Hello and welcome to our continuing coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran and wider Middle East crisis. Here are the major developments. Donald Trump described the Iran war as a “short-term excursion” and said it would end “very soon”, as the assault on Tehran entered its second week. He said the war was “very complete, pretty much” and ahead of schedule, a significant shift from his previous sug...
Hello and welcome to our continuing coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran and wider Middle East crisis. Here are the major developments. Donald Trump described the Iran war as a “short-term excursion” and said it would end “very soon”, as the assault on Tehran entered its second week. He said the war was “very complete, pretty much” and ahead of schedule, a significant shift from his previous suggestions it could last several weeks. But the US president also indicated he was not yet declaring the US mission accomplished. “We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough.” The operation would only end once Tehran no longer had any capacity of weaponry against the US, Israel or any US allies in the region for a long time, he added later. Here’s our report, plus analysis on what our global affairs correspondent Andrew Roth called a vague and contradictory press conference by the president. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has said Tehran will not allow “one litre of oil” to be exported from the region if US-Israeli attacks continue. Donald Trump then threatened to hit the Islamic republic far harder if it stopped the flow of oil in the vital strait of Hormuz. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement carried by state media that it would “determine the end of the war”, in comments after the US president earlier said the conflict would end “soon”. Oil prices surged by 20% to a four-year high before coming back down below $90 a barrel after Trump’s suggestion the war would end soon. Iran earlier mocked the US over the rocketing oil price, branding its campaign “Operation Epic Mistake”. Trump twice declined to say whether or not Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei had a target on his back, saying only that he was “disappointed” and thought he was “going to lead to just more of the same problem for the country”. It came after a day of Trump being dismissive of the late ayatollah’s son – saying his selection was a “big mistake” and he was “...
Damage to a military port in Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, along the Strait of Hormuz, is seen in a March 4 satellite image taken by Planet Labs. Photo； VCG On March 2, in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli attacks, Iran announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The strait is the lifeblood of global energy transportation, serving as the sole export route for crude oil and natural gas along the P...
Damage to a military port in Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, along the Strait of Hormuz, is seen in a March 4 satellite image taken by Planet Labs. Photo； VCG On March 2, in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli attacks, Iran announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The strait is the lifeblood of global energy transportation, serving as the sole export route for crude oil and natural gas along the Persian Gulf. Roughly one-fifth of the world’s total oil supply flows through this chokepoint. Further, as one of the top three exporters of liquefied natural gas globally, Qatar relies almost entirely on the strait to ship its LNG, accounting for roughly 20% of the world’s supply.