Iran War Live Updates: Rubio Says U.S. Can Achieve Its Goals Without Ground Troops

Beirut10:48 p.m. March 27 Tel Aviv11:48 p.m. March 27 Tehran12:18 a.m. March 28 Iran War Live Updates: Rubio Says U.S. Can Achieve Its Goals Without Ground Troops Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the war would be over in a matter of weeks as he left a Group of 7 meeting in France. Tehran moved to assert control over the Strait of Hormuz. - Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times - Amit Elkayam for The New York Times - Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times - David Guttenfelder/The New York Times - Reuters - Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times - Associated Press - David Guttenfelder/The New York Times - David Guttenfelder/The New York Times - Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York Times Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that the United States did not need ground troops to succeed in the war in Iran, which he said would end within weeks rather than months, even as Iran moved to assert its control over the critical Strait of Hormuz. Mr. Rubio told reporters in Paris that the United States had not received a formal response from Iran to President Trump’s 15-point plan for ending the war. Mr. Trump has said that peace talks are underway and going well, but Iranian officials have said that contacts between the two countries have been minimal and mostly indirect, not yet amounting to real negotiations. The war continued unabated on Friday, with strikes on industrial and nuclear sites in Iran. Iranian media reported attacks on two nuclear sites, a uranium processing plant and a nuclear research facility, and the Israeli military claimed responsibility for those strikes. Two steel plants and another industrial complex were also hit. Iran threatened to retaliate against industries in the region with American shareholders or ties to Israel. The Pentagon has moved battalions of ground troops to the Middle East recently, spurring speculation about pending operations against Iran, particularly to take control of islands in the Persian Gulf. But Mr. Rubio, speaking after a meeting of Group of 7 foreign ministers, said, “We can achieve all our objectives without ground troops.” Iran said on Friday that it had warned three ships not to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a day after Mr. Trump extended a U.S. deadline for Tehran to reopen the waterway. In retaliation for U.S. and Israeli bombing, Iran has effectively blockaded the strait, a vital conduit for a large part of the world’s oil and natural gas supply, rattling the global economy. At the same time, Iran is moving to establish a system of charging tolls for ships to pass through the strait, which has usually operated as international waters. That is sure to anger nations that rely on that traffic, and Mr. Rubio called the move “illegal.” He reiterated Mr. Trump’s message urging other countries to send warships to help ward off Iranian attacks in the strait. “If those countries are impacted by it, all we’ve said is, you guys need to do something about it,” he said. Here’s what else we’re covering: Food supply: The effects of the war on fertilizer supplies are worsening by the day, and price increases for farmers are threatening to lead to food insecurity in some parts of the world. Read more › Lebanon: In Lebanon, the Israeli military issued fresh evacuation warnings for Beirut’s densely populated southern outskirts, a Hezbollah stronghold, indicating that airstrikes were imminent. More than one million people have been displaced in Lebanon during Israel’s war on Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia, and many have fled to the capital, Beirut, according to the country’s health ministry. Read more › Death tolls: The Human Rights Activists News Agency has reported that more than 1,492 civilians have been killed in Iran, out of more than 3,300 total deaths. More than 1,110 people in Lebanon have been killed, the health ministry there said on Thursday. More than 50 people have been killed in Gulf countries and at least 16 in Iranian attacks on Israel, officials said. The American death toll stands at 13 service members. The stock slump accompanied another move higher for oil prices, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, rising above $112 per barrel, up roughly 55 percent since the war began. It’s a sign of investors dialing down risk ahead of the weekend, wary of further administration-induced volatility when trading resumes on Sunday night. With a 1.7 percent drop on Friday, the S&P 500 stock index notched its worst week since the war began, its fifth straight week of losses. It is now set to record its worst monthly performance since March last year, when inflation worries preceded the sharp tariff-induced sell-off in April. As President Trump publicly laments Europe’s refusal to join the Iran war, European defense officials are privately in advanced and detailed discussions to help secure the waters off Iran’s coast once the war ends, according to two senior European officials briefed on the talks. Threat of Iranian attacks has effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Persian Gulf, through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas are shipped. European leaders have said that they are willing to help protect that shipping once the war ends, but according to the officials, the plans are more advanced than has been publicly revealed. