Iran…Israel…Trump….3/14/2026…When Will it End?

Kataib Hezbollah, one of several Iran-backed militias in Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack on Saturday, saying it had fired on the embassy the previous night. A video verified by The New York Times showed that a structure on the embassy’s roof was on fire. Two Iraqi security officials who were not authorized to speak publicly confirmed the attack but could not give additional details.

The State Department has already ordered nonemergency U.S. government employees and the family members of all U.S. government employees to leave several countries in the region because of the escalating fighting. That order was issued Friday for Oman, where officials said Americans were at risk of terrorist attacks and strikes from Iran.

Overnight, U.S. airstrikes hit military targets on Kharg Island, home to Iran’s main oil export terminal. President Trump threatened to bomb Iranian oil infrastructure on the island if Tehran did not allow ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow opening to the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world’s oil must transit.

But Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps defied Mr. Trump’s threat, asserting in a statement on Saturday that the critical waterway was under its full control and that “any attempt to move or transit will be targeted.”

Claiming in a social media post the United States had “beaten and completely decimated” Iran, Mr. Trump nevertheless also called on other countries, including Britain, France and China, to send war ships to the Strait of Hormuz to try to ensure that oil tankers could pass, and he promised the United States would coordinate with them. Oil prices have risen steeply since the United States and Israel launched their air war on Iran two weeks ago, rattling world markets.

Here’s what else we are covering:

• Bombardments: Israel’s military bombarded the Iranian capital of Tehran on Saturday and the southern outskirts of the Lebanese capital of Beirut, while Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group, fired rockets and drones into Israeli territory. A heavy, lifeless atmosphere hung over the streets of Tehran on Saturday, residents said. “No one knows what will happen,” said Meisam, 41, a resident and poet who asked that his last name not be used for fear of reprisal. “And we are all somewhere on the edge between depression and hope.”

• Death toll: At least 1,348 civilians in Iran have been killed since the start of the war, Iran’s representative to the United Nations told the Security Council on Wednesday, the latest figure the country has provided. In Lebanon, officials said that 826 people had been killed and over 2,000 others injured.

• Americans killed: On Saturday, the Pentagon identified the six service members who died when a refueling aircraft crashed in Iraq last Thursday. The six who were identified included Maj. John A. Klinner, 33, of Auburn, Ala.; Capt. Ariana G. Savino, 31, of Covington, Wash.; Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, Ky.; Capt. Seth R. Koval, 38, of Mooresville, Ind.; Capt. Curtis J. Angst, 30, of Wilmington, Ohio; and Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, 28, of Columbus, Ohio. At least 13 American service members have been killed in the recent fighting.

• Attacks on the Gulf: Officials in several Persian Gulf nations reported a wave of aerial attacks overnight as Iran continued to retaliate across the region. In Dubai, debris from an intercepted projectile struck the facade of a building, the city’s authorities said. Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry said it had intercepted 11 drones, while in Bahrain, the interior ministry sounded sirens and urged residents to seek shelter.

• Oil shock: The Trump administration has struggled to sell the war with Iran to a skeptical American public, including Mr. Trump’s own right-wing supporters. His advisers appear to have miscalculated how severely Iranian retaliation could disrupt global energy markets. In part as a result of the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices have risen by more than 40 percent, defying efforts to calm markets. On Saturday, U.S. gasoline prices jumped again, to a national average of $3.68 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club, an increase of 23.5 percent since the war began.

• Mixed messages: While at first Mr. Trump enthusiastically called on the Iranian people to take to the streets and oust the decades-long rule of the Islamic Republic, on Friday he expressed skepticism a popular uprising could succeed right now, saying opponents to the government faced “a big hurdle” because they were likely to be gunned down if they mounted protests….

