Live updates: Iran warns it will blockade oil until attacks end as Trump threatens 'death, fire and fury'
Catch up with NBC News Clone on today's hot topic: Live Updates Iran War Oil Prices Trump Hormuz Israel Rcna262670 - World News | NBC News Clone. Our editorial team reformatted this story for clarity and speed.
With prices soaring and then dipping, Tehran's Revolutionary Guard vowed it won’t allow “one liter of oil” to leave the Middle East if U.S. and Israeli attacks continue.
What we know:
- TRUMP'S MIXED MESSAGES: President Donald Trump has given mixed signals about when the war with Iran might end. Trump said yesterday it was a “little excursion” that would conclude “soon.” But he also said that the U.S. has “won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough.”
- OIL THREATS: With oil prices soaring and then dipping, Trump threatened “death, fire and fury” if Iran keeps blocking the key Strait of Hormuz. Tehran hit back, vowing it won’t allow “one liter of oil” to leave the Middle East until U.S. and Israeli attacks cease. A top Iranian official warned Trump to be careful not to be “eliminated” himself.
- SCHOOL STRIKE: Newly surfaced video shows what experts say appears to be an American Tomahawk missile hitting the area of a school in Iran where more than 170 people were killed, including many children. Trump has claimed it was Iran, but only a handful of countries are known to have purchased the missiles and there is no evidence Iran is among them.
- DEATH TOLL: Hundreds of people have been killed across the Middle East. In Iran, more than 1,200 people have been killed by Israeli and American strikes, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, and 13 have died in Israel as Iran fired back.
- INSIGHTS AND ANALYSIS: Get exclusive analysis and insight into the Middle East conflict by becoming an NBC News subscriber.
Pentagon to give 8 a.m. briefing
Stay tuned for a briefing at 8 a.m. ET from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
It's their first such update since Thursday.
Iran strikes oil-rich Gulf states to create pressure to end war
As attacks escalate across the Middle East, Iran is striking oil-rich Gulf states to drive up gas prices and create economic pressure to stop the war.
It comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again urged Iranians to rise up and “cast off the yoke of tyranny.”
Trump gives conflicting messages on how long Iran war will last
Trump and his advisers are sending conflicting messages about how long the war in Iran will last. “This is only the beginning,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an interview with “60 Minutes,” while around the same time, Trump told CBS News, “I think the war is very much complete.”
Top Iranian official issues 'eliminated' threat to Trump
A top Iranian security official has issued a thinly veiled threat against Trump.
Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was responding to Trump's social media threat that Iran would be "hit TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far" if they keep blocking oil through the Strait of Hormuz.
Larijani reposted Trump's message on X, adding his own comment in Farsi.
"The Iranian people do not fear your hollow threats," he said, adding that more powerful forces than Trump's White House had failed "to wipe them out." And he warned the American government to "beware, lest you are the ones who are eliminated."
Markets rally in Europe and Asia
Shaken markets in Europe have bounced back this morning following Trump’s comments that the war might be over soon.
Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 1.67% as of 7 a.m. ET. France’s CAC 40 was up 1.86% and Germany’s DAX rose 2.32%.
That followed gains in Asia, where the Shanghai Stock Exchange ticked up 0.65% before closing earlier in the day. Yesterday in the U.S., the S&P 500 rose 0.83% and while Dow Jones Industrial Average added 239.25 points.
Trump says he doesn't believe Iran's new supreme leader 'can live in peace'
Trump has said he is not happy with Iran's appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as its new supreme leader, telling Fox News in an interview that “I don’t believe he can live in peace.”
Trump also said that the early results from the war have been “way beyond expectation.”
A demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in central Tehran yesterday. Arezoo / Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
Russia is the only winner from Iran war, E.U. chief says
Russia is the only winner of the ongoing war in the Middle East, European Union President Antonio Costa said today.
“So far, there is only one winner in this war — Russia,” Costa said during a speech to E.U. ambassadors in Brussels.
“It gains new resources to finance its war against Ukraine as energy prices increase. It profits from the diversion of military capabilities that could otherwise have been sent to support Ukraine. And it benefits from reduced attention to the Ukrainian front as the conflict in the Middle East takes center stage,” he said.
Iran has now spent ‘a third of 2026 offline’
Iran has spent “a third of 2026 offline” amid an internet blackout that has now reached 240 hours, according to cybersecurity watchdog NetBlocks.
“At 240 hours, Iran’s internet blackout is now among the most severe government-imposed nationwide internet shutdowns on record globally,” it said in an X post this morning.
American in Beirut tells NBC News she's not leaving despite Israeli attacks
An American woman in Beirut has told NBC News she's refusing to leave, despite urging from the U.S. as Israel attacks Lebanon.
“In 2006, we had an Israeli invasion and we had Canadian, French and American ships for evacuees. I didn’t leave then. And I’m not leaving now,” said 72-year-old Virginia Sadler Chatila from Washington, D.C.