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy. The plans under discussion include: Sending frigates to escort oil tankers and other merchant ships through the strait; Shooting down Iranian drones and missiles, if necessary, with air-defense batteries aboard those escorts; Mounting a show of force, a visible demonstration of military power, to assure skittish shipping companies and their insurers that they will be protected when sailing through the gulf and the strait. France said on Thursday that 35 countries were involved in discussions over a coordinated mission. Britain’s defense ministry said this week it was working with allies and the commercial shipping industry on “a viable plan to safeguard international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.” Britain and France are leading the effort, according to Mark Rutte, NATO’s secretary general. “Actively now, countries are working together,” Mr. Rutte said at the military alliance’s headquarters on Thursday. He said many details had not yet been decided, “given the fact that the war is ongoing.” Mr. Rutte said the effort, which includes non-NATO countries like Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, was committed to “making sure that the sea lanes stay open.” “And this is exactly also to the request of President Trump,” Mr. Rutte said. So far, Mr. Trump has not sounded appeased. “NATO NATIONS HAVE DONE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO HELP WITH THE LUNATIC NATION, NOW MILITARILY DECIMATED, OF IRAN,” he wrote on social media on Thursday. Elon Musk participated in a phone call on Tuesday with President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, an unusual appearance by a private citizen on a call between two heads of state during a wartime crisis. The inclusion of Mr. Musk, confirmed by two U.S. officials, suggests that the world’s richest man is back on better terms with the president. The two men had a falling out last summer following the billionaire’s departure from the government, where he had been tasked with slashing the work force. They appear to have smoothed things over in recent months. The U.S. officials asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. It is unclear why Mr. Musk was on the call or whether he spoke. His companies have taken on significant investment from sovereign wealth funds in countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Mr. Musk has also long coveted a greater commercial presence in India. And SpaceX, his private rocket company, has been considering an initial public offering later this year, which could be thrown into turmoil if global economic conditions worsen. The call, American and Indian officials have said, was about the escalating crisis in the Middle East, and in particular the Iranian military’s control of the Strait of Hormuz, which is critical for the shipping of oil and gas around the globe. The halt to most maritime traffic through the strait has led to surging energy prices worldwide and roiled markets. Some Asian nations are on the verge of having to ration fuel. “Ensuring that the Strait of Hormuz remains open, secure and accessible is essential for the whole world. We agreed to stay in touch regarding efforts towards peace and stability,” Mr. Modi wrote on social media on Tuesday. Neither government mentioned the inclusion of Mr. Musk in the official readouts or interviews. While he helped elect Mr. Trump and played a significant role in cutting the federal bureaucracy last year, Mr. Musk does not have a government position. In the first months of the administration, he had the title of “special government employee” while overseeing a group known as DOGE that tried to make deep cuts to federal operations and spending, which led to tensions between Mr. Musk and other senior Trump aides. Mr. Musk did not return multiple requests for comment this week. The White House declined to comment on Mr. Musk’s inclusion. “President Trump has a great relationship with Prime Minister Modi, and this was a productive conversation,” said Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary. It is relatively rare for the White House to include private citizens on calls between heads of state because sensitive matters involving national security are often discussed. As with many norms, Mr. Trump has chosen his own path on this matter: Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, has no official U.S. government role and yet has been tasked with negotiations in the Middle East, where Mr. Kushner has business interests, and on Russia’s war in Ukraine. On X, the social media platform he owns, Mr. Musk has been relatively quiet on the war in Iran. Last week, in response to a post that questioned why so many countries relied on the Strait of Hormuz as part of their global supply chains, the billionaire wrote: “We got lazy.” A few days later he shared a meme, suggesting that issues with the strait would slow growth in the artificial intelligence industry and hamper general economic advancement. Mr. Musk has looked to India as a potentially lucrative market for his automotive, space and artificial intelligence companies. Tesla, his electric automaker, had previously faced hurdles to selling vehicles in India because of tariffs on foreign manufacturers. Starlink, the satellite internet provider from Mr. Musk’s SpaceX, is awaiting final clearances to operate in the country and is still “pending regulatory approval,” according to a company website. In an interview with Indian television, Mr. Trump’s ambassador to the country, Sergio Gor, described the conversation between Mr. Trump and Mr. Modi as “a very friendly phone call between two world leaders.” Mr. Gor, in his former position as a White House official, was a key player in the chain of events that led to Mr. Musk’s exit from the Trump administration last summer. Mr. Musk steamed about him to friends privately and publicly called Mr. Gor a “snake.” At the start of this year, Mr. Musk posted a photo of him dining with Mr. Trump and Melania Trump, the first lady, on Jan. 3 at the Palm Beach club owned by the president, Mar-a-Lago, and said they had a “lovely dinner.” He wrote: “2026 is going to be amazing!” Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said in a post on social media that Israel had struck two of Iran’s largest steel factories, along with a power plant and what he said were civilian nuclear power sites. Asserting the attacks were carried out in coordination with the United States, Araghchi said the strikes contradicted President Trump’s promise to postpone attacking the country’s power grid to allow for more diplomacy. He threatened that Iran would impose a “heavy price” for the Israeli attacks. When the Tehran home of the late film director Abbas Kiarostami was damaged in a strike earlier this week, amid the U.S.-Israeli military campaign, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry was quick to use the incident to push Iran’s narrative about the war. Was the home of Mr. Kiarostami, “part of the alleged ‘imminent threat’ to the United States?!” asked Esmail Baghaei, the spokesman, in a post on X on Wednesday. “The truth is that this American-Israeli WAR OF WHIMS is not merely against a State — it is against a deep-rooted culture, civilization, and identity.” In his post, Mr. Baghaei praised the director’s work “Taste of Cherry,” the first Iranian film to win a Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, as a “masterpiece.” But Mr. Kiarostami’s son, Ahmad, who lives in California, was quick to fire back, saying in a reply to Mr. Baghaei on X that “Taste of Cherry” had been barred from screening in Iran for years, and he criticized the pressure authorities had put on his father. Mr. Kiarostami, who died in 2016, once exchanged polite cheek kisses with the actress Catherine Deneuve, after receiving the 1997 Cannes Film Festival’s top prize. That earned him the ire of conservatives back home who accused him of violating Islamic precepts barring contact between unmarried men and women. When he arrived back in Iran, “‘brothers’ were waiting for him at the airport to give him a lesson” as punishment, Ahmad Kiarostami said in his post. In a phone interview on Friday, Mr. Kiarostami explained that although “Taste of Cherry” was never entirely banned in Iran, its domestic release was repeatedly delayed, and was eventually screened in only a small number of cinemas for a very short period of time. Mr. Kiarostami recalled that after the furor over the cheek kiss, his father delayed returning to Iran for a few days, and told him that the agent who stamped his passport upon his return had thrown it to the ground in anger, saying, “You’ve disgraced us.” In his post on X on Wednesday, Ahmad Kiarostami was clear about his opposition to the war in Iran, saying it was “destroying ordinary people’s houses and lives.” But, he added, “I’m also strongly against what has been done in our country for decades to get us here. Can I be both?” He said the damage to his father’s home was limited to broken windows, and demanded that Iranian officials refrain from using his father’s name in promoting the government’s agenda. “Keep him out of your rhetoric,” he wrote. “Hopefully that house will outlast those who have brought ruin to our homeland.” Ahmad Kiarostami had earlier posted on his Instagram account descriptions of damage to both his parents’ homes, which are located in the Chizar neighborhood of north Tehran. “I don’t think I’m going to see that house ever in my lifetime again,” he told The New York Times, lamenting both the war and his view that the Iranian government was unlikely to fall. Abbas Kiarostami was one of Iran’s most acclaimed directors. Of the restrictions that artists faced in Iran, he told The New York Times Magazine in 2007 that “it makes them more creative, because art is the one positive thing they can get out of their life in Iran.” The magazine asked him why he had stayed in Iran despite the pressures he had faced. “I like my house,” he replied. “The only place I sleep well is my own room in Iran.” The Arak reactor has been a concern — and a target — for more than a decade. The worry is that Iran could reprocess plutonium left over in the reactor, and use it to produce a plutonium-fueled weapon. But the core of the reactor was removed in January 2016 under the Iran nuclear deal struck between Iran, the Obama administration and European nations. The agreement also committed Iran to redesigning the facility so that it could not make weapons-grade plutonium. It was also bombed in June last year by Israel. On Friday, Iran said airstrikes had hit a heavy water facility in the same complex as the Arak reactor. The Israeli military appears to have made fairly rapid advances into southern Lebanon over the past 24 hours, though they are still operating a few miles from the Israeli border. Israeli forces advanced north past the coastal town of Naqoura on Friday, where U.N. peacekeepers are headquartered, toward the town of Bayada, according to a U.N. official, who requested anonymity to discuss military maneuvers. Hezbollah said in a statement on Friday that it had targeted an Israeli tank in Bayada, which lies around 5 miles from the Israeli border. Photos and videos seen by The New York Times show Israeli troops outside the U.N. base’s perimeter. The Israeli military said it had struck a heavy water plant in Arak in central Iran, describing it as a key facility linked to potential plutonium production. Heavy water — a specialized form of water used as a reactor coolant — is used to run certain nuclear reactors that can produce plutonium, a key material for nuclear weapons. The Israeli military said the strike targeted reconstruction efforts at the site, which had been damaged in last year’s 12-day war between Israel and Iran. Iranian state media had reported earlier in the day that the plant, the Khondab Heavy Water