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Xinmei Shen

Teresa Elena Frontado

The Trump administration has sought to minimise the impact of the Strait of Hormuz’s effective closure while offering few details on how it might restore oil flows through the strategic waterway.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” US President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News aired on Friday, urging oil tankers to “show some guts.”
Trump said Washington was still considering escorting ships through the strait but did not indicate whether a decision had been made.
“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 said.
Asked when the war might end, Trump replied: “When I feel it in my bones.”
“We are hitting them harder than anybody has been hit since World War II,” he added.


Earlier, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth sought to reassure markets and shipping companies during a Pentagon press conference, but similarly offered few specifics about measures the United States might take to restore tanker traffic through the strait.
“They are exercising sheer desperation in the Straits of Hormuz, something we’re dealing with. We have been dealing with it. Don’t need to worry about it,” he said.
“That’s not a strait we’re going to allow to remain contested or with a lack of flow of commercial goods. We’re laser-focused on our military objectives, but also want to make sure our partners across this government understand we’re working with you to make sure that energy flows.”
Hegseth also said on Friday that Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has been injured and pledged to continue ramping up attacks.
Khamenei is “wounded and likely disfigured”, Hegseth said during a press conference on Friday morning.
The new Iranian leader’s first public address, issued on Thursday through a written statement, showed that “he’s scared, he’s injured, he’s on the run, and he lacks legitimacy”, according to Hegseth.
The US official and former television personality said that Friday will see “yet again, the highest volume of strikes that America has put over the skies of Iran and Tehran”.
“The number of sorties and number of bomber pulses, the highest yet, ramping up, and only up,” he said.

Hegseth’s remarks came amid an escalating crisis surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for the international flow of oil and goods. Ship passage through the strait has effectively come to a halt as Iran threatened to retaliate with a blockade, pushing up oil prices to record levels.
According to several reports, the Pentagon is sending two ships from the Japan-based USS Tripoli Marine Amphibious Ready Group and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) to the Middle East. Around 2,500 US Marines would be deployed as part of this movement.
Contacted by the South China Morning Post about the deployment of new troops, the Pentagon declined to comment “due to operational security”.
The US government also made public a reward of up to US$10 million for information about senior Iranian military and intelligence officials, including its new supreme leader.
A reward website set up by the State Department indicates that Washington is interested in information about 10 officials associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In addition to Khamenei, the US is offering rewards for information about Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani, Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib and Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, among others.
Asked about the US role in a February 28 bombing of an Iranian elementary school that killed 175 people, Hegseth said that US Central Command (CENTCOM) has designated an investigating officer “from outside CENTCOM” to complete a command investigation on the incident.
“We don’t target [civilians], Iran does. We will investigate, we’ll get to the truth, and we’ll share it when we have it,” he said.
The defence secretary did not directly answer a question about China’s role in the Iran conflict ahead of Trump’s state visit to Beijing at the end of this month.
Trump has a “historic relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to Hegseth. “They look forward to having a dynamic conversation … President Trump ultimately has established terms of that relationship which advanced the United States of America, and that meeting will continue to ensure that,” he said.


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US-Israel war on Iran

US downplays Strait of Hormuz concerns as Trump claims ‘there’s nothing to be afraid of’

Oil tankers sail near the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s coast on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

A plume of smoke rises after a US missile strike on the Iranian capital, Tehran. Photo: AFP/Getty Images/TNS

US-Israeli war on Iran makes a mockery of global governance rules

US President Donald Trump gestures during a visit to Verst Logistics in Hebron, Kentucky, US, on March 11. Photo: Reuters

Israel’s 90 nuclear warheads make any strike on Iran ‘really dangerous’: expert

Experts estimate Israel has a nuclear arsenal of 90 warheads, though its plutonium stores could theoretically fuel double that amount. Photo: Getty Images.

US-Israeli war on Iran may spark nuclear arms race, Carnegie scholar says

Illustration: Victor Sanjinez

Why war on Iran is not Trump’s to end: Israel may ‘fan the flames’

Plumes of smoke billow into the sky following air strikes near Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran on March 7. Photo: AFP 

News

Diplomacy

World

Middle East

China

Few details revealed about measures to restore oil flow as reports indicate the US is now sending amphibious assault ship, Marines to region


Few details revealed about measures to restore oil flow as reports indicate the US is now sending amphibious assault ship, Marines to region.


US downplays Strait of Hormuz concerns as Trump claims ‘there’s nothing to be afraid of’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Few details revealed about measures to restore oil flow as reports indicate the US is now sending amphibious assault ship, Marines to region

Few details revealed about measures to restore oil flow as reports indicate the US is now sending amphibious assault ship, Marines to region