Piling pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to deepen his involvement in the escalating conflict,<\/a> the US president urged Britain and other nations \u2013 including France, China and Japan \u2013 to send warships to the area to protect oil tankers from Iranian attacks.<\/p>\n The narrow waterway has been gripped by conflict <\/a>after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps<\/a> said it had taken \u201ccomplete control\u201d of the passage, <\/a>through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil passes. It is now effectively closed, stemming the flow of oil out of the Middle East, grinding trade in the region to a halt and pushing up energy prices across the globe.<\/p>\n The UK government said it was discussing a \u201crange of options to ensure the security of shipping in the region\u201d.<\/p>\n In a post on his Truth Social website, Mr Trump said: \u201cMany countries, especially those who are affected by Iran\u2019s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending warships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the strait open and safe.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Donald Trump has urged a number of countries to send warships to help secure the Strait of Hormuz (Getty)<\/p>\n \u201cWe have already destroyed 100 per cent of Iran\u2019s military capability, but it\u2019s easy for them to send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a close-range missile somewhere along, or in, this waterway, no matter how badly defeated they are.\u201d<\/p>\n In what appeared to be an appeal to the UK and other nations, he added: \u201cHopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint will send ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a nation that has been totally decapitated.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Trump struck a markedly different tone from when, earlier this month, he accused Sir Keir of joining the conflict after the US had already claimed victory, suggesting the US no longer needed UK assistance. <\/p>\n \u201cThe United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,\u201d Mr Trump wrote earlier in March. \u201cThat\u2019s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don\u2019t need them any longer \u2013 But we will remember. We don\u2019t need people that join Wars after we\u2019ve already won!\u201d<\/p>\n The relationship between Mr Trump and Sir Keir has become increasingly fractious in recent months, a breakdown which began over US opposition to the UK\u2019s deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and the president\u2019s threats to annex Greenland, but has only escalated since the outbreak of war with Iran. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Keir Starmer confirmed this week that Britain won\u2019t be following the US in lifting sanctions on Russian oil<\/p>\n At the start of the conflict, Mr Trump criticised the prime minister after he initially declined permission <\/a>for the US<\/a> to use UK<\/a> bases to target Iran\u2019s missile launchers. <\/p>\n While the prime minister later allowed the use of joint UK-US bases for defensive strikes, Mr Trump nonetheless lambasted his relationship with Britain under Sir Keir,<\/a> saying he is \u201cvery sad\u201d to see it is \u201cobviously not what it was\u201d.<\/p>\n The rift deepened this week, when the prime minister confirmed that Britain won\u2019t be following the US in lifting sanctions on Russian oil<\/a>, saying the move risks helping Vladimir Putin\u2019s \u201cwar machine\u201d.<\/p>\n No 10 instead urged its international allies to maintain pressure on Moscow, and to avoid inadvertently funding Putin\u2019s war in Ukraine by purchasing Russian oil.<\/p>\n In his latest post, Mr Trump vowed to continue \u201cbombing the hell out of the shoreline\u201d of the country until the shipping lane was reopened, adding that the US would be \u201ccontinually shooting Iranian boats and ships out of the water\u201d. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Smoke rises from the direction of an energy installation in the Gulf emirate of Fujairah on 14 March (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n He added: \u201cOne way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE!\u201d<\/p>\n Some 3,000 ships usually sail through the Strait of Hormuz each month. But numerous vessels have come under fire as they attempted to pass through since the start of the conflict.<\/p>\n Motjaba Khamenei, Iran\u2019s new supreme leader, vowed to keep blocking it as a means of pressuring the US in his first public statement this week.<\/p>\n Mr Trump\u2019s comments came on another dramatic day in the Middle East conflict, which began two weeks ago when the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran.<\/p>\n Earlier on Saturday, a fire broke out at the Fujairah port in the UAE, which had been targeted in an Iranian drone strike, forcing the facility to suspend part of its operations. It is one of the Middle East\u2019s largest oil storage hubs, heightening concerns over already-surging oil prices. <\/a><\/p>\n The Fujairah media office said the blaze was sparked by debris from a drone intercepted by air defences and that no injuries were reported. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Trump releases video showing apparent strike on Kharg Island (Donald Trump\/Truth Social)<\/p>\n Shortly after, Tehran warned residents living near three UAE ports \u2013 Jebel Ali in Dubai, Khalifa in Abu Dhabi and the Fujairah port \u2013 to evacuate the areas, according to Iranian state media. The residents were told that the ports were being used by the US military and \u201cmay be targeted in the coming hours\u201d. Jebel Ali is the busiest port in the Middle East.<\/p>\n Iranian forces had threatened to expand strikes to US<\/a> allies in the region after the US<\/a> hit the country\u2019s <\/a>crucial Kharg Island overnight. <\/a>The island accounts for about 90 per cent of Iran\u2019s oil exports.<\/p>\n Mr Trump claimed the US had \u201ctotally obliterated every military target in Iran<\/a>\u2019s crown jewel\u201d and called the operation \u201cone of the most powerful bombing raids <\/a>in the history of the Middle East\u201d.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s military responded and warned that any attack on its oil<\/a> and energy infrastructure would prompt strikes on facilities owned by oil<\/a> companies in the region cooperating with the US, Iranian media reported.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n US embassy personnel inspect the damage caused by a bombing in Baghdad on Saturday, 14 March (AP)<\/p>\n The US embassy in Baghdad<\/a> was also struck by a missile <\/a>in the aftermath of the attack on Kharg Island, according to Iraqi security officials. <\/p>\n Plumes of black smoke were seen rising above the building after the attack <\/a>hit a helipad in the compound on Saturday. Drones are reported to have struck the building. Three Iran<\/a>-backed fighters were also killed in strikes on Baghdad<\/a>, according to reports.<\/p>\n It comes as the US deploys thousands of troops and more warships to the Middle East <\/a>as Iran steps up its fight in the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>.<\/p>\n An MoD spokesperson said: \u201cAs we\u2019ve said previously, we are currently discussing with our allies and partners a range of options to ensure the security of shipping in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-475695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Donald](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2265660729.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Keir](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/14110828-6ed83aaa-e894-43d7-993a-00e1afd76c68.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Smoke](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UAE-IRAN-US-ISRAEL-WAR-b3180zz1.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Trump](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0AskY1Iw-720.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SEI289290692.jpg\")
<\/p>\n