Complex, had been hit. Representative Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, and 26 of his Democratic colleagues demanded on Friday that the Republican chairman of the panel hold a public hearing on the Iran war. So far, Pentagon, State Department and intelligence officials have provided lawmakers only classified briefings, and legislators from both parties have complained about the paucity of information about costs, operations and munition shortages. “We are deeply troubled by the lack of transparency from the Trump administration and the Department of Defense, and its failure to keep the Congress and the American people informed,” the Democrats wrote in a letter. Democrats cannot force senior Trump administration officials to appear, though in both the House and Senate they have sought to compel public hearings since the war began. Republicans have said that classified briefings being held by senior administration officials have been adequate. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has put out a warning on state media that employees of industries in the Persian Gulf with American shareholders, as well as workers at industries allied with Israel, should leave their workplaces. The warning, issued on Friday evening, came after several airstrikes earlier in the day on Iranian industrial sites. The statement said Iranian forces were carrying out retaliatory strikes. Iran’s Parliament is moving to formalize fees for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the portal to the Persian Gulf that is among the world’s most vital waterways, even as it has slowed traffic there nearly to a standstill. Legislation before the Parliament would require vessels transiting the strait to pay tolls under a framework Iranian lawmakers described as asserting Tehran’s “sovereignty, control and oversight” over the passage, according to reports by Fars and Tasnim, two semiofficial news agencies affiliated with Iran’s security forces. Since the U.S.-Israeli attack on Feb. 28, some fees had been charged on an ad hoc basis under what appears to be an informal and selectively applied system. The U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio, on Friday called the toll plan “illegal.” Since Israel and the United States began bombing Iran almost four weeks ago, Iran has effectively closed off the strait with a handful of attacks on ships and warnings that only those with its permission can pass. About one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas normally pass through the strait, so Iran’s threats and attacks on energy facilities around the Gulf have sent global fuel prices soaring, giving Tehran leverage in the conflict. President Trump has threatened to strike Iran’s power plants if Tehran does not fully reopen the strait, and he has pressured other countries — so far unsuccessfully — to send warships to escort commercial vessels through the passage. A report this week by Lloyd’s List Intelligence described what it called a “toll booth” already in effect, with vessels required to seek Iranian clearance to transit. The legislation is expected to be debated in the coming days, the Iranian news agencies said Thursday. In a letter to the United Nations’ maritime organization, Iran said that “nonhostile” ships may pass safely through the strait. Esmail Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, added on Thursday that fees would be collected for safe passage, according to remarks published by Mehr, another semiofficial Iranian news agency. The legal status of the strait is complex. At its narrowest point, less than 30 miles wide, it lies within the territorial waters of Iran and Oman, but under international law it is treated as an international waterway where ships are generally guaranteed passage. Iran has signed but not ratified that framework and has disputed the extent of those rights. Ship traffic through the strait remains at historically low levels amid the de facto blockade. It is estimated that nearly 3,000 vessels are waiting nearby to pass through the strait, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Typically, roughly 120 ships pass through it each day. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said Friday that it had turned back three container ships trying to enter what it described as a designated corridor, declaring that “the Strait of Hormuz is closed” and warning that any unauthorized traffic would face “severe action,” according to a statement carried by Fars. The warning appeared to underscore the gap between Iran’s position and U.S. demands on ending the Middle East conflict, which will soon enter its fifth week. A day earlier, Mr. Trump again extended his deadline for Iran to fully reopen the strait. Mr. Trump made the announcement minutes after the U.S. stock market ended one of its worst days this year. Oil prices rose and stocks fell on Friday morning, despite his decision to back away from the deadline to begin attacking Iran’s power grid. Leily Nikounazar, Joe Rennison and Peter Eavis contributed reporting. Marco Rubio, the American secretary of state, said Iran planned to set up a toll plan to control shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which he called “illegal.” He said he was encouraged by the response of European countries, who were discussing plans to reopen the strait. Speaking to reporters as he left a Group of 7 meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted the United States was not asking European or other countries to take part in the military campaign against Iran. But he said those nations did have an incentive to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. “If those countries are impacted by it, all we’ve said, is you guys need to do something about it,” Rubio said. