Iran war: Germany firmly against military role in conflict

We've seen a number of US partners, including Germany, say they weren't going to send ships to the Strait of Hormuz.

President Donald Trump demanded that countries help reopen the vital shipping lane that has effectively remained closed since the start of the Iran war because of the threat of Iranian fire.

The Lebanese government also said that more than a million people had now been displaced in Lebanon because of Israel's offensive against Hezbollah.

We'll have more soon on our live coverage to cover developments on March 17.

President Donald Trump says he has asked to delay his upcoming trip to China and meeting with President Xi Jinping because of the war.

Speaking at the White House, Trump said he wants to remain in Washington, saying, "I want to be here... I have to be here, I feel."

The trip had been scheduled for March 31 to April 2. Trump said, "We've requested that we delay it a month or so," adding that staying in the US is important as his administration manages the crisis.

There was no immediate reaction from Beijing.

Oil prices dropped on Monday, driving Wall Street to its strongest day since the war in Iran began.

The S&P 500 rose 1%, the Dow gained 387 points, and the Nasdaq climbed more than 1.2%.

The drop came as US crude fell more than 5% to just under $94 a barrel, after briefly topping $102 earlier in the day. Brent crude also retreated, easing back to about $100.

It is a temporary reprieve after prices surged from around $70 when US and Israeli strikes on Iran began. Iran has since choked off traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world's oil normally passes.

Traders remain wary: a prolonged closure could keep oil off global markets and push inflation sharply higher.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un will be watching the US-Israeli war against Iran closely. Jeongmin Kim explains why and what lessons Kim Jong Un will draw from the conflict about being a nuclear state and regime survival.

The US military has said that around 200 US soldiers have been wounded since the beginning of the US-Israel war against Iran that began just over two weeks ago.

"The vast majority of these injuries have been minor, and more than 180 troops have already returned to duty," while "10 are categorized as seriously wounded," Tim Hawkins, spokesperson for US Central Command, said.

Hawkins added that the injuries were incurred in several countries, including: Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The number of wounded soldiers was up from the figure of around 140 given by the Pentagon on March 10.

A total of 13 US soldiers have been killed — seven in attacks and six in a plane crash in Iraq.

"A significant Israeli ground offensive would have devastating humanitarian consequences and could lead to a protracted conflict," Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Britain said in a joint statement.

"It must be averted," they added.

Israel's military launched what it called a "limited" ground operation against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Monday. It is part of ongoing operations against the Iran-backed group that have included a campaign of aerial bombardment since early March.

"We are gravely concerned by the escalating violence in Lebanon and call for meaningful engagement by Israeli and Lebanese representatives to negotiate a sustainable political solution," the five countries said in their statement.

"We strongly support initiatives to facilitate talks and urge for immediate de-escalation."

More than a million people have been displaced across Lebanon as Israeli ground operations expand, sharply worsening humanitarian conditions, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC) said Monday.

Shawky Amine Eddine, the ICRC's Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator in Lebanon, said displacement has surged from the south, the southern suburbs of Beirut and the Bekaa region.

"Only 120,000 or 130,000 are accommodated in shelters," he told DW. "The rest are either trying to find places with friends, with families, members or even taking the road at the seaside or even trying to sleep in parkings or in their cars."

Lebanon was drawn into the Iran war on March 2 when Tehran‑backed Hezbollah attacked Israel after the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.

Lebanese authorities have reported at least 1,886 deaths and more than 2,100 injuries, but Eddine warned the figures "do not even capture the humanitarian situation in which the affected population is living."

Many people have been uprooted multiple times in two years, he said, describing scenes of families enduring storms while sleeping outside. "The humanitarian situation is heartbreaking."

Eddine said the Israeli military's shift to ground operations will "definitely result in further displacement and increase the humanitarian needs."

"That's why in any situation and in any escalation, the main priority should be to protect the humanitarian civil population and the civilian infrastructure," he added.

Despite security risks, the ICRC remains fully operational, supporting hospitals with medical supplies, oxygen and fuel.

