President Donald Trump warns US will hit Iran 'very hard' in coming days | BBC News

Hello, I'm Marian Masheri live from the Qatari capital Doha. It's day 14 of the USIsrael war with Iran. Over the next 30 minutes, we'll bring you our special

program looking at the key developments from today and the first two weeks of the war. The US threatens to ramp up air

the war. The US threatens to ramp up air attacks once again. Israel carries out a fresh wave of strikes with blasts heard in Tehran.

Israel pounds Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, expanding the scale of its bombing campaign while forcing hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes.

Iran continues to threaten its neighbors with drone attacks causing chaos in the region. This was the scene in Dubai's

region. This was the scene in Dubai's financial hub a few hours ago.

Six members of the US military are killed after a refueling plane crashes in western Iraq.

And a remarkable policy U-turn. The US

loosened sanctions on Russian oil as security fears grow over one of the world's most important shipping routes.

Well, over the coming minutes, we'll be live with our correspondents across the region and around the world. We'll have

analysis from our specialists in our London newsroom.

Well, as we take a look at the defining moments of a second week of war and the impact it's all having on the world.

Well, let's start with that US warning of another lethal day in the war as Defense Secretary Pete Hexes threatened to launch the highest volume of strikes

yet with the aim of decimating Iran's military. Speaking at the Pentagon, Pete

military. Speaking at the Pentagon, Pete Hex said attacks would keep escalating.

>> From day one, as our nation expects and the president demands, our warriors have fought with lethality, precision, and rapid innovation. In fact, today will be

rapid innovation. In fact, today will be yet again the highest volume of strikes that America has put over the skies of Iran and Tyrron. The number of sorties and number of bomber pulses, the highest

yet, ramping up and only up.

>> Let's speak now to Sumi Suscandanda. And

Sumi, what's the Trump administration's view of how this war is unfolding?

>> Marian, we've been hearing again from President Trump today that he sees this US military mission in Iran as a complete success. Yet at the same time,

complete success. Yet at the same time, the picture of when President Trump sees this war coming to an end is still very much unclear. Also, the picture of how

much unclear. Also, the picture of how the Trump administration plans to deal with the straight of Hormuz being blocked by Iran and also uh those strikes on Gulf nations that are allies

of the US. Now, President Trump did speak to Fox News in an interview earlier today. He said that Iran's navy,

earlier today. He said that Iran's navy, its air force have been obliterated, that its missile program uh and its missile launchers have been nearly obliterated. He also talked about

obliterated. He also talked about efforts to damage and destroy Iran's drone program, as you've been mentioning in the program already. Uh we know that those drones have been used in attacks

on those Gulf nations across the region.

And he did say, I'll just quote him. He

said, "We've already damaged them so badly, it would take years for them to ever rebuild, and we're going to be hitting them very hard over the next week." So, Miriam, that gives us a bit

week." So, Miriam, that gives us a bit of a time scale there. But when he was asked about when the war would end, he said, "When I feel it, feel it in my bones." So, that might give us some sort

bones." So, that might give us some sort of indication that the president right now uh clearly not ready to say this war is over. the mission has been completed

is over. the mission has been completed but at the same time saying that the US has largely achieved what at this moment appears to be the objectives

and Sumi where is public sentiment on the war right now.

>> We do have a number of polls that have come out in the last uh 5 days or so and most of them indicate that the majority of Americans do not support this war.

Many of them indicating that they believe this war could make Americans less safe. Of course, there's also the

less safe. Of course, there's also the concern over rising oil prices because of the instability in oil and gas markets. And that is something that is

markets. And that is something that is driving up prices at the pump here in the US, something that voters are not particularly happy about. And I found it particularly interesting to see a poll

from the New York Times that compared popular opinion on wars that America has been involved in over several decades now, including Afghanistan and Iraq. And

looking at that, this was the least popular war that the US has been involved in uh at this point. So it's

hard to say uh where that will head. If

this war comes to a swift end, that could change, Mariam, but the opinion at the moment is not in support.