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States had not received any response from Iran on the Trump administration’s 15-point plan for a cease-fire. He said Iranian officials had not clarified who would take part in the negotiations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in Paris, “We can achieve all our objectives without ground troops” in Iran. Rubio was leaving a meeting of Group of 7 foreign ministers, held outside Paris, where the war in Iran and its effects were important topics. U.S. and Israeli strikes hit several industrial sites across Iran on Friday, including at least two nuclear-related facilities, one in Markazi Province and another in Yazd Province, according to Iranian state media. The claims could not be independently verified. No injuries were reported at the Khondab Heavy Water Complex in Markazi, officials said. Also struck was the Ardakan yellowcake production facility in Yazd, where Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said initial assessments showed there had been no release of radioactive materials. The Defense Department did not put forward a request for funding for the war in Iran during a meeting between Republicans on the House Budget Committee and officials at the Pentagon, a lawmaker said. Representative Jodey Arrington of Texas, the chairman of the panel, said in an interview on Friday that he expects to hear more details soon from the White House and to keep discussing supplemental funding for the war during the coming two-week congressional recess. Asked if he has an understanding of the day-to-day cost of the war, Arrington said: “I wish I did. I know it exists.” The Israeli military has released fresh evacuation warnings for Beirut’s southern outskirts, indicating that airstrikes are imminent. The densely populated area, a Hezbollah stronghold, has largely been emptied in recent weeks, but many residents have been returning intermittently to check on their homes or collect belongings. The roar of Israeli fighter jets can now be heard in the skies above the Lebanese capital, Beirut, putting residents on alert after days of relative calm. Farther south along the border, Israeli ground forces continue their invasion, though for now troops have only advanced a few miles into Lebanese territory. Israel’s defense minister said this week that Israel intends to “control” southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, an area larger than New York City and twice the size of Gaza. The area encompasses nearly 10 percent of Lebanon’s total land mass. One of the biggest economic casualties of the U.S.-led war in Iran has been the global fertilizer supply. Shipments of it have piled up on the wrong side of the Strait of Hormuz. In India, Algeria and Slovakia, fertilizer plants have shut down or slowed their output because of rising natural gas prices. China has restricted fertilizer exports. Australian wheat farmers are planting less, and corn and soy farmers in the United States are begging President Trump for relief. Much of the concern about economic disruptions stemming from the Iran conflict has centered on the higher price of oil and natural gas. But the cascading effects of the conflict on fertilizer supplies are growing worse by the day, raising prices for farmers globally and threatening to lead to food insecurity in some parts of the world. Most fertilizer is made using natural gas. So the energy-rich Middle East has become a key global producer of the commodity, second only to Russia. Nearly a third of the world’s fertilizer is shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, and many other countries that produce their own fertilizer, like Egypt and Thailand, often do so using natural gas from the Middle East. Deepika Thapliyal, a fertilizer specialist at Independent Commodity Intelligence Services, a market information provider, said that the disappearance of such a large portion of the world’s supply had led to a “very big jump” in fertilizer prices. That was leading to ramifications globally, she said, with major agricultural producers like India facing potential shortages. The consequences have been far-reaching, impacting farmers in countries including the United States and Brazil that rely on imported fertilizer. Ms. Thapliyal said those farmers are likely to face higher prices and could be forced to pass those on to their customers. Adding to the pressure: Russia, another major fertilizer producer, was being hampered from stepping in because of drone strikes on its factories and ports from its own yearslong war with Ukraine. “It’s inevitable that food prices will go up,” she said. The World Trade Organization, in a report last week, also warned about the risks to the food supplies of many countries. Persian Gulf states could also face food shortages, given their high dependence on imports for products like rice, corn, soybeans and vegetable oil, the W.T.O. said. In her opening remarks at a W.T.O. conference in Cameroon on Thursday, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the organization’s director-general, said that the conflict had “destabilized trade in energy, fertilizer and food” at a time when governments were already struggling with geopolitical and trade tensions as well as climate pressures. “It is no secret that the world trading system is experiencing the worst disruptions in the past 80 years,” she said. While Mr. Trump has suggested that the Iran conflict will come to a quick end, that seems highly unclear. On Thursday, Mr. Trump said that Iran had promised to let eight oil tankers pass through the Strait as a “show of sincerity,” and that two additional boats had been let through as well. But the day before, Lloyd’s List Intelligence, a maritime information service, said in a briefing that there had been only a handful of transits in recent days, and