By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers

Fire engulfs USS Gerald R Ford

While China said on March 17 it will provide humanitarian assistance to Middle Eastern countries, including Iran, targeted in US and Israeli strikes in the conflict now in its third week.

Amid a raging war in West Asia and US warship deployment around Iran, a massive fire broke out aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford, the New York Times reported. It also said that it took more than 30 hours to extinguish the blaze and left at least 600 sailors and crew members without their bunks. The report stated that the blaze began in the ship’s main laundry facility, then spread into the vent of a dryer, and then spread through ventilation ducts into several other parts of the vessel. The fire was brought under control after sailors' continuous attempts for over a day. The cause of the fire is still not known, but Central Command said that the fire caused "no damage to the ship’s propulsion plant, and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational.”

 

‘This Is Not Our War’

U.S. efforts to safeguard the Strait of Hormuz have so far failed, forcing Trump to seek assistance. “It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the Strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump said on Sunday. The White House has reportedly asked China, France, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, as well as NATO as a whole, to join a “team effort” to reopen the choke point. Europe, in particular, possesses more minesweepers than the United States, making the continent a vital ally.

But Trump’s request has been largely rebuffed. What does Trump “expect a handful or two handfuls of European frigates to do in the Strait of Hormuz that the powerful U.S. Navy cannot do?” German ​Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Monday. “This is not our war. We have not started it.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reiterated that stance later Monday, saying, “NATO is a defensive alliance, not an interventionist one. And that is precisely why NATO has no place here at all.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that London “will not be drawn into the wider war.” Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares warned that “we mustn’t do anything that ​would add even more tension or cause ​the ⁠situation to escalate further.” And Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani stressed that European Union naval missions in the Red Sea will not be expanded to include the Strait of Hormuz.

Outside of Europe, the reaction has been similar. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian reaffirmed Beijing’s neutral stance on Monday, calling on “relevant parties to immediately stop military operations.” And Australian Transportation Minister Catherine King preemptively confirmed that Canberra will not be sending a ship to Hormuz.

Only Denmark appeared open to the possibility. “Even if we don’t like what’s going on, I think it’s wise to keep an open mind on whether Europe … in some way can contribute, but with a view towards de-escalation,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars ⁠Lokke Rasmussen said.

Trump on Monday, March 16, criticized the lackluster response from U.S. allies, though he claimed that the United States does not need their help. “We don’t need anybody. We’re the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world,” Trump said. “We don’t need them, but it’s interesting. I’m almost doing it in some cases, not because we need them, but because I want to find out how they react.”

As for Tehran, Iran continued its strikes on critical infrastructure in the region on Monday, hitting a fuel tank at Dubai International Airport. “From our perspective, it is open,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said of Hormuz. “It is only closed to our enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”

Meanwhile, Iran launched fresh attacks on the United Arab Emirates on March 17, the kind of retaliatory strikes on America’s Gulf allies that US President Donald Trump said he did not expect, but which he was reportedly warned about before the conflict.

Six foreign diplomats in the Gulf and the wider Middle East have told Reuters it was widely anticipated that Tehran would target Gulf Arab states if the United States or Israel attacked Iran, an assessment they said was shared by regional and Western governments.

The critical Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed off, with US allies rebuffing Trump’s request for help to reopen the critical waterway, raising energy prices and fears of inflation.

There was no let-up in attacks by both sides early on March 17, with Iran launching missiles on Israel overnight, showing it still has the capacity to carry out long-range strikes despite more than two weeks of pounding by American and Israeli weapons.

The Israeli military said it was targeting “Iranian regime infrastructure” with a new wave of strikes across Tehran, as well as Hezbollah sites in Beirut, a day after saying it had drawn up detailed plans for at least three more weeks of war with Iran.

 

A succession shrouded in uncertainty

After the killing of Ali Khamenei in the opening strikes of the war between Iran and the United States–Israel alliance, Tehran swiftly elevated his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, to the supreme leadership. Yet, within days, the narrative fractured. Last week, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth indicated the new leader was believed to have been wounded, while his complete absence from public view has intensified scrutiny. Long regarded as a powerful but low-profile figure with deep links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mojtaba’s sudden elevation has coincided with an unprecedented information vacuum.

 

Statement Without Appearance Amid Growing Questions

Amid mounting speculation over his whereabouts, Mojtaba Khamenei stated on Monday without appearing publicly. Carried by Iranian state media, the brief message said officials appointed by his father, Ali Khamenei, would remain in their posts and “continue to carry on with their work.” He also appointed Mohsen Rezaei as a military adviser. Mojtaba has not been seen since succeeding his father, killed in US–Israel strikes. A previous statement in his name had vowed to “avenge the blood” of those killed.

 

There have been many claims, none of them verified, for example:

Claim 1: Critical injuries and life support reports

Claim 2: Public doubt from Washington US President Donald Trump has openly cast doubt on Khamenei’s status. “We don’t know… if he’s dead or not,” he said, adding, “nobody’s seen him, which is unusual.” He referenced reports suggesting severe injury, noting: “A lot of people are saying that he’s badly disfigured… other people are saying he’s dead.”

Claim 3: Official assurances from Tehran that he is alive and well

Claim 4: Possible transfer abroad for treatment

Claim 5: Governance without visibility

A separate and highly controversial set of claims has emerged from reporting by The New York Post, citing unnamed US intelligence officials and a White House insider. According to the report, Donald Trump was briefed on allegations regarding Mojtaba Khamenei’s personal life, with the intelligence described as coming from a “protected source”. The report claims Trump reacted with surprise, saying “we don’t know” key details about Iran’s leadership, though accounts of his reaction vary. It further alleges past personal relationships and inappropriate behavior during medical treatment. However, these claims remain entirely unverified, have not been corroborated by independent sources, and are widely viewed as part of a broader information war surrounding Iran’s leadership during the conflict.

 

 

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