Sumi, thank you. Well, Pete Hexth said that Iran now has no functioning air force, air defense, or navy, and that its missile supplies are down by 90%.

But Iran has continued to send drones at its neighbors, the oilrich Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Well, joining me now is

Arab Emirates. Well, joining me now is Mikey Kay, military analyst for the security briefer. Mikey, almost two

security briefer. Mikey, almost two weeks into the war, where do things stand in terms of the military campaign?

Mariam. Yeah. Hi. For me, the the story of this entire war so far is all about costbenefit ratios. If we look at Iran's

costbenefit ratios. If we look at Iran's asymmetric threat, for example, and what I mean by asymmetry is lowcost, mass-roduced, and very simple military

capability that isn't necessarily designed to destroy, but rather damage or degrade in order to provide longevity to draw the war out. This is where it's

at. So what do I mean by asymmetric

at. So what do I mean by asymmetric threat? We can take a look at here some

threat? We can take a look at here some of Iran's asymmetric threats. They got

go fast. Go fast means basically fast attack craft. Very agile, very nimble.

attack craft. Very agile, very nimble.

Here we go. We can see it on screen. Uh

and quite hard to detect, especially Mariam when they're in swarms. Um if we look at the Shahed 136 threat, uh this is a drone. I think we've got a picture

here of the drone. It's about $35,000.

It can travel at 120 mph. And again, as a singleton aircraft, um, then you you're looking at something that's quite easy to take out. If you're

looking at swarms of aircraft, it becomes much more problematic. And then,

Mar, we've obviously got the issue of mines, not very sophisticated, but if mines are put in the water, wherever it is, whether it's in the Gulf of Oman or the Persian Gulf or around K Island,

it's then up to the US to be able to determine whether there are mines there or not. And that is very uh time um

or not. And that is very uh time um manpower and uh sophistication resources that actually go into that. If we look so that basically is an example of a low

cost benefit ratio. If we look at a high cost benefit ratio, we can see the cost that it actually requires in order to try and take out these threats. You're

looking at things like a $35,000 ahead with a 4 million Patriot missile.

Looking at a terminal high air defense missile, that's 13 million. and then an advanced short-range air-to-air missile.

That's 300,000. But that requires an aircraft in the air. It requires a tanker to refuel the aircraft. So, it's

not just about a $300,000 missile. It's

about the support network that it cost in order to get that missile off, which is taking out of shahed. So, the

costbenefit ratios, Mariam, for me, are the principal thing here that the Trump administration have to take into account when they're talking about victory and

not drawing this war out.

Mikey, great insight. Thank you. Well,

it's been a massively volatile week for the world economy. With oil prices fluctuating wildly as Iran threatened the security of those ships passing through the straight of Hormuz in a bit to restore calm to the global energy

market, the US has made a remarkable policy U-turn, loosening sanctions on Russian oil. Well, Fisel Islam is our

Russian oil. Well, Fisel Islam is our economics editor. Fiser, looking back on

economics editor. Fiser, looking back on what's been a volatile week for the global markets, will this latest move be enough?

>> Well, it is an extraordinary move, as you say, uh President Putin uh benefiting um frankly from the lock in of ships and of oil production and gas

production uh in the Gulf. Uh and it does seem as if uh Russia does uh it will benefit in terms of revenues.

There's tens of millions of barrels of oil uh in the Russian shadow fleet uh on the high seas and it's purchases from that uh that are going to be kind of

permitted temporarily for a month I think in the markets some expectation that that might be extended in some way.