most of the ships moving oil and gas were connected to a “shadow fleet” that helps move sanctioned oil. The limited traffic that was flowing through the strait was sailing exclusively through a corridor controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, requiring special clearance codes and an Iranian escort service, Lloyd’s List said. Windward, a maritime intelligence firm, said on Thursday that transit through the strait was expanding, but only within a controlled system with “selective access.” The blockages in trade are also threatening supply shortages for other key industries that depend on the Middle East. That includes aluminum, which is used by makers of cars, airplanes and many other products, and helium, which is needed to make semiconductors. The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia all export aluminum, the production of which is energy-intensive, while Qatar is also a significant supplier of helium. Analysts at Blue Yonder, a supply chain company, said that the disruptions in the region had led to delays in shipments of medications and medical supplies from India and of semiconductors and batteries from other parts of Asia, along with other goods. The higher price of oil and gas was also impacting shipping, aviation, agriculture and manufacturing, they said. “We’re seeing a significant disruption in the flow of energy, chemical and other goods, higher freight and insurance costs, and spiraling delays across supply chains,” said Nathan Moffitt, a corporate vice president at Blue Yonder. Suketu Gandhi, a partner at Kearney, a management consultancy, said that he also expected higher transport costs from the conflict to spill through into prices of goods. Rerouting vessels from the Middle East around the Cape of Good Hope at Africa’s southern tip had raised some shipping costs 30 percent to 70 percent in the near term, he said, while higher energy costs would also push up the price of commercial shipping contracts. But of all the economic disruptions caused by the war, the effect on fertilizer could be the most economically far-reaching, given knock-on effects for the global food supply. A research note published this week by Alpine Macro, an investment research firm, said that large parts of Asia were most exposed to the supply shortages, particularly India and Thailand. Europe was also vulnerable. In the United States, where farmers are entering the spring planting season, the disruptions are also pushing up prices. The price of urea rose by 50 percent in the first few weeks of the conflict, it said, and ammonia’s price rose by 20 percent. Both are common fertilizers. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that other major fertilizer exporters are unable to rapidly scale up their shipments to offset losses in the Middle East, in part because the conflict has also raised the price of natural gas, Alpine Macro said. Global agriculture saw a similar shock four years ago, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted the flow of oil, gas and fertilizer. American and European sanctions on Russia and Belarus caused prices of both energy goods and fertilizers to spike, helping to push up global food costs. But that conflict had a more immediate effect on food prices, because it also shut down agricultural production in Ukraine, a major source of wheat, corn and sunflower oil. Shuttered ports in the Black Sea were not able to carry Ukrainian wheat to markets in Africa and the Middle East, and many Ukrainian fields lay fallow. So far, fertilizer prices have yet to climb back to the highs they hit in 2021 and 2022, but it remains to be seen how long the current disruptions last. Many American farmers, who had already seen their margins squeezed by tariff shocks and labor shortages, have purchased fertilizer for the season, but those who haven’t may be hit with higher prices. The United States is a major fertilizer producer globally, but it still imports more fertilizer than it exports, including from Canada, Russia and Qatar. In an effort to help alleviate the price increases, the Trump administration has lifted sanctions on fertilizer sales from Belarus and Venezuela. Farming groups have been pushing for more, including the revocation of duties on phosphate fertilizer from Morocco and Russia. Mr. Trump, speaking to American farmers from the White House on Friday, said the administration would expand loan guarantees for farmers and reduce regulations that he said were raising costs for farms. Chris Abbott, the chief executive of Pivot Bio, a Minnesota-based maker of agricultural products that increase nitrogen in soil, said his company was increasing its production to provide a domestic source of nitrogen. He said that prices were already rising quickly at a time when overall farm commodity prices were lagging, putting the ratio of fertilizer to grain prices at a level not seen in generations. “This is hitting at an already difficult time,” he said. Alan Rappeport contributed reporting. Iran moved to assert its control over the Strait of Hormuz on Friday. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said that it had warned three container ships, including two that are owned by a Chinese company, not to go through the strait. The message, carried by Iran state media, included purported images of tracking data showing three ships being turned around. Two of the ships are owned by the Chinese company COSCO. Marine Traffic also shows that the two Chinese-owned ships, the CSCL Indian Ocean and CSCL Arctic Ocean, had turned around. U.S.