Iran War - US officials say thousands of marines and assault ship on way to region | BBC News

It is being reported that the United States is preparing to send additional forces to the Middle East as the war with Iran enters its third week. Thousands of US Marines are expected to be sent, though it's not yet clear how they would be deployed. President Trump said today that the Islamic Republic will be hit very hard over the next week. Let's go straight to Washington and our State Department correspondent Tom Bateman. What more do we know about these deployments?

Sophie, this is a deployment of the USS Tripoli, which is an amphibious assault ship alongside up to 5,000 troops, about half of which it is thought will be US Marines. Now this is a task force that is trained in things like carrying out amphibious landings, securing maritime chokeholds, so exactly the kind of situation that the global shipping industry is currently facing in the Strait of Hormuz. Now this is not a public official announcement by the

Trump administration but it's been briefed by US officials tonight. This task force is currently in Japan it would take them about two weeks to reach the Middle East. At the same time US bombing raids have continued into Iran all day. I was in a briefing earlier with Pete Hegseth, the Defense Secretary, saying this would be the highest number of strikes today and US Central Command releasing pictures of nighttime bombing raids by B-2 stealth bombers. At the same time, President Trump is continuing to threaten escalation

to the Iranian regime. Meanwhile, the message for Americans back at home has been very much about him dictating the course of this conflict. He was asked today when would it be over? He said soon, this will end when he feels it in

his bones. Tom Bateman, thank you. The US Defence Secretary said the US and Israel have so far hit 15,000 targets since the war began two weeks ago tomorrow. The US is now offering a $10 million reward for anyone with information about the whereabouts of Iran's leaders. America claims that Iran's new supreme leader is in hiding, wounded and likely disfigured after the initial strikes that killed his father and other members of his family.

The US says Iran's air force, air defence and navy have been completely destroyed and you can see here the extent of the strikes by the US and Israel. Our diplomatic correspondent Caroline Hawley has our story now.

From an embattled Iranian regime today, a show of defiance, loyalists came out in large the thousand targets around Iran that its military had been decimated.

Iran's leadership is in no better shape. Desperate and hiding, they've gone underground, cowering. That's what rats do. We know the new so-called not-so-supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured.

But state-run TV showed Iran's president, Massoud Pazeshkian, out on the streets today, even looking relaxed. And another very powerful figure in the regime who had a message for Donald Trump.

The problem with Trump is that he's not intelligent enough to understand that Iranians are a mature and strong and determined nation. The more pressure he exerts,

the stronger our nation's willpower will become."

This is the Al-Quds rally, held every year to oppose Israel. Suddenly, on the left of this image, an explosion nearby. Another airstrike took place as state-run TV was interviewing Iran's hardline head of the judiciary. People are not afraid of these attacks, he says. We will not back down in any way. But many Iranians are very afraid, as the human cost of this war and the humanitarian consequences grow. This was footage released by the Iranian Red Crescent today.

It's a residential neighbourhood with a narrow alley. Rescuers are working to find anyone still alive as quickly as possible.

The Red Crescent says nearly 20,000 homes have now been damaged, along with businesses, schools and 16 of its own facilities. Iranians are continuing to flee. More than three million of them have left their homes so far, according to the UN. At Turkey's border with Iran, one man said bombs were raining down on his homeland. Near the central city of Isfahan, one glimpse into the intensity of the bombardment. The man filming is clearly happy to see regime targets hit. Duck down, someone says, as air strike follows air strike. And Donald Trump says Iran will continue to be hit very hard.

Caroline Hawley, BBC News.

Well, overnight, British typhoon jets flew air defence operations over Bahrain for the first time and multiple drones were also shot down by a British counter-drone unit in the region. The Gulf has borne the brunt of attacks from Iran. RAF Typhoon and F-35 jets are now flying defensive sorties over many of the Gulf states to protect British interests and people.

In Oman, state media said two people died after security forces intercepted a drone near an industrial area. And in the United Arab Emirates, a building in Dubai was damaged in the financial district after debris hit a building after a drone was shot down. And tonight, police in the capital Abu Dhabi said 45 people have been arrested for filming and spreading misinformation on the attacks. Well the impact of the war on oil supplies has seen petrol prices in the UK hit their highest level for 18 months and diesel

is at its highest since November 2023 according to the motoring organisation the RAC. Today the Chancellor met representatives from the petrol retailers association who accused the government of using inflammatory language about profiteering from the crisis. They said petrol retailers were keeping prices competitive and in some cases even losing money. Here's our economics editor Faisal Islam.

The effective closure of the Straits of Hormuz in recent days has been unprecedented. The Iran conflict playing out in Gulf waters, sending a wave of inflation across the world. Including today, up Downing Street, with petrol bosses summoned to number 11 after the Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told the BBC action would be taken against price gouging and ripoffs.

