Iran\u2019s strikes on its neighbors along with its\u00a0chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>\u00a0have disrupted the world\u2019s energy supplies with effects far beyond the Middle East. That has proved to be Iran\u2019s\u00a0greatest strategic advantage<\/a>\u00a0in the war. Britain\u00a0planned to hold a call<\/a>\u00a0with nearly three dozen countries about how to reopen the strait once the fighting is over.<\/p>\n Trump has insisted the strait can be taken by force \u2014 but said it is not up to the U.S. to do that. In his address to the American people Wednesday night, he\u00a0encouraged countries that depend on oil<\/a>\u00a0from Hormuz to \u201cbuild some delayed courage\u201d and go \u201ctake it.\u201d<\/p>\n Before the U.S. and Israel started the war on Feb. 28 with strikes on Iran, 20% of all traded oil used passed through the waterway.<\/p>\n Iran continues to strike Israel and Gulf countries<\/p>\n Iran responded defiantly to Trump\u2019s speech<\/a>, in which the American president claimed U.S. military action had been so decisive that \u201cone of the most powerful countries\u201d is \u201creally no longer a threat.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesman for Iran\u2019s military insisted Thursday that Tehran maintains hidden stockpiles of arms, munitions and production facilities. \u201cThe centers you think you have targeted are insignificant, and our strategic military productions take place in locations of which you have no knowledge and will never reach,\u201d Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari claimed.<\/p>\n Just before Trump began his address \u2014 in which he said U.S. \u201ccore strategic objectives are nearing completion\u201d \u2014 explosions were heard in Dubai as air defenses worked to intercept an Iranian missile barrage.<\/p>\n Less than a half-hour after the president was done, Israel said its military was also working to intercept incoming missiles. Sirens sounded in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy\u2019s 5th Fleet, immediately after the speech.<\/p>\n Attacks continued across Iran on Thursday, with strikes reported in multiple cities.<\/p>\n More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran during the war, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel. More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, while 13 U.S. service members<\/a> have been killed.<\/p>\n More than 1,200 people have been killed<\/a> and more than 1 million displaced in Lebanon, home to Iran-backed Hezbollah militants who are fighting Israel, which has launched a ground invasion. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.<\/p>\n Nearly three dozen nations will talk about securing the Strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n Iranian attacks on about two dozen commercial ships, and the threat of more, have halted nearly all traffic in the waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.<\/p>\n Since March 1, traffic through the strait has dropped 94% over the same period last year, according to the Lloyds List Intelligence shipping data firm. Two ships are confirmed to have paid a fee, the firm said, while others were allowed through based on agreements with their home governments.<\/p>\n In order to bypass Hormuz, Saudi Arabia has been piping more oil to a Red Sea port, and Iraq said Thursday that it had started to truck oil across Syria to the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n The 35 countries\u00a0speaking Thursday<\/a>, including all G7 industrialized democracies except the U.S., as well as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, signed a declaration last month demanding Iran stop blocking the strait. British\u00a0Prime Minister Keir Starmer<\/a>\u00a0said the countries will discuss \u201cviable diplomatic and political measures\u201d to resume shipping.<\/p>\n But no country appears willing to try to open the strait by force while the war is raging. There is a concern that Iran might limit traffic through the strait even after U.S. and Israeli attacks on it cease.<\/p>\n The idea of an international effort has echoes of the \u201ccoalition of the willing,\u201d led by the U.K. and France, that was assembled to underpin Ukraine\u2019s security in the event of a ceasefire in that war. The coalition is, in part, an attempt to demonstrate to Washington that Europe is doing more for its own security in the face of\u00a0frequent criticism from Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n A firefighter extinguishes a car at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Hussein Malla)\n<\/p>\n Mourners gather during a funeral procession for Alireza Tangsiri, head of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, and others killed in Israeli strikes in late March, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)\n<\/p>\n President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon, Pool)\n<\/p>\n The Indian-flagged LPG carrier Jag Vasant transporting liquefied petroleum gas, is seen at the Mumbai Port in Mumbai, India, after it arrived clearing the Strait of Hormuz, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Rafiq Maqbool)\n<\/p>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 4<\/p>\n A firefighter extinguishes a car at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Hussein Malla)\n<\/p>\n Expand<\/a> The conflict is driving up prices for oil and natural gas<\/a>, roiling stock markets, pushing up the cost of gasoline and threatening to make a range of goods, including food, more expensive.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Brent crude, the international standard, rose again<\/a> and was at $108 in spot trading, up about 50% from Feb. 28 when Israel and the U.S. started the war.<\/p>\n Though the oil and gas that typically transits the strait is primarily sold to Asian nations, Japan and South Korea were the only two countries from the region joining Thursday\u2019s call about the strait. The supply of jet fuel has also been interrupted<\/a> by the conflict, with consequences for travel worldwide.<\/p>\n Weissert reported from Washington and Rising from Bangkok.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JON GAMBRELL, DAVID RISING and WILL WEISSERT DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Iran fired more missiles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[536,93309,340,74,76,75,98825],"class_list":{"0":"post-248353","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-iran-war","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-san-diego","12":"tag-san-diego-headlines","13":"tag-san-diego-news","14":"tag-us-iran"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"firefighter](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/APTOPIX_Lebanon_Israel_Iran_War_75951_465ebe.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Mourners](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/APTOPIX_Iran_War_756_8_f3c52f.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/APTOPIX_Trump_Iran_US_37181_30d4c5-1.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/India_US_Israel_Iran_5_646_f616e7.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n
\nOil prices rise again even as Trump suggests the war could end soon<\/p>\n