-Israeli airstrikes damaged two major steel plants in Iran on Friday, Iran’s state broadcaster reported. The attack on the Mobarakeh Steel plant, in the central city of Isfahan, targeted an electrical substation and a production line, the state broadcaster reported, while the attack on the Khuzestan Steel plant, in the western city of Ahvaz, targeted storage sheds. The U.S. and Israeli militaries did not immediately comment on the reported strikes. Mobarakeh Steel was sanctioned in 2018 by the U.S. Treasury, which said the company was part of a financial empire supporting the Basij, the paramilitary force that answers to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Oil prices rose and stocks fell on Friday morning, despite President Trump’s decision to back away from an imminent deadline to begin attacking Iran’s power grid. The S&P 500 dropped roughly 0.5 percent, on course for its fifth straight week of losses — the longest weekly losing streak for the index in roughly four years. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose more than 2 percent to around $111 per barrel. Hundreds of transport workers in the Philippines went on strike for a second straight day on Friday to protest a surge in fuel prices, days after the country’s president declared a national energy emergency stemming from the war in the Middle East. Protesters in Manila, the capital, said that diesel prices had doubled since the war started on Feb. 28 and demanded that the government of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. take action to reduce fuel prices, increase transport fares and raise wages. The strike, which included drivers of popular passenger vehicles known as jeepneys, forced the government to deploy special buses to transport thousands of stranded residents. The government recently began handing out the equivalent of $84 each to tens of thousands of motorized tricycle and jeepney drivers around the capital. The protests were smaller than some previous labor actions in the Philippines, suggesting that parts of the public recognize that the soaring fuel costs are largely the result of a war thousands of miles away. But striking workers said that the rising prices were painful. Jaime Ricafrente, 72, a jeepney driver for four decades, said that he broke down in tears on Friday after his name was left off a list of drivers eligible for the government’s emergency subsidy. “I felt hopeless, with no one to turn to,” he said. Mr. Ricafrente said that he later received private aid after an appeal for help on the local radio, and that he would spend that money on milk for his grandchild, who lives with him and his wife. On Friday, Mr. Marcos said that the government was seeking alternative sources of crude oil outside of the Middle East. A shipment of 700,000 barrels of Russian crude arrived on Thursday, and the Marcos administration said that it had enough to last through June. But it wasn’t immediately clear how soon that would have an effect on fuel prices. Ruelle Roxas Jr., a 53-year-old driver and father of six, said that he might look for work at construction sites. “I don’t have enough to pay for diesel, which has doubled in price,” he said. The energy crisis has also roiled domestic politics. The left-leaning political group Bayan, which supported the transport workers’ strike, called for sustained demonstrations against the Marcos administration’s handling of the crisis. Raymond Palatino, the group’s secretary general, said that poorer Filipinos bore the heaviest burden. “Most Filipinos are barely surviving due to soaring prices and the general cost-of-living crisis,” he said. Ukraine has signed a defense cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday, laying the groundwork for future contracts in which Ukrainian companies could help the kingdom with its air defenses. “We have reached an important arrangement,” Mr. Zelensky said on social media, adding that Ukraine was ready for long-term cooperation and hoped to become a force in global defense contracting. The signing took place before a meeting on Friday between Mr. Zelensky and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto Saudi ruler. The leaders met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to discuss the escalating tensions in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine. For years, Ukraine has been refining methods for combating Iranian-designed Shahed drones, which Russia launches into the country by the thousands each month. After the United States and Israel began attacking Iran late last month, the Iranian armed forces retaliated by firing these drones at U.S. allies in the region, including Saudi Arabia. To defend against the drones, Middle Eastern countries used costly interceptor missiles. But it became clear that even the most advanced and expensive air defense systems would struggle, over time, to counter large volumes of far cheaper drones. The Iran conflict has given Ukraine an opportunity to showcase its battle-tested technology and present itself as a valuable partner as countries look to shore up their defenses. A number of Ukrainian companies are pursuing deals with Middle Eastern countries, particularly for interceptor drones. That these drones can be remotely piloted has become a central selling point. Officials say that Ukrainian companies would not just sell the hardware but also provide software updates and skilled operators who would work from Ukraine. Ukrainian military experts have been in Saudi Arabia for the past week consulting on air defense. Mr. Zelensky has said Ukraine would like to explore trades with Middle Eastern nations for advanced air-defense systems that the country needs itself. As President Trump claimed progress in talks with Iran, Israeli attacks in Iran continued into Friday. Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, indicated in a statement Friday that the country’s offensive would only intensify. Missile launches toward Israel appear to have intensified. The Israeli military had said that it had detected at least 10 volleys throughout the day on Thursday and four more so far on Friday. