Trump urges UK and other nations to send ships to help secure Strait of Hormuz after Iranian attacks
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Trump urges UK and other nations to send ships to help secure Strait of Hormuz after Iranian attacks
BBC-March14th2026
Edited by Sam Hancock and Rorey Bosotti, with Frank Gardner in Riyadh, Barbara Plett Usher in Doha, Nick Beake in Dubai and Wyre Davies in Lebanon
Summary
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Donald Trump calls on the UK and other nations to join the US in sending ships to help secure the Strait of Hormuz – here’s why the oil shipping lane matters
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In a post on Truth Social, the US president says despite “Iran’s attempted closure” of the passage, “one way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE!”
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The UK Maritime Trade Operations says 16 ships operating in and around the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman have been attacked since the war started
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On Thursday, Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to keep blocking the strait in his first public statement
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Meanwhile, strikes are continuing across the Middle East, with sirens sounding in Jerusalem after the Israeli military said it had detected new attacks from Iran
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An Iranian government spokesperson says more than 200 students and teachers have been killed in the last two weeks, and 120 schools have been “severely damaged”
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With no evidence this war is ending yet, Trump’s call to send ships to Strait of Hormuz may be prematurepublished at 09:39
Jonathan Beale
Defence correspondentPresident Trump’s call for allies to send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open may be premature – especially as there’s no evidence that this war is ending.
The reality is that even the US Navy is currently not escorting tankers through this narrow shipping lane.
At present it appears too dangerous – with a number of tankers trying to transit already having been hit.
President Macron has said France is willing to send warships to the Gulf as “purely an escort mission”. But he also said that would only be after the most “intense phase of the conflict had ended”.
As well as France, Trump suggested Japan, China, South Korea and the UK could send warships to escort shipping.
Yet only last week, Trump stated that the US did not need the UK to send an aircraft carrier to the region “after we’ve already won”.
The Royal Navy has two aircraft carriers. Though one of them, HMS Prince of Wales, has been placed on high readiness, she’s due to sail to the North Atlantic.
The Navy has no other warships in the region – though the destroyer HMS Dragon is now on her way to provide additional air defences for Cyprus.
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Debris and destruction as Iran and Israel exchange strikespublished at 09:35
Iran and Israel are continuing to fire missiles at one another.
Earlier, we reported that sirens were sounding in Jerusalem while someone in east Tehran told our BBC Person colleague more strikes were beginning in the Iranian capital.
Here are some of the latest images we’re seeing come out of both countries:
Image source,ReutersImage caption, A man in Tehran climbs the stairs in his apartment block, which has been partly reduced to rubble
Image source,ReutersImage caption, Meanwhile, a pet cat looks on from rubble
In central Israel, images show debris on the street and a car damaged by Iranian strikes.
Earlier today, we also shared photos from the city of Shoham, where strikes took the roof off a building in a residential area
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