Trump says allies should 'start learning how to fight for yourself' over Iran

[0:06] Live from London, this is the Iran War Today on BBC News. [0:10] Over the next 15 minutes, we'll bring you all the key updates on day 32 of the war. [0:16] Well, let's start with today's main developments now. [0:18] President Trump launches another tirade at his allies, telling them to learn to fight for themselves. [0:26] In Lebanon, Israel says its forces will occupy parts of the south as a security zone, even once the war with Hezbollah is over. [0:34] Iranian drone and missile attacks continue across the Gulf, with a giant Kuwaiti oil tanker struck near Dubai. [0:43] Airstrikes on the Iranian city of Esfahan send a massive fireball and plumes of smoke up into the sky. [0:50] This all comes as Israel's prime minister claims the country's military aims are more than halfway complete, [0:56] but doesn't give a timeline for when the war will end. [1:01] Well, Donald Trump seems to be losing patience with America's allies, [1:05] angrily telling countries to fight for themselves, [1:08] and get their own oil from the Strait of Hormuz. [1:11] This impatience has been a familiar theme of the past few weeks, [1:14] with President Trump regularly lashing out at America's closest diplomatic friends. [1:20] Well, now there's concern the U.S. could abandon old alliances altogether if President Trump's demands are not met. [1:27] Well, this was the U.S. Defense Secretary at a Pentagon briefing, doubling down on the president's message. [1:32] Countries around the world who ought to be prepared to step up on this critical waterway as well. [1:39] It's not just the United States Navy. [1:42] Last time I checked, there was supposed to be a big, bad Royal Navy. [1:46] Well, let's speak to our chief North America correspondent, Gary O'Donoghue. [1:49] Gary, how significant is this moment in terms of President Trump's relationship with America's allies? [2:00] Well, it's deteriorating, and it's deteriorating badly, and it's deteriorating fast. [2:06] He continues, as you say, to lash out. [2:09] He also continues to criticize them for not helping, particularly with the Strait of Hormuz, [2:14] where, [2:15] you know, a fifth of the world's oil and gas flows from the Gulf out into the Arabian Sea and to the rest of the world. [2:22] You've seen those pictures of Iran managing, despite being pounded for five weeks, nearly five weeks pounded, [2:30] still able to hit a huge tanker docked in Dubai carrying two billion barrels of oil. [2:36] So his frustration is continuing, and he's directing it particularly at the United Kingdom, [2:44] who, he says, were promised an aircraft carrier, which they didn't, then dismissed the Royal Navy. [2:52] And now the defence secretary also saying there's meant to be some sort of great Royal Navy, and where are they? [2:58] So this wrath is directed particularly at London. [3:04] Ironically, I mean, unbelievably ironically, on the same day, the president says, [3:09] oh, yeah, by the way, here are the dates for when the king plans to visit the US. [3:13] And today, the average. [3:14] Price of gas at the pump top four dollars for the first time in nearly four years. [3:18] So do we think that will be worrying the president? [3:23] Yes, it will. [3:25] Yeah, the cost of living is a thing. [3:27] It's definitely going to be a thing in the elections in November. [3:31] The crazy thing about this four dollar a gallon, it's a it's an it's an average price. [3:35] It's a lot higher in some places. [3:37] Now, some of those places are places like California. [3:39] He doesn't really care about what the price of gas is in in California. [3:43] But in red states, he will care about that. [3:46] And I was down in Alabama the other day and I was talking to a farmer and diesel prices are up even more. [3:52] He was paying something like 50 percent more for diesel per gallon, uses it and his tractors and his trucks, [3:58] his other farm machinery. [4:00] And on top of that, you know, fertilizer, which is one of the products that comes from the Gulf as well, often forgotten. [4:07] Those prices are up four or five hundred dollars a ton. [4:10] And when he comes to spray and look out for his peach trees, which are meant to be blossoming quite. [4:16] Shortly, he's it's costing him a fortune. [4:19] So there's a lot of tolerance in the red states for the president's idea that, look, this is a price we have to pay to get rid of the bad guys. [4:27] A lot of Republicans, mega Republicans do believe that and will take