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday the Feb. 28 U.S. strike on an elementary school in southern Iran that killed dozens of children was not a mistake, but a “calculated” assault. “They are targeting civilians and civilian infrastructures with no regard for laws of war and basic principles of humanity and civility,” Araghchi said by video to a session of the council focusing on the strike. The New York Times reported this month that a preliminary U.S. investigation had determined that the strike was the result of a targeting mistake. The school building was formerly part of an adjacent Iranian military base that U.S. forces were striking. U.S. officials emphasized that the findings were preliminary and that questions remained about why the outdated information had not been double-checked. The investigation is ongoing. The war in Iran is set to dominate a meeting of top diplomats from the Group of 7 nations on Friday morning in France, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio was expected to press European and Asian allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. An agenda provided by France’s foreign ministry, which is hosting the meeting in the town of Vaux-de-Cernay, near Paris, said the group would discuss efforts to stop the war, end Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile development, and reopen maritime trade routes. Many of the foreign ministers whom Mr. Rubio will meet are from countries that have rebuffed President Trump’s call to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf waterway traversed by a fifth of the world’s oil shipments. In addition to the United States, the Group of 7 comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Britain. Iran’s efforts to choke off the strait have driven up global energy costs, especially affecting Asia, which buys most of the fuel produced in the Gulf. “Very little of our energy comes from the Strait of Hormuz,” Mr. Rubio said on Thursday as he departed for France. “It’s the world that has a great interest in that, so they should step up and deal with it.” Other than Japan, the rest of the Group of 7 nations also belong to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which the Trump administration has criticized for not helping the United States with its war in Iran. “There was a couple of leaders in Europe who said that this was not Europe’s war,” Mr. Rubio said. “Well, Ukraine is not America’s war, and yet we’ve contributed more to that fight than any other country in the world.” European and Asian countries counter that Mr. Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel started the war in Iran without consulting them. Europe also argues that NATO is a defensive alliance that does not traditionally involve itself in the Middle East. European members of the Group of 7 are eager to keep support for Ukraine on the agenda. The French foreign ministry said the meeting would attempt to step up pressure on Russia’s shadow fleet, which has transported sanctioned goods like oil. Earlier this month the Trump administration paused sanctions on some Russian oil in an effort ease the energy crunch. Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, said as she arrived at the meeting on Thursday that European countries wanted an off-ramp to the war in Iran for Ukraine’s sake. “This oil price hike is giving Russia the possibility to fund this war again, which is really not good for the Ukrainians,” she said. Oil prices rose on Friday despite President Trump’s decision to back away from an imminent deadline to begin attacking Iran’s power grid. Global stock markets mostly moved lower. On Thursday, after oil jumped to its highest level this week and the S&P 500 had its biggest daily decline since January, Mr. Trump said he would extend the deadline for negotiations with Iran by 10 days. He has claimed in recent days that he was making progress to end the Middle East war, which has choked critical supplies of energy, despite Iranian officials rebuffing those claims. Oil rises. The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, rose to about $111 on Friday. It jumped roughly 5.7 percent, to $108.01, on Thursday. West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, was just under $97 a barrel. On Thursday, it settled at $94.48. Investors and analysts have been focused on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that is a vital trading route for oil and natural gas that normally carries as much as one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. Price of Brent Crude Oil Stocks fall. The S&P 500 fell at the start of trading on Friday in the United States. The index moved 0.5 percent lower, on course for a drop of around 1 percent for the week. The index is on course for its fifth-straight week of losses for the first time in four years. The war also continues to pressure bond yields, raising concerns over housing affordability and inflation generally. In Europe, stocks were slightly lower. The Stoxx 600, a Pan-European index, fell more than 1 percent. The FTSE 100 in London slipped 0.5 percent. In Asia, stocks also mostly fell. South Korea’s and Taiwan’s fell about 0.5 percent. The Nikkei 225 in Japan dropped 0.4 percent. Stocks in Hong Kong and China closed about 0.5 percent higher. S&P 500 Gasoline prices stayed flat. U.S. gas prices ticked down less than a penny on Friday to remain around a national average of $3.98 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club. It was the first day the price did not increase since the war began, leaving the cost for drivers up 34 percent in that period. Diesel prices have increased even more quickly, rising less than a penny to $5.38, up 43 percent since the start of the war.