Trump warns NATO of ‘dark future’ if his plea for help with Iran is rejected (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)
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Source: RT News
Tehran has dared the US leader to send American warships to the Strait of Hormuz
President Donald Trump has warned European NATO members of a “very bad future” if they reject his plea for help with securing the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran insists the critical maritime energy chokepoint remains open to everyone – except for “hostile” nations.
Countries that receive oil through the Strait of Hormuz “must take care” of securing it, Trump reiterated over the weekend, calling on the UK, France, Japan, South Korea and even China to join “a team effort.”
“If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO,” Trump told the Financial Times.
In response, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has dared Trump to send in US warships to back his repeated claims that Iran’s navy was “essentially decimated.”
“Didn’t Trump say that Iran’s navy has been destroyed? If so, let him send his ships into the Persian Gulf if he dares,” an IRGC spokesman said.
Here are the latest developments as RT continues to bring you up to date:
The Israeli military has reportedly requested government approval to mobilize up to 450,000 reservists, in preparation for a possible ground operation in Lebanon, as the US-Israeli war with Iran has entered its 17th day.
American attacks on Iran have cost Washington $12 billion so far, the director of the US National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, has said.
Brent crude has surged to nearly $106 per barrel on Monday, after Trump stated over the weekend that Iran’s Kharg Island was “totally demolished,” but “we may hit it a few more times just for fun,” raising fears of a deeper shock to global energy supplies if the infrastructure on Iran’s main oil export hub is damaged.
Follow our live coverage below for continuous updates. You can also read our previous updates here.
16 March 2026
01:02 GMT
The United States is actively seeking allies to “police” the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump reiterated in a press gaggle aboard Air Force One.
“We are talking to other countries about working with us on the policing of the Strait. And I think we’re getting a good response,” Trump said. “It’d be interesting to see what country wouldn’t help us with a very small endeavor, which is just keeping the Strait open.”
00:36 GMT
Israel has launched a new “wide-scale wave of strikes targeting Iranian terror regime infrastructure in Tehran,” the IDF has announced.
00:25 GMT
Any attack on Iran’s oil infrastructure on Kharg Island “will create another severe and entirely new equation for the price and distribution of energy in the world,” IRGC naval commander Alireza Tangsiri has warned.
15 March 2026
23:49 GMT
President Donald Trump has warned European NATO members of a “very bad future” if they reject his plea for help with securing the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
READ MORE: Securing Hormuz Strait should be ‘a team effort’ – Trump
“It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the Strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump said in an interview with the Financial Times. “If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO.”
Trump claimed that Washington helped NATO arm Kiev and bankroll Ukraine’s war effort against Moscow – even though “Ukraine is thousands of miles away from us.”
“Now we’ll see if they help us. Because I’ve long said that we’ll be there for them but they won’t be there for us. And I’m not sure that they’d be there,” he said.
23:31 GMT
The IDF has detected a new barrage of missiles launched from Iran toward Israel, warning citizens in Tel Aviv to seek shelter as air defense systems are “operating to intercept the threat.”
23:28 GMT
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesman has challenged President Donald Trump to send US warships to the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
“Didn’t Trump say that Iran’s navy has been destroyed? If so, let him send his ships into the Persian Gulf if he dares,” Brigadier General Ali Mohammad Naini said in a statement carried by Tasnim news agency. “The Strait of Hormuz is under Iran’s full control, and any aggression will be met with a decisive response.”
23:18 GMT
French President Emmanuel Macron has said that he just spoke with his Iranian counterpart Massoud Pezeshkian.
“I called on him to put an immediate end to the unacceptable attacks Iran is carrying out against countries in the region, whether directly or through proxies, including in Lebanon and Iraq,” Macron wrote in a lengthy post on X.
“Freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz must be restored as soon as possible,” Macron added, reiterating the talking points about Iran’s nuclear and ballistic threats – but without mentioning the US-Israeli attack on Iran.
The French leader also insisted that “France is acting within a strictly defensive framework” and that “it is unacceptable for our country to be targeted.” Last week, a French soldier was killed and several others were injured in a drone attack on a military base in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
22:56 GMT
More blasts have rocked the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to Reuters footage of the city’s skyline, shortly after the IDF announced strikes against “terrorist targets.”
22:51 GMT
READ MORE: Pope Leo condemns US-Israeli war on Iran
Pope Leo XIV has spoken against the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran in a weekly Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican, where he decried two weeks of “horrific violence” suffered by the people of the Middle East.
“I renew my prayerful closeness to all who have lost loved ones in the attacks, which have struck schools, hospitals and residential areas,” Leo said.
“Violence can never lead to justice, stability and peace for which the peoples are waiting,” Leo warned. During a visit to a Rome parish later on Sunday, the pontiff also denounced the idea that disputes could be resolved through war as “absurd.”
22:33 GMT
Brent crude, a major benchmark used to price most of the world’s traded oil, has surged more than 2.5% to nearly $106 per barrel at the Asian market opening.
