Mar. 14, 2026, 6:05 PM EDT

President Donald Trump is asking other countries to send warships to the Middle East to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the vital gateway off the coast of Iran for the world’s oil supply.

“Hopefully 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,” Trump wrote Saturday in a post on Truth Social as the U.S. prepared to send thousands of additional troops to the region.

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

The U.S. embassy in Baghdad, meanwhile, urged all American citizens to “leave Iraq immediately,” warning that Iran-backed militias have carried out numerous attacks on U.S. citizens and targets throughout Iraq.

In an exclusive interview with MS NOW’s Ayman Mohyeldin on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi railed against the Trump administration, saying, “We didn’t start this war. It was an unprovoked, unwarranted, illegal act of aggression against us, and we are only defending ourselves, and we continue to defend ourselves as much as it takes and as long as it takes in order to end this war in a way that it won’t be repeated in the future.”

He also said there was “no problem” with Iran’s new supreme leader, ‌Mojtaba ⁠Khamenei, who Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday was “wounded and likely disfigured.”

The U.S. struck more than 90 military targets Friday on Kharg Island, Iran’s major oil export terminal, in what appeared to be an effort to pressure Iran to open the strait.

Trump first announced the strike in a Truth Social post Friday night, saying the island’s oil infrastructure was left intact. But he threatened to strike its oil facilities “should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz.”

The U.S. hit naval mine storage facilities and missile storage bunkers on the island, among other military sites, according to U.S. Central Command.

Roughly 90% of Iran’s oil is exported from Kharg Island. The strike has not appeared to deter Iran, however. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard said its Navy remained in control of the Strait of Hormuz and reiterated that vessels “belonging to aggressors and their allies” are barred from the waterway, The New York Times reportedciting Iranian media.

“Any attempt to move or transit will be targeted,” it added.

Reuters also reported that the IRGC claimed it has a right to target U.S. interests in the United Arab Emirates in self-defense and warned civilians to evacuate ports, docks, and U.S. military shelters.

The helipad at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad was struck Friday, according to The Associated Pressthough no party has taken responsibility for it.

In the interview with MS NOW, Araghchi denied that Iran was targeting civilian infrastructure in neighboring countries.

“What we are doing in as an act of self defense is to targeting American bases, American installations, American assets and American interests, which are unfortunately located in the territory of our neighbors,” he said, adding, “So what we are doing is only the principle of an eye for an eye.”

The war with Iran is entering its third week with no apparent end in sight. More than 2,000 people have died in the Middle East, with death tolls highest in Iran and Lebanon, where Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah are leading to what human rights organizations say is a humanitarian crisis.

The Israeli military said Saturday that it “eliminated” Abdollah Jalali-Nasab and Amir Shariat, two senior Iranian intelligence officials who were close to regime leadership.

Oil prices hover near all-time highs as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to shipping vessels. Trump said Friday that the U.S. Navy will start escorting tankers through the strait “very soon.”

The U.S. is sending up to 5,000 additional service members, including the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, and several additional ships to the Arabian Sea, a U.S. official with knowledge of the matter told MS NOW.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.

Mar. 14, 2026, 5:54 PM EDT

Iran is receiving “military cooperation” from Russia and China, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an exclusive interview with MS NOW on Saturday. He also accused the United Arab Emirates of allowing the U.S. to launch attacks on Iran from its territory

Araghchi said Iran has no intention of fully opening the Strait of Hormuz, a tactic that has sent global oil prices soaring. And he downplayed the impact of a recent U.S attack on military installations on Kharg Island, through which 90% of Iran’s oil exports flow.

He vowed that Iran will attack oil facilities across the Persian Gulf if the U.S. targets Iran’s oil infrastructure.

“I think our armed forces have already answered that they would retaliate if our oil and energy infrastructure are attacked,” Araghchi said. “And they will attack any energy infrastructure in the region, which belongs to an American company or an American company is a shareholder. So the reaction would be clear.”

Araghchi called Russia and China Iran’s “strategic partners” and said his country was receiving “military cooperation” from the two U.S. adversaries but declined to elaborate.

“That includes military cooperation,” he said. “I’m not going into the into any details of that, a good cooperation with these countries, politically, economically, even militarily.”

He also defended Iran’s attacks on its neighbors across the Persian Gulf, which the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have said included Iranian strikes on civilian areas. Araghchi accused the United Arab Emirates of allowing the U.S. to launch attacks on Iran from Dubai, Ras Al-Khaimah and other densely populated areas.

“It is clear that they are fired from U.A.E.,” he said, adding it was “dangerous” to “use highly populated areas to launch, you know, rockets against us.”

The U.A.E. responded late Saturday afternoon, saying Araghchi is perpetuating a “confused policy.”

“The UAE has the right to self-defense in the face of this terrorist aggression imposed upon it, yet it continues to prioritize reason and logic,” read an official Emirates statement posted on X, “the country maintaining restraint and seeking an exit for Iran and the region.”

Officials from other Persian Gulf countries have denied that they allow U.S. forces to launch attacks from civilian areas.

Araghchi denied claims from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, had been wounded and “disfigured” in the Israeli and U.S. strikes that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his wife and son.

“There is no problem with the new supreme leader. The system is working,” he said, adding, “Everything is under control.”