Strait of Hormuz closed, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards says
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards commander has said that the strait of Hormuz – the world’s most critical oil route – is closed and Iran will set any ship trying to pass on fire, Iranian state media is reporting.
It is Tehran’s most explicit warning since announcing it was closing the route on Saturday in a move that could choke a fifth of global oil flows and send prices rocketing.
“The strait (of Hormuz) is closed. If anyone tries to pass, the heroes of the Revolutionary Guards and the regular navy will set those ships ablaze,” Ebrahim Jabari, a senior adviser to the Guards commander-in-chief, said in remarks carried by state media.
The strait is the world’s most vital oil export route, which connects the biggest Gulf oil producers, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
We have an explainer on the strait of Hormuz and why it is so vital for global oil supplies here:
Updated at 15.58 EST
Key events
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The day so far
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Opening summary
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Marco Rubio says US would not ‘deliberately’ target a school
US secretary of state Marco Rubio insisted the US would not “deliberately” target a school, after Iran said 168 people died in an alleged US-Israeli strike.
“The United States would not deliberately target a school. Our objectives are missiles, both the ability to manufacture them and the ability to launch them,” Rubio told reporters, while adding that the Pentagon was investigating the alleged incident.
The strike on school appears to be the worst mass casualty event of the US-Israeli-led bombing campaign on Iran so far.
Updated at 16.26 EST
Marco Rubio reiterated what Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth said earlier on Monday that regime change in Iran was not the objective of the US-Israeli combat operation.
But Rubio added that the US hoped Iranians would topple the regime.
double quotation mark“We hope that the Iranian people can overthrow this government and establish a new future for that country. We would love for that to be possible,” Rubio told reporters.
“But the objective of this mission is the destruction of their ballistic missile capabilities and of their naval capabilities,” he added.
ShareUS attacked Iran ‘pre-emptively’ after learning Israel was going to launch strikes – Rubio
The US attacked Iran “pre-emptively” on Saturday to protect US forces from retaliation after learning that Israel was going to strike, Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday.
The US secretary of state said: “There absolutely was an imminent threat. And the imminent threat was, that we knew that if Iran was attacked, and we believed that they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us. And we were not going to sit there and absorb a blow before we responded.”
He added: “We knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”
Six US service members have been killed since Saturday.
The news of two more service members’ deaths was announced by US central command. Centcom said it would not release the names of the fallen until 24 hours after their next of kin were notified.
In a statement posted on X, officials wrote:
double quotation markAs of 4 pm ET, March 2, six US service members have been killed in action. US forces recently recovered the remains of two previously unaccounted for service members from a facility that was struck during Iran’s initial attacks in the region. Major combat operations continue. The identities of the fallen are being withheld until 24 hours after next of kin notification.
ShareSix US service members killed in Iran, military says
The number of US service members killed in Iran has risen to six, the US military said on Monday.
Share
Fran Lawther
The US embassy in Amman, Jordan was temporarily evacuated on Monday due to a threat, it said in a statement. The embassy did not elaborate on the nature of the threat.
In a security alert posted on X, embassy staff wrote:
double quotation markOut of an abundance of caution, all personnel at the U.S. Embassy have temporarily departed the Embassy compound due to a threat.
ShareFran Lawther
We reported earlier that Kuwait’s army said a sailor with its naval forces was killed during an “operation” by its armed forces. That number has now risen to two, according to Agence France-Presse. The army did not elaborate on the circumstances of their deaths.
The general staff of the army identified the men as Sergeant Walid Majid Sulaiman and Sergeant Abdulaziz Abdulmohsen Dakhel Nasser, adding in two separate statements that they were killed during “duty as part of the national missions entrusted to the armed forces”.
Updated at 15.46 EST
And here we have a visual guide on how the escalating US-Israeli war on Iran is threatening oil supplies, driving up oil and gas prices, and stoking inflation around the globe.
ShareStrait of Hormuz closed, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards says
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards commander has said that the strait of Hormuz – the world’s most critical oil route – is closed and Iran will set any ship trying to pass on fire, Iranian state media is reporting.
It is Tehran’s most explicit warning since announcing it was closing the route on Saturday in a move that could choke a fifth of global oil flows and send prices rocketing.
“The strait (of Hormuz) is closed. If anyone tries to pass, the heroes of the Revolutionary Guards and the regular navy will set those ships ablaze,” Ebrahim Jabari, a senior adviser to the Guards commander-in-chief, said in remarks carried by state media.
The strait is the world’s most vital oil export route, which connects the biggest Gulf oil producers, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
We have an explainer on the strait of Hormuz and why it is so vital for global oil supplies here:
Updated at 15.58 EST
‘Killing terrorists is good for America’: White House says 49 senior Iranian leaders killed in strikes
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said that “49 of the most senior Iranian regime leaders” have been killed in the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, declaring that “killing terrorists is good for America”. That number includes supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
“Preventing this radical regime and its terrorist leaders from threatening America and our core national security interests is a clear-eyed and necessary objective,” she said in a post on X.
ShareUS military claims it has destroyed all Iranian ships in Gulf of Oman
The US military said that it has struck over 1,250 targets in Iran since operations started on Saturday.
In a separate statement, US Central Command said it had struck and destroyed 11 Iranian ships (Trump earlier said 10). In a post on X it said:
double quotation markTwo days ago, the Iranian regime had 11 ships in the Gulf of Oman, today they have ZERO.
The Iranian regime has harassed and attacked international shipping in the Gulf of Oman for decades. Those days are over. Freedom of maritime navigation has underpinned American and global economic prosperity for more than 80 years. US forces will continue to defend it.
Multiple outlets are carrying satellite images showing dark plumes of smoke rising from a number of burning vessels – one of which is 750 feet long – at a military harbour in Bandar Abbas, Iran.
Updated at 14.58 EST
The Kuwaiti army said a sailor with its naval forces was killed during an “operation” by its armed forces. The army did not elaborate on the circumstances of his death.