuz is more important than ever to stabilise the global economy and oil prices, Seoul said.

Foreign minister Cho Hyun later declined to say whether Washington had asked South Korea to deploy a naval ship to the strait, despite intense questioning by members of parliament, some of whom suggested such a move could breach domestic laws.

“The question of how we’re going to respond to an ally’s demand is a very important one,” Cho said. “As we make a decision, I assure you we will act according to the constitution and the law,” he told a parliamentary committee hearing.

US president Donald Trump has accused some Western allies of ingratitude after several countries rebuffed his demand to send warships to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about 20 per cent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.

The closure of the strait has spiked energy prices and sparked fears of inflation around the world.

South Korea has said it would carefully consider Mr Trump’s call for countries — including South Korea, Japan and China — to deploy naval ships to the Middle East as part of a coalition to ensure safe passage through the waterway.

Oil prices rose more than 2 per cent this morning, reversing some of the previous session’s losses, on worries about supply with the Strait of ‌Hormuz mostly shut and US allies rebuffing calls to send warships to help tankers move through the vital waterway.

Brent futures jumped $2.74, or 2.7 per cent, to $102.95 a barrel by 0357 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude gained $2.45, or 2.6 per cent, to $95.95.

The Strait of Hormuz – a chokepoint for about 20 per cent of the world’s oil and ⁠liquefied natural gas trade – has been largely disrupted by the US-Israeli war on Iran, now in its third ​week, raising concerns about supply shortages, higher energy costs and rising inflation.

“The risks remain stark: It only takes one Iranian militia ​to fire a missile or plant a mine on a passing tanker to reignite the entire situation,” IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said in a note.

Attacks continued across the Middle East this morning.

The Israeli military said it was targeting “Iranian regime infrastructure” across Tehran, as well as Hezbollah sites in Beirut, a day after saying it had drawn up detailed plans for at least three more weeks of war with Iran.

Iran launched overnight attacks on Israel, underscoring that, more than two weeks into the war, Tehran still retains the capacity to carry out long-range strikes.

It also targeted the United Arab Emirates, where attacks forced the temporary closure of airspace and a drone hit an oil facility in Fujairah, a key port for Emirati oil exports, for a second consecutive day.

Sir Keir Starmer says the UK is working with allies on a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz but will not be dragged into Donald Trump’s “wider war” on Iran.

The prime minister confirmed he is talking with other countries, including European allies as well as Canada’s Mark Carney in Downing Street on Monday, about military involvement to keep the straits open amid fresh warnings of soaring prices and fuel rationing in Britain.

But he insisted the UK would not join Israel and the US in launching offensive strikes Iran. He also did not commit to sending warships to the strait, as requested by President Trump on the weekend, a move which could escalate the crisis.

Donald Trump has lashed out at the UK for not actively supporting America’s mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Mr Trump had called for the UK and other countries to send warships to help secure the Strait of Hormuz and claimed Nato faces a “very bad” future should its member states fail to help.

The US leader said Monday he was “not happy” with Britain and was left “very surprised” by Sir Keir Starmer’s unwillingness to involve Nato in the conflict against Iran.

“I was not happy with the UK”, he said. “I think they’ll be involved maybe, but they should be involved enthusiastically”.

Sir Keir Starmer had said that the battle for the Strait of Hormuz “won’t be and it’s never been envisioned to be a Nato mission”.

President Donald Trump was warned that attacking Iran could trigger retaliation against US Gulf allies, despite his claims that Tehran’s response came as a surprise, a US official and two sources familiar with US intelligence reports said.

Pre-war intelligence assessments did not say Iran’s response was guaranteed, but it was “certainly on the list of potential outcomes”, one source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The president said twice on Monday that Iran’s retaliatory strikes against Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait were unexpected, first making the remark at a Kennedy Center board meeting at the White House.

“They weren’t supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East,” he said.

“Nobody expected that. We were shocked.” Mr Trump’s assertion followed other administration claims that have not been backed by US intelligence reporting, including that Iran would soon have a missile capable of striking the US homeland and that it would need two to four weeks to build a nuclear bomb and would then use it.

Those allegations, along with warnings of an imminent threat posed by Iran to the US and its forces in the region, have been among the reasons cited by Mr Trump and some of his top aides to justify his decision to join Israel in launching airstrikes against Iran on 28 February.

Mr Trump was also briefed ahead of the operation that Tehran would likely seek to close the economically vital Strait of Hormuz, according to two other sources familiar with the matter.

When asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about high gas prices, US Senator Rick Scott said Monday night local time that America has to destroy Iran’s “ability to kill us”.

“I want oil prices to come down, but guess what? I want this country to be safe”, the Florida Republican said.

When asked how long Americans should be prepared to pay high gas prices amid the Iran war, Scott said, “I have no idea how long this is gonna take, but the most important thing is we’ve got to destroy their ability to kill us”.

US President Trump claimed after the U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran began more than two weeks ago that Iran posed an “imminent” threat to the American people because of its “nuclear ambitions” and pursuit of “developing the long range missiles that can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas, and could soon reach the American homeland”.