Star Metro - Trump urges other nations' warships to protect Gulf oil route

Despite sustaining heavy bombardments since US-Israeli forces launched a war against Iran on February 28, Tehran has defied Trump's assertion that its military capability has been "100%" destroyed.

Iran's attacks and threats have nearly halted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route normally used for one-fifth of world oil supplies, sending petroleum prices soaring 40 percent and roiling the global economy.

Its military has deployed drones and missiles against Israel, Gulf energy facilities, and other targets across the Middle East region.

AFP journalists heard blasts in Bahrain's capital Manama, and saw black smoke belching from a major oil terminal in the United Arab Emirates port city of Fujairah. Security sources said the US embassy in Iraq was struck by a drone.

"Many Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran's attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe," Trump posted on social media Saturday.

"Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area," he added.

"In the meantime, the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline, and continually shooting Iranian Boats and Ships out of the water."

US forces struck Iran's Kharg Island on Friday -- from which nearly all of the country's oil exports flow -- with Trump saying they had "obliterated every MILITARY target" while sparing energy facilities.

Iran threatened US-linked oil and energy firms would be "turned into a pile of ashes" if its oil facilities were hit.

More than 1,200 people have been killed by US and Israeli strikes, according to Iranian health ministry figures that could not be independently verified.

The UN refugee agency says up to 3.2 million people have been displaced in Iran, most of them fleeing the capital and other cities to seek safety.

The Pentagon says more than 15,000 targets in Iran have been hit by US and Israeli forces.

US media reported that the Pentagon has dispatched the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli and around 2,500 Marines to the region.

- 'Leave now'

Military strikes were reported by local media in several Iranian provinces, including one on an industrial site in Isfahan that killed 15 people, according to the Fars news agency. AFP could not verify the toll.

The US military has lost 13 personnel. They include six aboard a refuelling aircraft that crashed in Iraq, an incident US officials said was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.

In Iran, leaders appeared intent on projecting stability despite the killing of supreme leader Ali Khamenei on the war's opening day.

His son Mojtaba Khamenei was named the new supreme leader but has not appeared in public and is reportedly wounded. Iran said Saturday that "there is no problem with the new supreme leader."

Tehran has also shown a capacity to strike at Israel and across the region, firing missiles and dispatching drones in a string of attacks over the weekend.

AFP journalists heard blasts over Jerusalem after the military detected missiles launched from Iran, while the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia reported new missile or drone interceptions.

Clouds of black smoke rose over the UAE port of Fujairah, home to a major Emirati oil storage and export terminal, shortly after Iran's military warned UAE civilians to avoid port areas.

Washington's embassy in Iraq was hit by a drone, security sources told AFP -- the second such strike during the war -- while the Emirati consulate in Iraqi Kurdistan was targeted for the second time in a week.

US officials in Baghdad urged citizens to "leave now".

In Kuwait, a drone strike damaged the international airport's radar system but caused no injuries, the civil aviation authority said.

Qatar evacuated parts of downtown Doha and intercepted two missiles. Blasts were heard by AFP journalists.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had launched missiles at US forces stationed at the Al-Kharj base in Saudi Arabia, a close US ally that hosts a large number of American troops.

The kingdom did not confirm the attack but said earlier it had intercepted six ballistic missiles headed toward Al-Kharj.

- Formula One races cancelled -

The war has disrupted global sport, with motor sport's governing body cancelling April's Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Formula One races.

In Australia, the government said three members of the visiting Iranian women's football team -- reportedly two players and a technical staffer -- abandoned their asylum protection in the country and decided to return home.

Seven members of the team competing in the Women's Asian Cup had sought sanctuary in Australia after they were branded "traitors" at home for refusing to sing the national anthem.

Only three of them will now remain in Australia, after another member of the group had a change of heart earlier in the week.

Lebanon has also been drawn into the war after Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah attacked Israel following Khamenei's death.

Israel has responded with air and ground assaults, killing at least 826 people, according to the Lebanese authorities.

It has also issued evacuation orders covering hundreds of square kilometres of Lebanon, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and prompting warnings of a humanitarian disaster.

Hezbollah said it was engaged in "direct clashes" with Israeli forces in the southern Lebanese town of Khiam late on Saturday.

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Y.X. Gagnon--SMC