Uh other world leaders including of course Vladimir Zilinski of Ukraine but also Friedri Merz the chancellor of Germany have criticized the move as essentially rewarding uh the Russians at

a time when these sanctions were designed to pressurize them to to stop the war in Ukraine. Uh but nonetheless it hasn't hugely impacted on the price

of crude oil that actually has gone up uh today. probably the bigger impact on

uh today. probably the bigger impact on the oil markets today has been I think the sense from the press conference that you've just been talking about from the defense secretary Pete Hexith that there

is going to be a further intensification of this war with Iran. Um what the oil market is looking for is when if you like the the lock in of of tens of millions of barrels of oil in the Gulf

when that is going to end and the idea that this will continue for weeks several weeks is probably the determining factor that being passed on in petrol prices around the world in jet

fuel prices but also impacting uh markets for sulfur impact impacting markets for fertilizer to through your your rea um so problematic in terms of

this wave of inflation. still emanating

from the Gulf and going around the world and $100 barrel of oil is back again uh and looks set to stay uh for some time

yet.

Fisel, thank you. Well, as you might expect, the decision to ease sanctions on countries buying Russian oil has been welcomed by the Kremlin, but to spark

deep concern among Ukrainians. Let's go

to James Landale in Kiev. And James,

how's the war being viewed by the governments of Russia and Ukraine right now?

>> Well, not surprisingly, Miriam, the Russians are sort of rather unexpectedly looking up at the moment. Uh because as Fiser just explained, uh their coffers

the in the Kremlin are going to be filling much faster than they anticipate and that means that they will be able to buy more weapons, more drones to threaten the skies above me in coming

months. In recent months and weeks, the

months. In recent months and weeks, the Russians had been slightly on the back foot that they, you know, they were struggling financially. They were

struggling financially. They were struggling to recruit enough soldiers to deal to compensate for the huge casualties that they are still suffering on an almost daily basis. About a

thousand casualties every day. Getting

this money now will be an unexpend unexpected windfall and will effectively get Russia off the hook. In terms of the Ukrainians, well, there's, I have to say, blinking slightly at the moment. On

the one hand, you've got this massive war in the Middle East that's distracting the world from supporting them here in this conflict. They know

that in the far in the Middle East, an awful lot of air defense missiles are being fired off and that's going to make it much harder for them to come here to protect these skies. The one sort of

shaft of light, if you may like it, for the Ukrainians is this simple fact.

Ukraine is a world leader on cheap interceptor drones to defend countries against incoming Iranian designed shahids. And that means that Gulf

shahids. And that means that Gulf countries, the Europeans and the Americans are knocking on Ukraine's door saying, "Give us your drones. Give us

your expertise." What that does is that gives President Zilinski and the Ukrainian government and in a way of staying relevant to the conversation and

catching global attention. So a mixed view at the moment.

James, thank you. Well, Iran faces a wave of fresh strikes as US Defense Secretary Pete Hexath claims the new Supreme Leader is likely wounded and

disfigured. Despite issuing a statement

disfigured. Despite issuing a statement yesterday, the Iranian leader has not appeared in public since assuming the country's top post. Well, plenty of people on the BBC's YouTube account have

been asking what we can read into the fact we haven't seen him. BBC Persian

and our teams in the Middle East have gathered messages from Iranians inside the country reacting to the Supreme Leader's first message. They've been

voiced by our colleagues.

>> It was surprising he did not release even a voice message. And to me, it raised some serious doubts about his condition rather than bringing any clarity.

>> I don't even think it was his message. I

think it shows that control of the country is in the hands of the Islamic revolutionary guards. I think the

revolutionary guards. I think the message proved that in many ways the Islamic Republic no matter who its leader will always stick to its own beliefs. So the world should know that

beliefs. So the world should know that it can never deal with this regime.

>> Let's get some more analysis now from our correspondent Siovash Adelan.

Siovash, what are you hearing from people on the ground inside Iran?

Well, in terms of uh where the supreme leader is or the state of his health is exactly as we heard from the voiceovers we had from inside Iran. But in terms of

the attacks, what the US defense secretary said today that tonight is going to be the most intense attacks that we've destroyed their navy, destroyed their air force, 90% of their ballistic missiles and so on. This is

exactly what he said yesterday and the day before and the day before that. So

for many Iranians, this war is more about regime change than anything else.