We're doing all we can to provide fuel at competitive prices for our customers.

Are you taking advantage of people though? No, we're not.

His petrol retailers association had threatened to boycott the meeting after saying ministerial language had led to abusive staff at the pumps, the Chancellor told bosses they had to keep prices down. Here's what's actually happened to petrol prices. In under two weeks of this conflict, they are up about eight pence per litre to an 18-month high. And diesel, well, that's up even more, nearly 17p per litre in that two-week period.

And that, in turn, is driven by these trends in the crude oil price, which has been up and up, and then volatile hour by hour, but settling around $100 a barrel, higher than it was before the conflict. And that's despite the emergency release of hundreds of millions of barrels of stockpiled oil around there. And this in turn is what's driving the oil price as

we've shown the tanker traffic in the Gulf at the Strait of Hormuz. That's a choke point and it's coming to a standstill compared to say the same day last year. Nothing is officially getting through. Now hundreds of millions of barrels of oil is stuck in the Gulf, either on tankers, in storage, or simply left in the ground. And today we've been hearing from the crew of a tanker

stuck here in the Gulf.

Every day on the ship, I can see missile launches

and hear explosions, making me feel like I'm in danger.

Here is the maritime reality radio messages from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Attention all ships, attention all ships, every navigating from the Strait of Hormuz

is banned from now on. The Gulf energy shock, about to enter its third week, now prompting a furious debate something we're dealing with, we have been dealing with it and don't need to worry about it.

The Gulf energy shock about to enter its third week now prompting a furious debate about how to ensure more secure and cheaper British energy supplies into the future. Faisal Islam, BBC News.

Well the rapidly rising oil prices have prompted the United States to say it will loosen sanctions on other countries buying Russian oil and petroleum that's already loaded on ships at sea. The Kremlin welcomed the move, but Ukraine's President Zelensky warned that easing sanctions on Russia wouldn't help bring peace in Ukraine and said it would give Russia more money for war. Our diplomatic

correspondent Paul Adams reports. The queue of stationary tankers grows, the impact of two weeks of war rippling out across the global economy. Washington says allowing countries to buy Russian oil may help. It says the lifting of sanctions will promote stability in global markets and won't significantly benefit Russia.

Others beg to differ.

Regarding sanctions, lifting them will lead to the strengthening of Russia's position.

They earn money and buy weapons with them which they fly against us.

His host and ally sought to reassure him. Russia may believe that the war in Iran will offer it some respite, and it is mistaken. At the G7 meeting that I shared two days ago, we reaffirmed that rising oil prices must in no way lead us to reconsider our sanctions policy toward Russia.

Russia is already benefiting from the war to the tune of around $150 million a day, thanks to rising oil prices. Estimates vary hugely, but Vladimir Zelensky says Russia's monthly oil exports could be boosted by around $10 billion. Britain has no plans to ease sanctions. Yesterday, the defense secretary, John Healey, highlighted the relationship between Iran

and Russia. Putin's hidden hand, he said, was behind some of Iran's military methods and capabilities.

Donald Trump seems aware, but not unduly concerned.

You think Putin is helping them?

I think he might be helping them a little bit, yes, I guess. And he probably thinks

we're helping Ukraine, right?

For Mr Trump, it's all about the price of petrol at home, rising already in a year when voters will judge his party's handling of the economy. Washington says the sanctions waiver will only last 30 days, but as the war in the Gulf rages on, who can be really sure? Paul Adams, BBC News.

Well, let's go to Moscow now. Russia editor Steve Rosenberg is there. What has been the

reaction to these changes? Well, the Russians are very pleased about this and you can understand why. Because since Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago, thousands and thousands of international sanctions have been imposed on Moscow. So the easing of sanctions on Russian oil, even if that is limited and temporary, as the Americans say, this is welcome news to Russia. It sets a precedent that sanctions can be reversed. I think the Russians see an opportunity here to

push further, to push for longer-term sanctions relief. How successful that will be, that is not clear. But there is another piece of good news right now for Vladimir Putin, and that is the high price of oil. That is generating much-needed revenue, additional revenue for Russia at a time when the Russian economy is under sustained pressure. So more money means more resources and a larger war chest as Russia

continues its war on Ukraine.

Steve Rosenberg in Moscow, thank you. The Prime Minister says almost 70,000 British nationals have returned to the UK from the Middle East since war broke out almost a fortnight ago. But many others are still stuck. Dozens of people have been in touch with us through BBC Your Voice saying they've been stranded in countries around the world since their flights, which had connections in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Qatar, were abruptly cancelled and many are

having to foot the bill themselves. Here's our business correspondent Mark Ashton.