Virginia Sadler Chatila. Marc Smith / NBC News
It comes as the United Nations refugee agency said this morning that lives in Lebanon were being upended on a massive scale by the renewed conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
More than 667,000 people are now registered as displaced within the country, the UNHCR said, an increase of 100,000 in just one day. The Lebanese government put the figure at 700,000.
Iran says its drones have bombed Israeli fuel tanks
Iran’s military says its drones have targeted fuel storage tanks in the Israeli city of Haifa, in retaliation for Israel’s bombing of oil facilities in Tehran.
“Destructive drones” attacked “the oil and gas refinery and fuel storage tanks” in the northern Israeli city, according to a statement by the Iranian army published by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
That was “in response to the attack on Iran’s oil storage facilities,” that shrouded the country’s capital in black smoke and toxic rain this weekend, it said.
“The battle against the criminal United States and the child-killing Zionist regime,” it added — referring to Israel — “will continue until the final victory of the front of truth over falsehood.”
G7 nations mulling use of emergency oil stocks
The group of leading industrial nations yesterday held off releasing oil stocks to bring down prices but is picking up the issue again with more discussions between its energy ministers today, according to France.
France, which currently holds the G7’s rotating presidency, wants “to advance on that question, with one objective, which is to bring down prices,” government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon told broadcaster France Televisions.
“France is working on that for a very simple reason: If you put volume back into the market, you can have an impact on the lowering of prices,” Bregeon said.
French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said the G7 ministers will meet this afternoon by video call.
“It’s a process, we are working on it,” Lescure said. “All options are on the table.”
In photos: Billboards in Iran display photos of new supreme leader
AFP via Getty Images
AFP via Getty Images
AFP via Getty Images
Billboards have been installed in public spaces and above highways across Tehran celebrating Mojtaba Khamenei's appointment as Iran’s new supreme leader.
U.S. Embassy in Beirut urges citizens to leave country or ‘shelter in place’
Americans living in Beirut have been advised to leave the country or “shelter in place,” according to a security alert issued by the U.S. Embassy in the Lebanese capital.
“Commercial flights are currently offered by Middle East Airlines, operating out of Beirut Rafic Hariri airport,” it said.
Destruction in Beirut yesterday, following Israeli airstrikes. AFP via Getty Images
“Americans should strongly consider departing on one of these flights if they believe it is safe to do so.”
White House posts on Iran war are 'sickening,' U.S. cardinal says
A U.S. cardinal has criticized as “sickening” a social media post by the White House that mixes footage of the war in Iran with clips from movies and TV shows.
The post on the White House’s official X account intersperses videos of U.S. strikes with scenes from movies such as “Iron Man 2,” “Gladiator” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” and is captioned “JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY.”
“A real war with real death and real suffering being treated like it’s a video game — it’s sickening,” Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, said in a statement over the weekend.
“Hundreds of people are dead, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, including scores of children who made the fatal mistake of going to school that day. Six U.S. soldiers have been killed. They are also dishonored by that social media post,” he said.
“This horrifying portrayal demonstrates that we now live in an era when the distance between the battlefield and the living room has been drastically reduced,” Cupich said. “The moral crisis we are facing is not just a matter of the war itself, but also how we, the observers, view violence.”
The White House has defended its social media posts, saying the U.S. military is “meeting or surpassing all of their goals under Operation Epic Fury.”
“The legacy media wants us to apologize for highlighting the United States Military’s incredible success,” spokesperson Anna Kelly said. “But the White House will continue showcasing the many examples of Iran’s ballistic missiles, production facilities, and dreams of owning a nuclear weapon being destroyed in real time.”
Cardinal Robert McElroy, the archbishop of Washington, has also criticized the Iran war, telling the Catholic Standard newspaper that the U.S. entry into the conflict was not “morally legitimate.”
Pope Leo XIV has also called for an end to hostilities, including in a statement last night after a Maronite Catholic priest, the Rev. Pierre El Raii, was killed in southern Lebanon.
Protesters block bus carrying Iranian women’s soccer team
A group of protesters blocked a bus carrying the Iranian women’s soccer team as it left its hotel in Australia’s Gold Coast.
Supporters of the team fear that the players will be punished upon returning home after they refused to sing the national anthem during a match against South Korea last week. Australia had granted humanitarian visas to five members of the team who requested asylum.
Patrick Hamilton / AFP via Getty Images
Patrick Hamilton / AFP via Getty Images
Patrick Hamilton / AFP via Getty Images
Trump praised Australia for taking in the women, adding that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese did a "very good job."
Use stairs not escalators, Thailand says, as Asian countries respond to higher fuel prices
Thailand is the latest country in Asia to announce contingency measures as oil prices fluctuate amid the war in the Middle East.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has ordered civil servants to conserve energy and work from home among a raft of measures that also include a suspension of overseas trips and using stairs instead of escalators.
Dusit Central Park shopping mall in Bangkok in 2025. Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP via Getty Images
Other measures across Asia include Vietnam urging people to work from home and limit vehicle use to save fuel, while Bangladesh shut universities earlier this week to save electricity and fuel, bringing forward the Eid al-Fitr holidays.