It's not about nuclear programs. It's not about ballistic missiles. If you're

a pro-regime supporter, it's about how long the regime can resist, how long it can endure these attacks. And if you're an opponent of the regime, you're hoping that these attacks might lead to regime

change. So many Iranians as the war pro

change. So many Iranians as the war pro progresses and every night they're seeing this intense attacks just on military infrastructure leaving them wondering where this all is going to end

and whether there's anything better to come. If they're a opponent of the

come. If they're a opponent of the regime hoping that when will the moment come when Israel and the US would say okay people of Iran over to you now it's

safe for you to go out in the street and protest and overthrow the regime. a

prospect that many Iranians are now questioning given that the uh regime seems quite resilient and uh quite

resistant to these bomb attacks as far as is concerned existentially sash. Thank you. Well, while the Israeli

sash. Thank you. Well, while the Israeli military is continuing its strikes on Iran and Lebanon, the country is facing attacks on its own territory with Tel Aviv and other areas in the north

targeted by Iranian missile strikes.

Let's go to Jerusalem and our correspondent John Donison who is there for us. And John, two weeks in, what is

for us. And John, two weeks in, what is the view from Israel on how the war is unfolding?

Well, I thought your military analyst earlier gave some fascinating analysis really because he's right. This is an asymmetric conflict. So, for two weeks,

asymmetric conflict. So, for two weeks, as you say, Israel has been pounding Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon. And you

can see the asymmetry in terms of the casualties in those countries and the damage that Israel is inflicting. But

the Iranians are using what they have efficiently and effectively and they have clearly succeeded in making this a regional conflict. Now, in terms of how

regional conflict. Now, in terms of how Israel's being hit with Iran and Hezbollah Ba's retaliation, again, Israel has an incredibly effective air

defense system. Most of these missiles

defense system. Most of these missiles are being shot down. So, there has been relatively limited casualties here and relatively limited damage. But there is a psychological impact on Israelis who

have been living through war for the last two years. You know, people are waking up in the night with their kids fearful, the sirens going off. So, if

this war goes on longer, this the support, which I think Prime Minister Netanyahu has, it could begin to dwindle. And the question for the Prime

dwindle. And the question for the Prime Minister of Israel, I think, is well, look, they might be winning militarily, but what's the endgame? He has said

again last night that he wants regime change in Iran and he expects and hopes the Iranian people will rise up to topple the government. Well, there's no sign of that happening yet. And if it

doesn't happen and if we remain with a similar regime in place, albeit with a different supreme leader, then we could just find ourselves in this situation in what one two years time. Again,

>> John, thank you.

Well, Israel says it's expanding the scale and scope of its bombing campaign against the Iranbacked militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. The

conflict has forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes and the Lebanese health ministry says that 773 people have been killed by Israeli strikes. Our correspondent W

Israeli strikes. Our correspondent W Davis is in Beirut and has more.

>> Israel has today dropped hundreds of these leaflets, these two-sided leaflets over Beirut. Interestingly, not over

over Beirut. Interestingly, not over parts of the city that are known to be particularly loyal to Hezbollah. And

these leaflets are looking to capitalize on the quite obvious divisions in Lebanese society about the ongoing war with Israel. This leaflet urges people

with Israel. This leaflet urges people to perhaps come up with information that might ultimately lead to the disarmament of Hezbollah. Even gives a a QR code

of Hezbollah. Even gives a a QR code that people can scan. But interestingly,

this, like many leaflets we've seen, has been ripped and people are being told not to scan the QR codes. And most

people we've been speaking to don't really think much about these at all.

>> If they wanted this to affect us, it would have long ago. No matter what they do, we remain steadfast, working, carrying on with our lives, and earning our livelihood.

