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Trump warns of more strikes on Iran's Kharg Island, pressures allies on Strait of Hormuz
The war showed no signs of ending, with Trump saying Tehran appeared ready to make a deal to end the conflict but that 'the terms aren't good enough yet'
- PUBLISHED: Sun 15 Mar 2026, 11:17 AM
[Editor's Note: Follow Khaleej Times live blog amid US-Israel-Iran war for the latest regional developments.]
US President Donald Trump threatened further strikes on Iran's Kharg Island oil export hub and urged allies to deploy warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz, an artery for global energy supplies, as Tehran vowed to intensify its response.
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With the US-Israeli war on Iran in its third week, Trump said US strikes had "totally demolished" much of the island and warned of more, telling NBC News on Saturday, "We may hit it a few more times just for fun."
The remarks marked a sharp escalation from Trump, who had previously said the US was targeting only military sites on Kharg, and undercut diplomatic efforts.
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War, energy crisis looks set to persist
The war showed no sign of ending. Trump said Tehran appeared ready to make a deal to end the conflict but that "the terms aren't good enough yet".
Tehran's ability to halt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil passes, poses a difficult problem for the US and its allies.
Energy prices are soaring as the war causes the biggest-ever disruption in oil supply, and the energy crisis looks set to continue.
"The countries of the world that receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage, and we will help — A LOT!" Trump wrote in a social media post on Saturday. "The U.S. will also coordinate with those countries so that everything goes quickly, smoothly, and well."
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran would respond to any attack on its energy facilities.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday they had carried out missile and drone strikes on targets in Israel, calling the attacks the first round of retaliation for workers killed in Iran's industrial areas. The Israeli military said it was intercepting incoming launches.
The war that Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched on February 28 has killed more than 2,000 people, mostly in Iran, according to reports from governments and state media.
At least 15 were killed when an airstrike hit a refrigerator and heater factory in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, the semi-official Fars news agency said on Saturday.
No immediate takers on Trump's Hormuz request
Russia is supplying Iran with Shahed drones to use against the US and Israel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told CNN. Shahed drones have been linked to other attacks on countries in the region, although their manufacturers are not always clear.
Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform, urged China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz. None of those countries gave any immediate indication they would do so.
Takayuki Kobayashi, Japan's ruling party policy chief, declined to rule out the possibility but told public broadcaster NHK that "the (legal) threshold is very high."
Japan interprets its pacifist postwar constitution to mean it can deploy its military if the nation's survival is threatened, but the government would have to invoke a 2015 security law that has not been used.
France is seeking to assemble a coalition to secure the Strait of Hormuz once the security situation stabilises, while Britain is discussing a range of options with allies to ensure the security of shipping, officials have said.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who replaced his slain father, has said the Strait of Hormuz should remain closed.