Turkey says U.S. Patriot system deployed to boost air defense
Turkey says that a U.S. Patriot system is being deployed for the protection of its airspace.
While referencing the ongoing war in the Middle East, it said that “necessary measures are being taken” to protect its borders and airspace, according to a Turkish Defense Ministry statement posted on X.
It added that it will assess developments in “cooperation and consultation with NATO” and its allies, while striving for “regional peace and stability.”
South Korea says it cannot stop U.S. from moving weapons to the Middle East
South Korea cannot stop the U.S. from removing some weapons that are deployed in the country, its president said, after reports that U.S. Patriot missile defense systems were being relocated for use in the war with Iran.
The reports have raised concern that U.S. allies in Asia could be left vulnerable to military aggression by China and North Korea if the U.S. moves weapons that are used to deter the two nuclear-armed countries.
“There appears to be some controversy recently regarding the partial withdrawal of certain batteries or air defense weapons by the United States Forces Korea to locations outside the country,” President Lee Jae Myung said at a Cabinet meeting today.
He said that while South Korea had expressed opposition to such actions, “it is undeniable that we cannot fully impose our position as we wish.” But he said the weapons’ removal would not “seriously hinder our deterrence strategy toward North Korea” and that there was “no cause for concern,” noting that South Korea has far greater defense spending and conventional capabilities than North Korea.
Lee’s comments come as South Korea, which hosts about 28,500 U.S. troops, is conducting a military drill with the U.S. through March 19.
Australia is sending aircraft and missiles, but not troops, its leader says
Australia is deploying a military surveillance aircraft to the Middle East and sending missiles to the United Arab Emirates, but it will not be sending troops, its prime minister said.
The Australian military support is intended to help Gulf nations defend themselves against Iranian attacks, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Canberra today.
“Our involvement is purely defensive,” he said. Albanese said there are about 115,000 Australians in the Middle East, including about 24,000 in the UAE.
Albanese also addressed the humanitarian visas that were issued to five members of the Iranian women’s soccer team who sought asylum after playing in the Asian Women’s Cup hosted by Australia.
“Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women. They’re safe here and they should feel at home here,” he said, adding that Australia is willing to provide help to other members of the team if they want it.
Trump says Iran war will end ‘soon’ but also issues threats that could prolong it
Trump described the war in Iran as “short term” yesterday — suggesting the 10-day conflict that has roiled the Middle East could be nearing its end while also warning of intensifying strikes if a key oil route is restricted.
“We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil. And I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion,” Trump said. “How good is our military, right? Amazing. How good? Short term. Short term.”
Smoke and flames rise at the site of airstrikes on an oil depot in Tehran on Saturday. Sasan / Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
He appeared spoke a day after crude oil prices soared to above $100 a barrel for the first time since July 2022. AAA said a gallon of regular gas now costs $3.48, up from $2.90 a month ago.
Trump did not put a timeline on the end of the war, though, when he was pressed for details. Asked how he squared saying that the war would end “soon” with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s remarks that the attacks are “only just the beginning” during a “60 Minutes” interview taped Friday, Trump said, “I think you could say both.”
Asian markets rebound as oil prices come back down
Asian markets are following U.S. stocks with modest recoveries after comments from Trump soothed rattled investors.
After having soared as much as 32% overnight to $119 per barrel, the price of U.S. crude oil plunged around 5%, to around $86 per barrel, after Trump told CBS News that the war in Iran was “very complete, pretty much.”
South Korea’s benchmark Kospi is up about 4.8% after losing almost 6% a day earlier. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up almost 2.5% shortly before close, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed up more than 1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index has gained 1.7%, and China’s CSI 300 is up more than 1%.
Earlier, U.S. markets all closed higher after starting the day sharply lower.
Iran says it won't allow 'one liter of oil ' to leave the Middle East if U.S.-Israeli attacks continue
Iran will block the export of crude oil from the region if the U.S. and Israel continue their attacks, a spokesman for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has said.
“If aggression by the U.S. military and the Zionist regime against Iran and its infrastructure continues, the armed forces of the Islamic Republic will not allow the export of even one liter of oil from the region to the hostile side and its partners until further notice,” Gen. Ali-Mohammed Naeini said, according to the semiofficial news agency Tasnim.
It comes after Trump warned Iran not to inhibit shipping through the crucial Strait of Hormuz waterway or "death, fire and fury will reign upon them." Iran will be hit “twenty times harder than they have been hit thus far,” if they do so, he posted on Truth Social.
Shipping through the strait abutting Iran dropped 95% in the first week of March, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. About one-fifth of the world’s oil comes through the strait.
Cargo ships and tankers are seen off the coastal city of Fujairah, in the Strait of Hormuz in the northern Emirate on Feb. 25. Giuseppe Cacace / AFP via Getty Images
Threats from Iran to strike cargo ships in the strait have had a chilling effect, with the cost of safe passage spiking because insurers have canceled war-risk coverage.