a lot of pain. [4:33] It's just a question of how long they are prepared to take the pain for. [4:37] Gary, thank you. Another familiar refrain we've heard from the Trump administration is that Iran's military capabilities have been decimated. [4:47] Iran continues to retaliate and wreak havoc on its neighbors. [4:51] Strikes and interdictions have been reported in Israel, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. [4:57] Well, this Kuwaiti oil tanker was hit in an air attack off the coast of Dubai, sparking a huge fire which has now been put out. [5:06] Well, our correspondent Laura Gordon is in Dubai and Lorna talk us through the impact of these ongoing attacks in the Gulf. [5:15] Yeah, as you say, Iran is continuing to attack its Gulf neighbors. [5:18] The numbers dip up and down. [5:20] A little daily, but to give you an idea here in the UAE, since this war started, the military say they've engaged with four hundred and twenty five ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles and creeping up towards two thousand drones. [5:37] They say most have been successfully intercepted. [5:41] But, of course, occasionally they get through, not least in that attack on that big super tanker that was 34. [5:50] One miles offshore from Dubai, the Kuwaiti flagged ship was carrying an awful lot of oil. [5:59] There were concerns early on that perhaps there might be an oil spill in the Gulf, but that proved unfounded. [6:07] But the drone attack, which the authorities here say was carried out by Iran, did cause structural damage to the hull of the ship and initially a fire on board. [6:20] None of the crew were fortunately injured. [6:24] But it does give you a sense really of the vulnerability of shipping here in the Gulf and those ships waiting to pass through the strait of Hormuz on a normal day before this war started. [6:37] About one hundred and forty ships would transit that narrow choke point every single day. [6:42] But a BBC analysis suggests that now only a handful are getting through every day. [6:50] Lorna, thank you. [6:52] Well, let's turn now to another front line of the war. [6:56] Israel has said it will destroy all homes in Lebanese villages adjacent to the Israeli border and keep security control of a large swathe of south Lebanon even once its current conflict with Hezbollah ends. [7:09] Well, Israel's defence minister dubbed this area a security zone. [7:14] These pictures were shared on social media and verified by our BBC Verify team. [7:19] It's said to be an Israeli strike on a building near the road. [7:22] Leading to Beirut's main airport. [7:25] Let's speak now to our correspondent, Lina Sinjab, who is in Beirut. [7:29] Lina, what's the situation there and what do people make of Israel's security zone objectives? [7:37] Well, I think the announcement that came today was prepared for over the past three weeks of the war with more Israeli steps taken to declare this area as a buffer zone, as a security zone. [7:54] And people were talking. [7:55] People were talking about eminent occupation of the south and that's what they were worried about. [8:01] And the announcement today came to, you know, confirm their worries and concerns. [8:07] Controlling this area, controlling the south of Lebanon as a security zone and forcing hundreds of thousands to leave this area, even if the war ended, constitute a threat for the residents of the south. [8:24] Even though some have left, were forced to leave, there are still hundreds of thousands inside the south of Lebanon. [8:33] Some, including Christian villages, today came out to make a statement that we're not leaving, we're staying in our towns and villages. [8:41] The Israelis said that they are going to destroy more and more villages and homes across the border, something they've started last week. [8:49] But the announcement to say that they are going to reach towards the Litani River is also a shock for the residents. [8:58] That's even more than 10 percent of the total territory of Lebanon. [9:04] Earlier in the week, the government said that the presence of the Israeli troops on the ground violates the country's sovereignty. [9:13] They called on the international community to help end this conflict. [9:18] They were ready. [9:19] They were ready to negotiate, to have direct negotiations with the Israelis. [9:22] But the Israelis seem to be determined in their objective to eliminate any threats coming from Hezbollah towards north Israel. [9:31] They went even further to say that, and I quote, the 600,000 civilians