PresidentDonald Trump's appeal to China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others to send warships to keep theStrait of Hormuzopen and safe" brought no commitments on Sunday as oil prices soar during theIran war.

Energy prices have soared across the world since Iran responded to the new US-Israeli campaign by threateningshippingthough the Strait of Hormuz, which usually sees passage of 20 percent of global oil and gas exports to the global market.

Trump on Saturday responded by urging "China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK and others" to send ships to escort tankers, while the US military continues to pound drone, boat and missile launch sites in Iran on the north shore.

Read moreTrump urges France, UK, China to help open Strait of Hormuz as Iran war enters its third week

The US presidentdoubled down over the weekend, telling NBC News that he thought Tehran was keen to come to the table but that the US fights on to force better terms.

He said he might, again, bomb targets on Iran's vital oil hub, Kharg Island, "just for fun".

"Iran wants to make a deal, and I don't want to make it because the terms aren't good enough yet," Trump told NBC News.

Iran sees no reason for talks with US

But IranianForeign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday pushed back on Trump's claim, noting that Tehran was not interested in talks with the US.

"We are stable and strong enough. We are only defending our people," Araghchi told CBS's "Face The Nation", in an interview aired Sunday.

"We don't see any reason why we should talk with Americans, because we were talking with them when they decided to attack us," he said, referring to last month's Oman-mediated talks. "There is no good experience talking with Americans," he added.

Iran's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has in a written statement vowed to keep Hormuz closed.

But Trump dismissed this and suggested his foe might not even be in control, saying: "I don't know if he's even alive. So far, nobody has been able to show him."

US allies issue careful statements

Trump's call on US allies to help open the Strait of Hormuz has received tepid responses.

We are intensively looking with our allies at what can be done, because its so important that we get the strait reopened, British Energy SecretaryEd Milibandtold Sky News, adding that ending the war is the best and surest way to do it.

South Koreas Foreign Ministry said it takes note of Trumps call and that it will closely coordinate and carefully review the situation with the US.

Expectations are high that Trump will askJapandirectly when Prime MinisterSanae Takaichimeets him on Thursday at the White House.

A spokesperson for China's embassy to the US, Liu Pengyu, said all parties have the responsibility to ensure stable and unimpeded energy supply and that China would strengthen communication with relevant parties for de-escalation.

Francepreviously said it is working with countries PresidentEmmanuel Macronmentioned partners in Europe, India and other Asian ones on a possible international mission to escort ships through the strait but has stressed it must be when the circumstances permit, when fighting has subsided.

European Union foreign ministers are set to discuss a potential widening of the EU Aspides naval mission to the Strait of Hormuz at a regular meeting scheduled for Monday, the Financial Times reports, citing an official with knowledge of ongoing discussions.

An EU-UN joint naval mission to ensure safe passage "seems more likely" than EU countries approaching Iran bilaterally, the FT report quoted the official as saying.

The EU's main naval activities in the region centre on Aspides, aRed Seanaval mission launched in 2024 to guard vessels from attack by Iran-aligned Houthis.

But German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said he was sceptical about a potential widening of the Aspides naval mission to the Strait of Hormuz.

Wadephul said that the mission to help commercial shipments pass through the Red Sea was "not effective".

"And that is why I am very sceptical that extending Aspides to the Strait of Hormuz would provide greater security," he said in an interview on Germany's ARD broadcaster.

Tehran cafes reopen

Despite the hardline talk from all sides, residents of Tehran were able to go about their work week in the most normal atmosphere since the start of the war on February 28.

Traffic was busier than last week and some cafes and restaurants had reopened.

One resident whizzed down the street on an electric hoverboard, and more than a third of stalls in the Tajrish bazaar, a popular shopping hub in the north of the capital, had reopened, five days beforeNowruz, the Persian New Year.

Some shoppers queued at ATMs to withdraw cash. Online operations at Bank Melli, one of the country's largest, had been paralysed in recent days.

Gulf countries report new attacks

Gulf countries reported new attacks Sunday morning, a day after Iran called for the evacuation of three major ports in theUnited Arab Emirates, threatening for the first time a neighboring countrys non-US assets.

The Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait, hosting Italian and US forces, was targeted in a drone attack, but all its personnel are safe, said Italy's military.

"This morning, Ali Al Salem base in Kuwait, which hosts American and Italian personnel and capabilities, was the target of a drone attack," Chief of the Defence General Staff General Luciano Portolano said in a statement posted by the military on X.

It "hit a shelter housing a remotely piloted aircraft of the Italian Task Force Air (TFA), which was destroyed", said the statement. "At the time of the attack, all personnel were safe and uninjured."

Lebanon death toll rises to 850

Lebanon's health ministry on Sunday said Israeli attacks have killed 850 people in the country during two weeks of war between Israel andHezbollah.

The ministry statement said the toll included 66 women, 107 children and 32 health workers, with 2,105 other people wounded.

In just 10 days, more than 800,000 people nearly one out of every seven residents of Lebanon have been displaced.

In Israel, 12 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire and more have been injured, including three on Sunday. At least 13US militarymembers have been killed; six in a plane crash in Iraq last week.

Israel said it continued to strike Iran. Iran fired missiles towards Israel.

Several strikes hit centralIsraeland the Tel Aviv area, where they caused damage at 23 sites and sparked a small fire. Magen David Adom, Israels rescue service, released video showing a large crater in a street and shrapnel damage to an apartment building.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)

Originally published on France24