A two-week tour of Sri Lanka has turned into nearly a month now for Debbie and Arden, hold up with 20 other Brits in a budget hotel, resorting to washing their clothes by hand as their tour operator tries to get them home.

We've all got things to go back to, we both volunteer, there are people in the group, there's one gentleman that works so he's trying to work from here, you know, there's people who've got hospital appointments, it's not just us, there's so many other people. There's thousands of us out there. There's a lot of people stuck and

just no way to get back.

They've been left thousands of pounds out of pocket, as have Henry and Aniko, who also contacted BBC Your Voice. They were at a friend's wedding in India when the conflict started. With their flight cancelled and baby Esther at home with her grandparents, it was a desperate scramble to get back.

We spent about four days on Skyscanner, I think, and had many times that we thought we found something and you click on it, start filling out your details and in that process it would just be, sorry, this is all sold out, doesn't exist anymore.

And then the cost was just absurd and we were really scared to book it, not knowing whether we were going to get this money back. We'd been saving this money for years to try and put towards a house and now we spent £6,500 just to get home.

So what is the advice if you do find yourself stranded abroad?

Make sure that you are registered with a foreign office. If you are spending any of your own money in resort, in destination, please make sure you keep hold of your receipts. Also really important, stay in contact with your airline or your travel agent, depends on how you've booked. And if you have a return flight, do not cancel that flight because it will limit your rights that you are entitled to.

And what if you have a trip booked in the coming weeks? If you've booked a package deal with a UK or EU regulated firm and they cancel, you're entitled to be re-booked on the same holiday, another holiday of the same value or you're entitled to a full refund. That's also the case if the foreign office deems it unsafe to travel to your destination, but do follow that official advice. If they think it's safe and you cancel anyway, you won't necessarily get your money back.

And do check your insurance. I'm afraid many policies do have exclusions for things like war, but you might be able to get some money back for things like emergency medical expenses. This shows the number of flights across the Middle East last year and today. A big gap remains as the restricted airspace continues to impact thousands of trips. Mark Ashton, BBC News.

Meanwhile, next month's Formula One Grand Prix in Bahrain and then Saudi Arabia looks set to be cancelled because of the war. Drivers were today taking part in qualifying for the Grand Prix in Shanghai this weekend. A formal announcement is expected then. Bahrain was due to start on April 10th with Jeddah the following weekend. The cancellations could cost Formula One £100 million. In neighbouring Iraq, Iranian Kurdish opposition groups say their fighters are prepared to cross back into Iran and join the war. Many

Iranian Kurds who have been in exile for decades have loved ones who were killed by the Islamic Republic. The fighters want America to give them a no-fly zone so they can return. Our senior international correspondent, Orla Girin, has sent this report from one of their mountain bases in northern Iraq. Beyond these mountains, across the border, war is raging inside Iran. Here in northern Iraq, we're heading to meet those hoping to join in.

Iranian-Kurdish fighters, some in exile here for decades.

Eager to return to their homeland.

With the weapons they have to hand. Woman. Life. Freedom.

The slogan of the protest movement, brutally crushed in Iran. These Kurdish fighters are called Peshmerga, meaning those who face death. Donald Trump has blown hot, then cold, on their guns coming into the fight.

Very difficult to come after. Hello, hi.

Hello, hi.

Orla from BBC.

My name is Shaho.

Nice to meet you.

Shaho Bluri hopes to return home soon to honour all the dead.

One of your brothers was hung?

Yeah, hung. Many of our family be one by one killed and hanging.

How many members of your extended family have been killed by the regime?

I think directly 18.

18?

18.

If you are able to go home, what is the first thing that you want to do?

I will go back to my mother's grave and put flowers and all my family, visit them and put flowers and tell them I remember you always. I cry for you.

The fighters here now joining forces with other Kurdish Iranian groups, but in need of US support. Do you think there's a danger that President Trump could suddenly say, I'm finished with

this war now, it's over?

Personally, I don't trust Trump. I think he may decide to stop the war. No one can predict what Trump will do. Ten minutes ago...

Suddenly the commander, Amjad Panahi, gets news of a strike on one of their bases, sparking fears of an attack at our location.

Spread out, he warns.

Now, now. Spread out. There's a cave up there, guys,s. Now, Matt. We need to spread out. OK.

There's a cave up there, guys, if we need to. OK.

OK, let's move, Matt. Let's go. We've just been asked to disperse, to spread out a bit. They're worried about too many people being in the same place and being a bigger target. They've had some intelligence that there may be a drone strike. These camps are being hit very regularly. They've had some intelligence that there may be a drone strike.

These camps are being hit very regularly. So the Peshmerga watch the skies and urge us to leave. They remain in position. Still on the sidelines for now. Still on the sidelines for now.

Orla Ghirin, BBC News, Northern Iraq.