who've fled will not be able to go back unless the north of Israel is secured. [9:42] And this is really attacking the safety of many people. [9:49] We have three residents who are worried about when they will be able to go back and if this is going to be a lasting occupation like the one that they've lived for 18 years, starting 1982. [10:02] Lina, thank you. [10:04] Let's turn to the human impact of the war now. [10:06] We're now in the 32nd day of this conflict and thousands of people have been killed across the region. [10:13] Millions have been displaced. [10:14] Tens of thousands have been injured. [10:16] In Iran, more than 3,400 people have been killed. [10:20] According to a U.S.-based human rights group. [10:23] In Lebanon, authorities say 1,274 people have now been killed and more than a million have been displaced. [10:29] Israeli authorities have reported 19 deaths, mostly from missile fire. [10:34] At least 100 people have died in Iraq, according to authorities. [10:38] Most of them have been members of the Popular Mobilization Forces, which has links to Iran. [10:43] Across the Gulf states, at least 34 people have been killed, as well as 13 U.S. service members. [10:49] We mentioned the growing death toll. [10:52] And we've also confirmed that there are many people inside of Iran as U.S. and Israeli strikes continue. [10:59] Well, there's been a fresh wave of attacks targeting regime infrastructure in the capital Tehran. [11:04] We've also verified these images of a large explosion in Asfahan, a central Iranian city which is home to several military facilities, including nuclear facilities. [11:13] It's currently very hard to contact people inside the country with an ongoing internet outage imposed by the Islamic regime. [11:20] But some people are paying hefty prices. [11:21] To connect. [11:22] and they've sent messages to our colleagues at BBC Persian about what life there is currently like. [11:28] Take a listen. [11:29] I'm tired and worried. The past few days have been terrible in Tehran. [11:33] It's not just the number of strikes. They sound even more horrific to me. [11:38] I'm starting to lose hope, but it is what it is. [11:41] At some point or another, the war would have happened. [11:44] I had the chance to leave Iran years ago, but I decided to stay and experience these days. [11:50] I sometimes go out during the day when I can, and Tehran is lovely during the spring these days. [11:57] I'm starting to get used to the war. [12:01] Since this war began at the end of February, President Trump has frequently upended the traditional way of doing diplomacy, [12:09] angrily calling out America's allies who he believes are not doing enough to help. [12:13] He's lurched from asking NATO and European allies for help to outwardly accusing them of disloyalty. [12:19] And his growing irritation comes... [12:21] with a threat that the US could abandon its old alliances altogether. [12:26] Our correspondent James Landead explained how important a geopolitical moment this could be. [12:31] As ever with Donald Trump's utterances, you've got to try and work out how significant it actually is. [12:36] Is this just a fairly familiar now expression of frustration that this war is not going how he thought it was [12:43] and that he just wants allies and others to try and sort of sort something out? [12:46] Is it, secondly, a prefiguring of his intentions? [12:51] Is this a signal now, by saying that the allies need to get more involved in opening up the Strait of Hormuz, [12:57] that he is now contemplating declaring victory, withdrawing, without the Strait of Hormuz being reopened? [13:04] Or is it, thirdly, something even more significant that some of your guests have been talking about earlier this afternoon, [13:11] namely a threat to the future transatlantic alliance and an undermining of NATO simply by Donald Trump saying yet again, [13:22] we will remember that the allies did not come to our aid here, in this case, so in the future, [13:28] the suggestion being that the United States will not come to the aid of Europe if, for example, in coming years, [13:33] there were to be further Russian aggression against European allies. [13:37] So as ever with Donald Trump, we have that full panoply of options, an expression of frustration, [13:42] or potentially the beginning of the end of the transatlantic alliance. [13:46] James Landell, whether you're joining us on YouTube, TikTok, sounds, radio or TV, thanks for your time. [13:52] We'll be back at the same time tomorrow with the Iran war today.