US deploys thousands more troops to war as Iran threatens world tourism sites

Agency

DUBAI: On one of the holiest days on the Islamic calendar, Iran fired on Israel and energy sites in neighbouring Gulf Arab states, insisting that it can still build missiles and issuing a new threat, to deny safety to its enemies in “parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations” worldwide. Israel meanwhile pounded Tehran with airstrikes as Iranians marked Nowruz, the Persian New Year.
The US military is deploying three more warships and roughly 2,500 more marines to the Middle East, where there’s no end to the war in sight despite three weeks of US and Israeli air strikes that have decimated Iran’s military and leadership. The Pentagon’s request for another USD 200 billion to fund the war would need congressional approval as the US national debt hits a record USD 39 trillion.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will stop attacking the gas field that Iranians depend on for most of their electricity at the request of US President Donald Trump. Iran responded to Israel’s attack on the field by intensifying targeting of energy infrastructure in other Middle East countries, sending oil and gas prices soaring.
The death toll has risen to more than 1,300 people in Iran, more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, 15 in Israel and 13 US military members in the region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.
Georgia has become the the first US state to suspend fuel taxes as pump prices soar due to war in the Middle East. The average gas price nationwide has risen from USD 2.93 a gallon on Feb. 20 to USD 3.91 today, motorist group AAA says.
Republican Gov Brian Kemp signed into law Friday a 60-day suspension of the state’s 33-cents-per-gallon tax on gas and 37-cents-per-gallon tax on diesel.
That’s USD 5 or USD 6 per tank for a typical passenger vehicle, and could mean forgoing USD 360 million to USD 400 million fuel taxes.
Other states aren’t moving in the same direction. Florida Republican Gov Ron DeSantis said Thursday he won’t suspend that state’s taxes. A leading Maryland Democrat on Friday rejected a GOP-supported gas tax holiday there.
Kuwait’s military says it shot down ballistic missileDefence Ministry spokesman Col Saud al-Atwan said that the country’s air defences also shot down 15 of 25 more drones fired into Kuwait.
Two of the drones exploded in an oil refinery, igniting a fire that was later extinguished, and there were no casualties, Al-Atwan said.
Al-Atwan said eight other drones exploded in open areas without causing any danger.
He said the missile and the drones were fired into Kuwait over the past 24 hours.
Israeli Police officers scaled the ramparts of Jerusalem’s Old City to inspect a public playground for missile fragments. The playground was just below the site where debris from an intercepted Iranian missile careened onto the walled city’s southern flank.
The debris landed Friday in the Jewish quarter, less than 500 metres from The Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, and Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. It struck just above Dung Gate, one of seven functional entrances into the Old City.
It came as residents were entering Shabbat, disrupting preparations with a loud bang. After the hit, soldiers swatted away crowds of ultra-Orthodox children craning their necks to see the damage.
Up a limestone passageway, an Armenian man quietly swept up shards of glass blown out from his window.
The president mentioned the war as he presented the Commander in Chief trophy to the Navy football team for beating Army during their 2025 game. Without providing details, he said “We’re doing extremely well.”
Trump said Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, weren’t at the ceremony because they were in the White House Situation Room.
As the event unfolded, an official told The Associated Press that the US was deploying three more warships, consisting of roughly 2,500 more Marines, to the Middle East, as the war in Iran continues.
Concluding his remarks, Trump said he’d lead the team on a tour of the Oval Office.
“Using the war with Iran as a pretext, they closed our first Qibla, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, to worship,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, speaking to citizens during an Eid al Fitr celebration in the northeastern city of Rize.
“They have accelerated their illegal settlement activities and expansionist policies in the West Bank and in Palestinian territories they occupied,” he said. “Terror by Netanyahu continues to threaten regional and global peace. The Iran-centered attacks launched on February 28th, with provocations by Netanyahu, have further deepened instability in our region.”
Syria’s foreign ministry condemned strikes launched Friday by Israel on military infrastructure in southern Syria. Israel had said it was acting to protect members of the Druze minority after attacks by government forces.
The foreign ministry said Israel was acting on “flimsy pretexts and fabricated excuses” in a “continuation of its policy of interference in internal affairs with the aim of destabilizing security and stability in the region.” No casualties were reported from the strikes.
In recent days, there have been scattered clashes between Druze groups in Sweida province and Syrian government forces. Last year, armed groups affiliated with Druze leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri clashed with local Bedouin clans, spurring intervention by government forces, which effectively sided with the Bedouins. Hundreds of civilians, mostly Druze, were killed, many by government fighters.
Since then, a group of the militias banded together under al-Hijri, creating a de facto autonomous area in large swaths of the province, with backing from Israel.
A British naval expert says it’s “fanciful” to try to reopen the Strait of Hormuz while fighting still rages.
Trump has criticised other countries for failing to send naval ships to unblock the key oil route, which has been effectively shut by Iran. But Retired Royal Navy Commodore Steve Prest said Friday that “the idea that you could force the strait, even with significant warships and firepower, against a determined enemy … is fanciful.”
Prest, an associate fellow at defense think-tank RUSI, said it’s necessary to degrade Iran’s ability to use missiles, drones, attack craft and mines “to bring the risks down to a tolerable level, even before you start sending warships through the strait.” To restore shipping, “you have to come to a ceasefire. The fighting has to stop and then you can create the necessary conditions of security,” he said.
NATO has pulled its security advisory mission out of Iraq and relocated several hundred personnel involved in the effort to Europe. The move came after a series of attacks from Iran on other troops at British, French and Italian bases in northern Iraq.
NATO’s top commander, Gen Alexus Grynkewich, confirmed that the last troops left on Friday. He thanked the government of Iraq and allies who helped to safely relocate them, as well as the troops involved, calling them “true professionals.”
The non-combat mission was launched in 2018 to advise Iraq’s national security chief, ministries of defense and interior, and police on how to develop and build effective institutions and forces. It has worked mostly around Baghdad.
The mission will now be run from NATO’s headquarters in Naples, Italy.
A strike hit near Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday, close to the hilltop compound home to religious sites revered by Jews and Muslims, marking the danger facing holy sites.
Israel’s military said it was Iranian missile fragments that smashed into a gate on a path toward the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock compound, less than 500 meters away.
The wall and hilltop compound is where Jews believe the ancient biblical temples once stood and Muslims believe Muhammad ascended to heaven. Shrapnel also fell nearby on Monday.
Asked about Trump’s plans for the additional troops, and reports that the administration is considering plans to occupy or blockade Kharg Island, a White House official said that Trump has said he has “no plans” to send troops into Iran, but retains all options and does not broadcast his military strategy.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the US military could “take out Kharg Island at any time.”
Khamenei praises Iranian people, says killing top leaders won.