Israeli soldiers operate next to their mobile artillery unit on the border with Lebanon in northern Israel, on Monday, March 16.
Seventeen days after the United States and Israel launched their attacks on Iran, the diplomatic path to ending the war appeared as narrow as ever on Monday, March 16. Iran’s foreign minister ruled out talks with Washington, while China called for an immediate halt to military operations but ruled out joining any naval force in the strait.
On the other hand, US President Donald Trump, who has claimed Iran is “essentially defeated,” declined to rule out striking Kharg Island, the terminal that handles 90 per cent of Iran’s crude oil exports.
UAE oil production has fallen to about 2 million barrels a day from 3.56 million barrels a day last month, a source told Bloomberg. Kuwait’s oil production has dropped to about 1.3 million barrels a day from 2.6 million barrels a day last month.
This was due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz since the US and Israel attacked Iran towards the end of February.
Oil prices were down on Monday, March 16. A barrel of benchmark US crude fell 4.1 per cent to USD 94.62, easing some pressure off the economy after topping $102 earlier in the morning. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 1.4 per cent to USD 101.72 per barrel after earlier getting as high as USD 106.50.
Oil prices have been mostly ripping higher from roughly USD 70 per barrel since the United States and Israel began their attacks on Iran.
Israel said on Monday it had detailed plans for at least three more weeks of war as it pounded sites across Iran overnight.
Trump, while briefing reporters on the latest on Iran, said the US military operations in Iran have continued “in full force” over the past few days, adding that Washington had stuck more than 7,000 targets across Iran.
“They have been literally obliterated,” the US President said.
“Since the beginning of the conflict, we’ve struck more than 7000 targets across Iran. And these have been mostly commercial and military targets. We’ve achieved a 90 per cent reduction in their ballistic missile launches and a 95 per cent reduction in drone attacks,” Trump said.
Trump also repeated his call to nations to help reopen the shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz “Numerous countries have told me they’re on the way. Some are very enthusiastic about it, and some aren’t,” he said.
Trump also said the U.S. had destroyed 30 mine-laying ships in Strait of Hormuz. “We’re hammering their capacity to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz with more than 30 mine-laying ships destroyed,” the US President said.
Iran’s top diplomat says the key Strait of Hormuz is only cut off for vessels of the United States, Israel and their allies. “From our perspective it is open,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said of the strait.
“It is only closed to our enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies,” Araghchi said while speaking at a press conference in Tehran on Monday.
The top US military commander in the Middle East said American forces are zeroing in on Iran’s threats to freighters carrying oil and natural gas through a vital chokepoint in the Persian Gulf.
“We will continue to rapidly deplete Iran’s ability to threaten freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz,” Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, said in a video posted to X on Monday.
Iranian strikes on commercial vessels have effectively stopped shipping traffic in the waterway, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported. That has dramatically increased the price of oil and put pressure on Washington to do something to ease the pain for consumers.
China on Monday called on all countries to immediately stop military operations in West Asia in response to US President Donald Trump’s appeal to help keep the Strait of Hormuz open for international transport, ruling out Beijing joining any international naval force risking its close ties with Iran.
China also said it is in talks with the US about Trump’s planned visit to Beijing later this month, amid the US President’s assertion that he may delay his China trip due to the Iran war.
About Trump’s call to China and other countries to join, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian virtually ruled out Beijing’s participation in the naval armada to ensure safe passage of ships out of the Strait of Hormuz.
“The recent tense situation in the Strait of Hormuz and waters nearby has impacted the route for international goods and energy trade, disrupting peace and stability in the region and beyond,” Lin told a media briefing while answering questions on Trump’s appeal.
Instead, he said, “China once again calls on parties to immediately stop military operations, avoid further escalation of the tense situation and prevent regional turmoil from further impacting the global economy”.
He, however, said China is in “communication with relevant parties to work for the de-escalation of the situation”.
Italy is the latest country to react cautiously to Trump’s demand that allies help open the Strait of Hormuz.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told reporters in Brussels on Monday that Italy backs reinforcing EU naval missions in the Red Sea. But he added: “However, I don’t think these missions can be expanded to include the Strait of Hormuz, especially since they are anti-piracy and defensive missions.”
US President Donald Trump said he has demanded about seven countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, as Iranian strikes continued to rain down on Gulf countries.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was attacked Monday with six ballistic missiles and 21 drones coming from Iran. That’s according to the Emirati Defence Ministry.
The ministry tallied 304 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles and 1,627 drones since the start of the war. The attacks killed seven people including two troops, it said.
Kuwait’s Defence Ministry said its air defences have intercepted four drones in the last 24 hours, adding that no casualties or material damage was reported.
Saudi air defences have intercepted and destroyed 11 drones over Al-Kharj governorate on Monday, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence says in a post on X.
Missile fragments fell across four separate locations in the northern Jordanian city of Irbid on Sunday, March 15, with one child reported to have sustained minor injuries, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.
Jordan’s official news agency Petra said authorities have dealt with 356 incidents of missile shrapnel falling across the country since the war began on February 28.
A vessel tracker says a first tanker carrying non-Iranian oil has transited through the Strait of Hormuz. The Pakistani-controlled tanker Karachi, which carries crude oil from Abu Dhabi, passed the strait on Sunday, according to data from MarineTraffic.
The tanker is now sailing in the Gulf of Oman, it said.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said those that fled southern Lebanon in the face of Israeli fighting against Hezbollah militants won’t be able to return home until northern Israel, which has been hit by barrages of rockets, is safe.
“Hezbollah will pay a heavy price for its aggression and activity in the Iranian axis to destroy Israel,” he said. “We have promised security to the residents of the north, and that is exactly what we will do,” he added.
In a Monday statement, Lebanon foreign ministry recalled the government’s decision which prohibits “the military and security activities of Hezbollah.”
It added that the ministry’s position in the matter is clear in which “no armed group operating outside the authority of the state” will be permitted to draw Lebanon further into instability in service of agendas that run counter to Lebanon’s national interests.
The ministry was apparently referring to Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer.
Israeli strikes across Lebanon have killed at least 886 people and wounded 2,141 others since March 2, when Israel resumed its military offensive against the country, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said in its latest daily update.
This post was last modified on March 16, 2026 10:52 pm