Middle East crisis live: US says nearly 2,000 targets hit in Iran war; Trump says navy may escort tankers through Strait of Hormuz

US military says strikes in the first 24 hours was nearly double the scale of the 2003 ‘shock-and-awe’ operation in Iraq; US president orders insurance to be provided for shipping in crucial waterway Trump administration has still not settled on reasons for war Middle East attacks intensify as Trump rejects Iran’s attempt to talk Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Middle East crisis as it enters day five. The US military has claimed that the number of strikes carried out on Saturday in the first 24 hours of its war on Iran was nearly double that of the “shock-and-awe” strikes on Iraq in 2003, and that nearly 2,000 targets had been hit so far in Iran. Donald Trump has attempted to counter a simmering anti-Israel backlash in Congress and among his own Maga supporters by denying suggestions that he had been forced into attacking Iran because Israel had already decided to do so.