>> We were sitting when we heard a very loud sound, like a strike. We looked up and saw two batches of leaflets being dropped. One in front of us and another

dropped. One in front of us and another further ahead. There were a lot. You

further ahead. There were a lot. You

could say about the size of a car.

That's how many there were.

>> Well, the impact of the war continues to be felt across the Middle East. The US

has confirmed that all six servicemen on board a plane that crashed in western Iraq yesterday died in that incident, which was not a result of hostile or friendly fire.

Well, joining me now from Iraqi Kurdistan, the capital of uh uh uh Bill, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan is our Middle East correspondent, Hugo Bacha.

Hugo, just fill us in on what more we know about that incident.

>> Yeah, Mariam. So uh the US military is saying that the circumstances of this incident are still under investigation but as you say they also uh said that

this was not the result of uh enemy or friendly fire. Now this happened in

friendly fire. Now this happened in western Iraq a second aircraft was involved in this incident. It landed

safely. So I think here the possibility is that this was a midair collision.

Now, this means that at least 13 US service members have been killed since the beginning of the war. Now, here in northern Iraq, a French soldier was killed in a drone attack that President

Mron described as unacceptable. Now,

this is the latest attack involving international forces based in this part of Iraq. France, the UK, the US, a

of Iraq. France, the UK, the US, a number of countries are based here as part of the international coalition fighting the Islamic State group. And

today Italy said it would pull out its troops from Iraq uh after their base was hit in a separate attack. Now these

attacks by Iran by uh Iranianbacked militias in Iraq have intensified uh since the beginning of the war. And here

in Urbil we've seen in recent days a number of drones be being intercepted.

And a key target has been the airport where the US military base is located.

And that's one of the reasons why the airport here remains closed.

Hugo, thank you. Some other developments now to bring you from today. Questions

mount for the Secretary of Defense Pete Hexf over possible US involvement in the strike on an Iranian school which killed 168 people, including 110 children. Mr.

Hexf said today that the US military has designated an officer to complete a probe on the strike.

Iran continues to attack its neighbors in the region. A skyscraper in Dubai is hit by debris from an intercepted drone.

Officials say it caused minor damage to the facade of the building.

Met police say conditions have been imposed on the Aludday protest and counterprotest in London this weekend.

Marches will be banned with both demonstrations limited to separate fixed areas on either side of the rivers.

Next month's Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Formula 1 Grand Prix have set to be cancelled over the weekend due to the conflict in the Middle East. An official

announcement is expected by Monday with the March 20th deadline looming for freight that has to be transported to Bahrain.

Well, tomorrow marks two weeks since the start of this conflict. Two weeks since that rallying cry from President Trump to Iranian protesters to take over the government. Well, two weeks in, that now

government. Well, two weeks in, that now looks like an increasingly remote prospect. To the Americans, this is

prospect. To the Americans, this is Operation Epic Fury. But much of that anger has come from somewhere the Americans didn't expect. Its allies here

in the Gulf States, like Qatar, where I am now, they've become embroiled in a war they were desperate to avoid. and

their anger is pointed squarely at Iran whose attacks are doing so much damage here. And what about Iran itself? Well,

here. And what about Iran itself? Well,

we heard today of the increasing pain and anger of those living there.

Arguably, of all the countries involved in this conflict, it was the most prepared. Years of being part of the

prepared. Years of being part of the so-called axis of evil has taught this pariah state to be ready for any eventuality. and the strategy so far of

eventuality. and the strategy so far of causing as much havoc as possible has helped prolong the conflict. The regime

in Iran is far more emboldened and resilient than anyone could have predicted. What is clear though is that

predicted. What is clear though is that the repercussions of this war are increasingly complex and unpredictable.

And what happens over the next two weeks will have lasting implications for the Middle East and indeed the wider world.

Well, whether you're joining us on YouTube, on Tik Tok, on sounds, radio, or TV, thanks so much for your time.

We're back at the same time tomorrow with the Iran War today.