"The humanitarian needs in Lebanon are immense," he said.

"The International Committee of the Red Cross, as well as other partners, including the Lebanese Red Cross and other humanitarian actors are doing our best to try to respond to the needs, but probably the most challenging thing is the scale and the scope of the needs that cannot be covered by a single agency," he added.

Baghdad's Al Rasheed Hotel located in the city's Green Zone has been hit in a drone attack, Reuters and AFP news agencies reported. 

The agencies said fire and smoke were seen coming out of the building. 

Security sources said the drone was targeting the US embassy.

The luxurious hotel was popular with media during the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. 

Israel's strike on Tehran's Evin Prison last year amounted to a war crime, according to UN human rights experts reporting to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

They say the June 2025 airstrikes, which killed around 80 people, targeted a civilian facility rather than a military site.

"We found reasonable grounds to believe that, in carrying out the airstrikes on Evin prison, Israel committed the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against a civilian object...," Sara Hossain, chair of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, told the council.

The experts based their conclusion on interviews with victims and witnesses, satellite imagery and other documents presented to the council.

Israel did not immediately react to the experts' assessment. 

Hossain also accused Iranian authorities of committing crimes against humanity, citing murder, torture, arbitrary detention, sexual violence and the systematic persecution of women.

She warned of further risks of repression due to the current US-Israel war in Iran.

"The Iranian people are caught between a large-scale military campaign by two countries, the US and Israel, and ongoing repression by their own government in Iran," she said.

Over 800,000 people have reportedly been displaced in Lebanon as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensifies.

Some fear this is only the start. DW met families living on the streets and in makeshift shelters.

President Donald Trump said he believes Tehran wants to negotiate an end to the US-Israeli war with Iran but it remains unclear who is actually in charge.

"We don't know who their leader is. We have people wanting to negotiate. We have no idea who they are," Trump told reporters during a White House event.

He said intermediaries have approached Washington without clear authority.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the early strikes of the war.

His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was named his successor, but he has not appeared in public.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week the new leader may have been wounded, and Trump repeated unconfirmed reports that he is severely injured or possibly dead.

Far from the battlefield, gas shortages are causing long queues and mounting frustration as people line up with empty LPG cylinders in New Delhi. 

US President Donald Trump's demand for European allies to help secure the passage of oil and gas tankers through the Strait of Hormuz was a major talking point at today's meeting of European Union foreign affairs ministers in Brussels.

But Europeans are generally unwilling to help secure the Strait of Hormuz.

Read DW's full report on the rising tensions between the US and EU over the war in Iran.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the US-Israel war with Iran is "not Europe's war."

Kallas said there is a "clear wish" from EU foreign ministers in Brussels to strengthen the EU Aspides naval mission in the Middle East.

The Aspides mission was launched in 2024 after the Iran-backed Houthis group in Yemen began attacking ships in the Red Sea.

However, Kallas said there was no interest from ministers in Brussels "in changing the mandate of the operation" such as expanding it to the Strait of Hormuz. 

She also said that Russia "stands to gain from higher energy prices and diversion of air defense from Ukraine to the Middle East." 

President Donald Trump lashed out at NATO allies, criticizing what he said was their reluctance to help the US secure the Strait of Hormuz.

"They should be jumping to help us," he said in response to a reporter's question, asking, "Why are we protecting countries when they do not protect us?"

In his prepared remarks, Trump again urged countries to send ships to secure the Strait of Hormuz, though he avoided naming allies that were unwilling to take part.

When he later took questions from journalists, he sharpened his criticism, saying some NATO allies are lukewarm to the idea.

"We don't need anybody," he said, despite earlier saying, "We want them to come and help of us with the strait."

Trump said he made the request because he "wanted to see how they [allies] will react." He added that "We have been protecting these countries for years with NATO, because NATO is US."

Trump said he had talked with French President Emmanuel Macron about it and his response had been "an eight, not perfect."

"I think he's going to help," Trump said

He also again slammed the United Kingdom for refusing to join the war against Iran, saying, "We worked with them in Ukraine, we don't need to work with them."