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ISW…Iran Update Special Report, March 14, 2026

1. Israeli and US officials told Axios on March 13 that Israel is planning to “significantly expand” its ground campaign in Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure south of the Litani River. A senior Israeli official said that Israel’s objectives are to “take over territory, push Hezbollah’s forces north and away from the border, and dismantle [Hezbollah’s] military positions and weapons depots in [southern Lebanese] villages.”
2. Neither Iran nor the United States is prepared to hold discussions to reach a ceasefire despite mediation efforts by Oman and Egypt, according to Iranian, regional, and White House officials speaking to Reuters on March 14. Three sources familiar with the efforts told Reuters that the Trump administration rejected efforts by Middle Eastern allies, including Oman and Egypt, to start diplomatic talks to end the war with Iran.
3. The United States struck Iranian military infrastructure on Kharg Island in Bushehr Province on March 13, in part to degrade Iran’s ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command (CENTCOM) stated that US forces conducted large-scale precision strikes targeting Kharg Island, destroying naval mine storage facilities, missile storage facilities, and other military sites.
4. United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported on March 14 that it has not observed any confirmed vessel attacks in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, and Gulf of Oman in the past 48 hours. UKMTO warned that the threat environment in these areas remains critical, however.
5. Hezbollah claimed 43 attacks targeting Israeli forces and positions in northern Israel and southern Lebanon, as well as northern Israeli towns, between 3:00 PM ET on March 13 and 3:00 PM ET on March 14. This marks the highest number of attacks that Hezbollah has claimed in a 24-hour period since the start of the war.

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The Guardian….

Donald Trump has said that the US may carry out more strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub, saying that while Tehran appears ready to make a deal to end the conflict, “the terms aren’t good enough yet”.

He said the US strikes had “totally demolished” most of Kharg Island, telling NBC News that “we may hit it a few more times just for fun”.

The comments marked an escalation in rhetoric from the president, who had previously said the US targeted only military sites on Kharg.

Here’s what else has been happening.

• Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes have killed 826 people, including 65 women and 106 children, since the start of the war. In a statement today, the ministry said 31 paramedics were among those killed. Local health authorities reported this morning that an Israeli strike killed 12 medical staff at a clinic in the southern town of Burj Qalaouiya.

• At least 15 people were killed when a strike by Israel and the US hit a factory in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, the semi-official Fars news agency said. There were workers inside the factory, which produces heaters and refrigerators, when the strike hit, Fars reported.

• Iran issued an evacuation warning for three major ports in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, including the busiest in the Middle East, the Associated Press reported. Iran claims the US had used “ports, docks and hideouts” in the UAE to launch strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island. It urged people to evacuate areas where it said US forces were sheltering.

• Trump renewed his call for other nations to help secure the strait of Hormuz and said the US will coordinate with them amid the US-Israeli war on Iran. “The United States of America has beaten and completely decimated Iran, both Militarily, Economically, and in every other way, but the Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage, and we will help – A LOT,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

• The Trump administration rebuffed efforts by Middle Eastern allies to start diplomatic negotiations aimed at ending the Iran war that started two weeks ago with a massive US-Israeli air assault, according to reporting from Reuters.

• The Israeli military says it killed two senior officials in Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Emergency Command in an airstrike on Tehran. In a post on X, army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Abdullah Jalali-Nasab and Amir Shariat, described as senior figures in the command’s intelligence branch, were killed in the attack.

• Israel informed the US this week that it is running critically low on ballistic missile interceptors as the conflict with Iran continues, Semafor reported on Saturday, citing US officials familiar with the matter.

• The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Brendan Carr accused news broadcasters of “running hoaxes and news distortions”amid the war in Iran in a post on X. “Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions – also known as the fake news – have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,” Carr wrote.

• Formula One has cancelled the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia grands prix because of the war, underlining the disruption across the Middle East. The races were due to take place on 12 April in Bahrain and 19 April in Saudi Arabia but the sport was approaching the point at which a decision on cancellation needed to be made to prevent more freight being sent to Bahrain.

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